My First Sale

What was yours like?

I started selling cars in the summer of 1974 at a single point Plymouth Dealership in Canton Ohio, Canton Plymouth. We advertised as the “World’s Largest Exclusive Plymouth Dealership”,which probably was true due to the fact there were at that time only about 40 other dealerships in the country that just sold Plymouths without the Chrysler line up as well.

My “training” pretty much consisted of trying to listen in to guys that were about 90 years old talking to customers,watching an 8 millimeter film by Vince Lombardi called “Make That Second Effort” and reading a book by Frank Bettger called “How I raised myself from a failure to a success in selling”.I was shown where the cars were,the keys and jumper cables.I also was told to “Close early,Close often,Can I help ya, would ya take,are you buying today and low ball them if they weren’t.

My first actual sale took place after making about 500 very cold phone calls out of the local phone book with a “pitch” that went like this ” Hello is this Mrs. Abbot? She says yes, I say “Your new Fury is ready for delivery is tomorrow morning or afternoon better for you to stop in and pick it up?” she would say,”I didn’t buy a Fury”…My reply “Oh,I’m sorry,well as long as I have you on the phone……..etc. Guess my manager wanted me to get over the fear of making phone calls,I was the youngest salesman on the floor by about 25 years it seemed.

I totally messed up the next 10-12 customers by saying or doing something stupid until…..Reverend Right[Not real name] walked in one morning.

The good Reverend Right was holding two things a Bible and some information on the 1974 Plymouth Valiant.At this point in both my selling life and personal life I was pretty much useless with anyone over the age of 40 and that mixed in with a man of God really had me trembling.

Reverend Right picked up on the fact that I was new to selling cars,mostly due to that also being part of my training,tell every customer you’re new for a couple of years,so he tried his very best to make this easy and clam me down.This transaction started at about maybe 10 in the morning as I recall,and just 7 short hours later the Reverend was driving home in his brand new 1974 Valiant.

I was pretty pumped up,I went into the sales office looking at the sales board,located my name at the very bottom and took the chalk into my hand and put up my first 1 next to my name.I didn’t really even care that the deal was a “mini” and my commission was $20 bucks,I was now officially a Professional Car Salesmen!

I know this blog is titled My First Sale and the First time in anything is pretty cool and memorable,probably shouldn’t go any further with that line of thinking ,but there is one other deal of the nearly 2000 cars I sold in my 5 years on the floor that I want to share with you all.

January 1979,my wife was pregnant with our second child [Erica] and by this time I had become a pretty good salesperson,sold a lot of cars and trucks and made a few dollars.As I recall is was early in the morning and I was always either on the phone,in service,on the lot or at the door.This morning I was walking the lot when a car pulled in and …… Nurse Hatchet[not real name] got out of her car,now I know if you have sold cars for any amount of time at all you come across a “difficult” client from time to time,I will put Nurse Hatchet up against any that you ever had,again a 7-8 hour ordeal,that got to the point of her and I just seeing who could be more nasty to one another.I would be “winning” for 30-45 minutes amazing her with my brilliant salesmanship[ total lies and baloney] but then she would make a comeback and take the lead for the next hour or so with what crooks sleazy car salesmen are and how could I sleep at night etc.

This literally went on for hours,she wouldn’t leave and even though my manager told me to kindly ask her to take her business elsewhere I was for sure going to SELL Nurse Hatchet a car.Car picked out,price settled on[another mini] she pulls out a check,pays for the car,I get it cleaned and as I hand her the keys she says’ You know young man you didn’t SELL me this car I bought it” I felt my face get red and said back to her “Well it was my pleasure and happy depreciation” and she left……..end of story?….ummmm no!

Let’s go back to my wife being full term with our second child,she goes into labor,I leave work,take her to the hospital we are in the delivery room and guess who walks in……yep! Nurse Hatchet,I nearly fell to my knees and babbled something like please this is my wife and my baby,I’m just a regular guy I sell cars to provide for my family and if I offended you ,I’m sorry and on and on….she was very cool,very calm,told me not to worry she was a PROFESSIONAL.

The delivery went fine mom and baby all good and the good Nurse upon leaving reminded me that now not only did she buy the car from me,I didn’t sell it to her I also didn’t delivery my child,she did!

Those are mine,if it was your first sale or a very unique one….keep it clean….please share it I’d love to hear them…memories are pretty cool in our business,let’s share some.

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Comment by Craig Lockerd on December 17, 2012 at 9:22am: Whoa Chuck.....great story.....I think we may have had the same guy as a manager at some point .....

Comment by Craig Lockerd on December 17, 2012 at 9:21am: Sure is Glenn and a real valuable lesson that we as salespeople,as people just never know what's going on in the other person or clients life right at that moment.Thanks for the story!

Comment by Bob Gaber on December 17, 2012 at 2:56am: My very first sale was a Jeep Commanche. My second was a Jeep Cherokee and my third was a Jeep Talon. All in my very first day. The Cherokee was a bonus car and I cleared almost $1800 on my very first day. I went on a diet , called my father who I did not speak with for over 9 years, He introduced me to my wife and now I give back by working with the BEST Organization in the Industry, all because of my very first sale. Thank You, Craig.

Comment by Chuck Thomas on December 16, 2012 at 9:16pm: Instead of my first car sale, let me tell you about my first couple of days in the automobile industry. I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to go through an extensive training program before I started my automotive career. We began on a Saturday morning, there were six of us "rookies." We attended our first sales meeting at 8:00 a.m. and arrived to meet our new general manager, Al Frank (not real name), aka "The Bear." The six rookies sat through the sales meeting and were held after the meeting to be formally introduced as a group to "The Bear."

Our new general manager proceeded to tell us, "You, [expletive] rookies, I've got two [expletive] rules: don't be late for my [expletive] meetings, and don't wreck my [expletive] cars."

Well, me being the extroverted A-personality that I am, I quickly raised my hand and asked The Bear what our schedule was.

"SCHEDULE!? SCHEDULE?!! I'LL TELL YOU WHAT YOUR [expletive] SCHEDULE IS! YOU'RE ON THE [expletive] B SCHEDULE," he screamed, staring at me with fire in his eyes.

Again, not knowing any better, I raised my hand. "Uh, what's the B schedule?"

"B SCHEDULE? WHAT'S THE B SCHEDULE," he roared. "THAT MEANS YOU [expletive] BE HERE. YOU BE HERE WHEN THE DOORS OPEN, YOU BE HERE WHEN THE DOORS CLOSED. DAY OFF? YOU MAY AS WELL FORGET ABOUT IT. I OWN YOU."

Well that answered that question. That day, a Saturday, I proceeded to sell 3 cars and made myself about $1,200. At that time, they still had demonstrators, and at the end of the day, they had our brand new 1985 Ford Escorts, cleaned up, polished up, shining, lined up in a row and they proceeded to hand us our keys. Thank goodness, at that time, and in the marketplace that I started my career, they had blue laws which did not allow us to open on Sundays, so we did, in fact, have a day off. A young man, not quite 21, having made himself $1,200, driving a brand new car, I was on top of the world.

Monday morning came, up early, dressed for success, ready to go to work, eager, excited, ready to begin my 2nd day in the automotive industry, I came outside to discover I had no gas in my car. I went to the gas station, filled it up and began to exit from the gas station directly behind a school bus. With no warning at all, the school bus began to back up. I heard the beep-beep-beep of the reverse signal of the school bus, and unfamiliar with my new vehicle/company demonstrator, I could not find the gear shift to put it into reverse in time. The bus backed right into my brand new 1985 Ford Escort, destroying the front bumper and hood. I called the police, obviously, but my next call was to my boss, The Bear. I not only had to tell him that I was going to be late for his [expletive] meeting, but I was also going to be late because I wrecked his [expletive] car. Welcome to the car business.

Comment by Ralph Rasmuson on December 16, 2012 at 9:05pm: My initial training was similar to yours, Craig. I affectionately call it the three "C;s" of selling. It was; Hey Ralph, "C" the keys on the board? I replied yes. Hey Ralph: "C" all those cars out on the lot? Again I replied yes. Great, now go "C" if you can sell something! We basically had to figure it out for ourself. The people who figured it out made some good money. The rest just went away. My first sale was to a farmer who acme on the lot in his old Chevy pick up and well used overalls. He stopped by a brand new red Corvette in front of the building. I grabbed the keys and ran out to the lot telling him he'd really look good in this one! He said give me the key let's see how she runs. He took it through the paces, came back to the lot, and I asked him if he was going to pay cash for it or finance? (I heard one of the veteran sales people say that once) He said; "Sonny, you could give me this death trap. I need a new pickup but I really enjoyed driving this crate! Well two hours later he found his pickup, brought out a sack of money from his old truck, and took home the new one. He became the best source of business I ever had. He would always tell the story of the Corvette ride he took me on. The story got better over the years, as you might imagine!

Comment by Glenn Wilkins on December 16, 2012 at 8:35pm: My first sale was to a customer that could have played walter matthou's role on Grumpy Old Men. It was when GM changed the 1986 Oldsmobile 88's to front wheel drive. Never had a more upset customer in all my life. He started cussing about the sideways engines now. His neighbor was with him just tagging along. He wanted to trade in his 1 year old Olds 88 (which was rear wheel drive). Couldnt understand why the customer was so mad towards me and the car or why he wanted to trade in a 1 yr old RWD. His neighbor pulled me to the side and explained to me he didnt want to trade it, he HAD to trade it and thats why he's so upset. You see youre a nice young man so dont take it personal. I guess i still looked confused and then he told me his wife passed away couple weeks prior and the car has too many memories of her. Very interesting experience for a green pea huh.

Comment by Craig Lockerd on December 16, 2012 at 8:33pm: Aerostars,those where some beauts!.....Thanks for the story John,man almost everyones first deal was a big one.....except mine....GRRRRR

Comment by Craig Lockerd on December 16, 2012 at 8:30pm: Really Horrible,spoke to one of our clients the day before it happened,he has kids at that school,thank God they are ok.

Jere I dont know what we/AutoMax can possibly do to help but ask and see if there is ANYTHING we can do,please

Comment by John Tracey on December 16, 2012 at 8:30pm: My first sale was a Used Ford Aerostar red in color, the commision was a little bit better than $20.00 thou. After I sold it and delivered it I wanted to know my commisions on the unit they had me believe I gave it away to my surprise it was about $350.

Comment by Jere Conover on December 16, 2012 at 8:24pm: I am only 20 miles from Newtown and Sandy Hook where the children and teachers were killed...it makes me sick!