I remember clearly in my 2nd year of selling that my income had risen quite nicely. I started feeling more comfortable than I had up to that point. I became confident and felt like a reward would be a nice pat on the back for a job well done. Being young I quickly made up my mind that I should have a new car. The 2-door VW Golf that I had started my career with no-longer measured up.
Being on the road a lot allowed me to see just about every type of car on the market. My attention naturally gravitated to the more expensive variety. I would see a BMW 7 Series pass me on the highway and my thoughts would day-dream about owning such a great car one day. I gave little or no thought to what people would think about suck a vehicle. I felt at the time it was important to me that my car reflect my promising start to my career.
Trips to car dealerships became my new lunch time activity. Collecting lots of brochures, test driving many different models, and immersed myself in the buying experience.
BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Acura, Lexus, Infiniti, Cadillac…..you get the point I test drove them all.
My budget quickly ruled out the names above and forced me into a more affordable option. Notice I said ‘more affordable’ I didn’t say sensible, cheap or affordable. I went for the next most expensive option. Nissan had totally redesigned the Maxima with 265Hp and loaded with every option. I even got a heated steering wheel.
I traded the VW Golf for a brand new Nissan Maxima. Imagine a 24 year old with a fully loaded $40,000+ car. As I drove off the dealer lot my smile was ear to ear.
At this moment in time my ignorance was bliss.
Every morning I walked to my car I was very proud of how well I was doing. The first few days of driving my new car were great. Then my customer’s noticed.
I was selling home appliances wholesale, so my customers were appliance stores. The sales people on the floor were really the ones that I relied on to support my products.
Every store has a smoking area on the side of rear of their building. I clearly remember my customer’s starting to comment on ‘what a nice car that is’. I soon realized how people were treating me was changing. I was no longer the struggling young sales guy trying to break into an industry. Now I was a smart ass flaunting my success.
My neighbor’s started taking notice too. One neighbor actually asked me if I was driving my Dad’s car.
It wasn’t all bad. Most of my friends were supportive of how well I was doing. However, I had misjudged how my customer’s would react to me driving such a nice vehicle. Given that most of them were driving older model used cars.
I had never intended to offend anyone; many times there are unintended results to decisions we make. I would caution anyone in sales to think long and hard about how you present yourself to your customers.
My past two positions I have been very lucky to have company cars. One company clearly spelled out their rationale for the type of cars they provide to their sales people. The main consideration in selecting their sales fleet cars were, ‘does the type of vehicle portray humility?”
I think being humble now is one of the most important attributes any sales person can possess.
In my early 20’s I was young and brash. I will leave with one last thought, don’t make the same mistake I did.
Your feedback is important:
1. In your opinion what is the most practical car for a sales person?
2. Have any of you experienced a similar reaction to your perceived success?
No comments:
Post a Comment