Fortune Magazine and Becky Quick Blast Car Salespeople

How can some woman writer for fortune magazine use Becky Quick's poor sales expierence as a main story??? Ms. quick's quote several times of her past expierence as a waitress and smiling to everyone at a table in comparison to someone selling cars is no comparison what's so ever. Ive had poor service by waiters and waitresses yet that doesnt put all waiters in that basket. the same holds true for auto salespeople. The sad story that the poor writer fails to address is the poor pay that salespeople recieve due to the factories limiting the profit a dealer and thus a salepeople make. EXAMPLE: I'll bet Ms Quick whos's an anchor on cnbc each morning didnt work at a lousy resturant when she was a waitress. No I bet she worked at one that had traffic and was upscale thus GOOD tips. And when she was a waitress she didnt pay taxes on those tips. Yet salespeople in the auto industry work many hours for customers for a mere 50.00 min commission. No your just not going to get all the best salespeople because of the poor pay conditions. In fact I just read on an indivduals facebook page that while she was a waitress the customer was such a jerk that they spat on there food. So in sales you run into jerk customers and you run into poor salespeople. But DO NOT write a story that portrays ALL salespeople in the auto industry as the few MSQuick came across. Shame on Fortune magazine, MsQuick and the female writer for such a poor article. The auto business is hard enough. Customers come in with all costs which no other industry allows. Customers come in with a chip on their shoulders just because the individual is a CAR SALESPERSON. Doctors today charge you if you dont make your appointment. Miss it with a car salesperson and its a joke like the salesperson doesnt have a family to feed?? Since MsQuick brings up tips as a comparison,lets do the math? Normal tips are 15-20% even for an average waitress. A normal person goes out to eat once a week and pays15-20 dollars each time. Thats 60.00 to 80.00 for what?? An expensive steak and a smile from a waitress? Yet the normal customer buying a car spends hours and sometimes days deciding with the help of a car saleperson what to buy. And after all that time does a customer tip the salesperson? Of coarse not. And after all that time the customer wants the car for under cost. Before you blast the auto industry and its salespeople work in it for 90 days and I think your story will be far different. And since I watch cnbc often I'll have a whole different attitude about her and her unprofessional joking with Joe Kernan on cnbc. Stick to what your supposed to be good at MsQuick and thats stocks. And just in case you forgot there have been a heck of lot of slick,poor.unethical, and crooks in your business that you can feature until you retire rather then to venture in the auto industry. 

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Comment by doug wolford on March 5, 2012 at 12:21am

Marsh, You make good points but enough is enough. In the most recent survey only attorneys rank lower then a used car salesperson. Let Fortune do stories on them and the rest of the schmucks in the business world. No lets go one better. Lets give everyone the net costs on everything and let them go at each other with that info and everyone will get a story in Fortune with Ms.Quick. Since she has such a close friendship with Warren Buffet perhaps she can come up with a lousy salesperson from say Warrens many company's and feature that in Fortune. But she won't do that nor will the writer from fortune on this story. You can find a bad cop,judge,OH maybe a PENN STATE coach but no lets pick on the bad salesperson and load all of the great ones on the same bus. No I won't let this one go.

Comment by Marsh Buice on March 4, 2012 at 6:42pm

Doug, I feel your passion and hate that yet another article is written on a grand stage such as Fortune Magazine. I'm always looking for a silver lining and view this article as a learning lesson for us all. We all know that events such as these occur on the blacktop everyday as well as dozens of other service industries. It is a stressful industry that is deceiving in nature; outsiders think all we have to do is go outside an shoot the bull with someone in order to get someone to buy a car. Few realize the hundreds of hours that are invested into not only learning the product but also perfecting our craft. I always say if you can survive in sales, you can do anything due to the insurmountable pressures and rejection we have to contend with. What other profession is failing 75-80% of the time?

Articles like these are reminders that our job to train our salespeople must never end. Now more than ever, the internet is here to stay and dealers must guard their dealership reputation as they would their own child. Sure there will be potholes along the way,  but a new revolution of dealers and managers are cropping up-a form of leadership that is adapting to the ever-changing landscape of car buying. The margins are tighter, the transactions are quicker and we as a body must understand and adapt to it. Those who adapt will thrive.

Just bc Bernie Madoff duked billions from trusting individuals, there are still good investment bankers out there. Our industry is an easy target and very misunderstood. It's up to you, me, and thousands of others to take the learning lesson from this article and use it as a platform to train our salesforce.

Thanks for the share, sir.

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