Sherry Linton is a product specialist selling automobiles. For
her, it's more than just a job as a salesperson. When she describes the "unforgettable"
feeling she gets seeing the joy that some customers have when they leave with
their new vehicle, it's obvious her job means a lot to her.
"I have had customers hug me because they were so excited and so happy
we assisted in making a dream come true, because they never thought they would
afford or get approved on their own vehicle," she says.
Linton has actually been moved to tears on the job... twice. The two situations
were quite similar, but that didn't make them any less touching.
"Once, a customer came in to surprise his wife, as she was terminally ill
and he wanted to get her the dream vehicle before she passed on," says Linton.
"The other time, the husband was terminally ill and wanted to set up the family
with the dream vehicle before he passed on. Those were two experiences I will
never forget, as I was a part of this dream in the making and a part of their
special moment. I cried a bit on those ones."
Linton has had to fight an uphill battle, since it's a pretty male-dominated
industry. Still, she insists it's not too tough for women, and she's risen
to the top in her particular lot, outselling her male co-workers.
"Sometimes customers may think because you're a woman you may not know
much about vehicles, but I always like to have fun with those ones and give
them some info they may not know," she says with a laugh.
"I think the person who becomes successful in this industry is a driven,
hard-working, caring, empathetic, service-oriented type of person, male or
female. They will win every time."
Michael Royce, a consumer advocate and former car salesman, says that women
have a very tough time in car sales and that most work in the business office
as opposed to on the lot.
"It's tough for women to deal with the sales team made up of mostly men,"
says Royce. "It's tough for women to deal with walking around on a car lot
all day. And some car-buyers don't want to deal with a female car salesperson."
Royce says he would not recommend that youth look into selling cars as
a future career path. He says it's a very tough way to make a living and would
only recommend it for a short-term job.
"It's a good temporary job to learn about human nature, negotiating, business,
cars and so on," he says. "But I wouldn't recommend it as a career."
But Blair Qualey, the president and CEO of a car dealers' association,
encourages people to get into this line of work. He says there's no question
the auto industry is one of the most fun, interesting and challenging industries
out there.
"It's the most competitive one on the planet, I think," he says. "But
vehicles are a unique commodity. They elicit such emotion in people. It makes
it a fun industry. People who have been in the industry for a long time do
it because they enjoy it. And they can make some decent money."
One of the challenges the automobile selling industry is facing is the
rise of the Internet. And although some people are buying and selling cars
online, for the most part, the digital world is not a threat to car lots
"The industry and particularly some of the manufacturers thought you could
get rid of dealers all together and just sell direct by the Internet, and
that failed miserably," he says. "People want to look, feel, touch and get
their questions answered by a human being."
Despite the industry being hit extremely hard in recent years with the
economic downturn and a rising awareness of environmental issues, Qualey insists
it's still an incredibly exciting time.
"We've gone through two of the toughest years in memory for the sector,"
he says, "and now we have a number of manufacturers who have been able to
restructure themselves and are now much stronger and that bodes very well
for the industry. The industry is much stronger now."
Linton says it's a great industry to be in, as long as you are a driven
type of person willing to put in the work.
"You work hard, you get rewarded," she says. "It isn't a job for someone
who likes to sit around and hope the work comes to them."