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AutoSuccess  | July 2009
In writing this article,I did some research. Between data from NADA, Yahoo Answers and Wikipedia, I came up with the following: • There are approximately 19,500 franchised dealerships in the U.S. • The average car salesman sells approximately 10.5 units per month. • The average car salesman earns approximately $40,000 per year. What is insane is that Chris Gramlich, Internet Sales Manager of Peruzzi Toyota in Hatfield Pennsylvania, has earned close to $225,000 in a year (when the economy was in a little better shape) and has delivered upwards of 50 units in a single month. This month, we conclude our interview with Chris. Sean V. Bradley: What is the percentage of sales that your dealerships get from the Internet? Chris Gramlich: You might be surprised, but our dealership attributes 50 to 60 percent of all of our closed deals to the Internet. SVB: How does your dealership handle the distribution of Internet leads? CG: My title is “Internet sales manager,” but I am basically an Internet sales consultant. There are a total of four Internet sales managers here at Peruzzi Toyota. We also have six Internet coordinators (professionally trained phone sales people who sell the appointment). All of the 700+ Internet leads get funneled to the coordinators, whose main priority is to qualify the Internet prospects and sell them an appointment. If they need assistance, the ISMs are there to TO. When they make the appointment, it’s our job to perpetuate the momentum that they have created. We will handle them from the point of their arrival at the dealership, relationship building, confirming details, product presentation, demo drive, value building and ultimately delivering a vehicle. Our goal is to first understand the wants, needs and expectations, then to meet them and then finally to exceed them. SVB: What advice would you give a new sales person into the business? CG: You need to put your time in. When I first started, I took every customer possible. I followed up with every customer. I treated everyone with immense respect. Even if someone didn’t buy a car from me, I still followed up, offered my services and tried to generate referrals. I kept in contact with them. You have to treat them well. You have to treat them better than the guy down the street. You need to respond to them faster, you need to know your product well, you need to know how to qualify them properly and advise them on different scenarios that will benefit them. You need to be great at customer service. You need to get them to like you, trust you and believe you. I don’t mean manipulate them into feeling those things or be insincere; I mean that it should truly be sincere. If you can get them to trust and believe you, they will buy from you. This is really an easy business. I have relatives who work in other types of sales and they have to go out and prospect 100 percent of their business. In our industry, people for the most part come to us. We need to maximize those opportunities as best as possible. SVB: What things are you looking to do to evolve yourself, do differently or do better? CG: I am always looking to improve and enhance myself. It is a never-ending search to be better. But to answer your question, I think I can do a better job in prospecting within my own customer base. I am sure if I spent more time there, I probably wouldn’t have to take an Up at all. I have a great relationship with my customers. I send out 2,300 Christmas cards a year. I am working with a CRM company for a strategy for my specific own customer base to maximize those opportunities. SVB: Do you realize that you are in the top .5 percent in the United States, out of over 200,000 professional car salespeople out there? CG: No, I didn’t, but to tell you the truth, I attribute a lot of my success to my environment. The dealership I am at has been extremely supportive. Peruzzi Toyota is a progressive dealership, and I am close with the owners. They have allowed me the opportunity to do what I do. I think a lot more people could achieve what I have, and possibly more if they have the right work ethic and dealership support. SVB: Congratulations with all of your success and congratulations with your family. You are a very talented and humble man. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you sharing your amazing story with all of our readers. When I found out about your amazing success. I said to myself “I need to interview this man.” I feel in the middle of all of the turmoil that is going on within our industry, and all of the difficult times Americans are facing right now, it’s great to hear such a powerful automotive sales success story. I am hoping that there are sales professionals reading this story and thinking to themselves “If this guy in Pennsylvania can make $200,000 in this economy, I can, too,” or at the very least, they know now that the sky isn’t really falling. I am hoping that dealers and managers reading this share this article with their staff. I love these types of articles and encourage anyone out there who has a success story in a dealership and who would like to be interviewed please contact me either by phone or e-mail. Please send me your stories. This industry needs some positive energy! Sean V. Bradley is the founder and CEO of Dealer Synergy, a nationally recognized training and consulting company in the automotive industry. He can be contacted at 866.648.7400, or by e-mail at sbradley@autosuccessonline.com.
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