Working for a Living: A Car Salesman

In movies and television, car salesmen are often depicted as sleazy salespeople who will say just about anything to squeeze another dime out of the deal. Fighting that depiction is about the only aspect that isn’t enjoyable about the job for four local car salesmen, who look at other challenges of the job in a constructive way.

“It’s a field where it’s easy for people to get cynical because it can be trying. There are ups and downs,” said Steve Buckman, salesman at Sellers Buick GMC in Farmington Hills. “Sometimes you get a little nervous and start to question yourself when things aren’t selling.”

The process of selling a vehicle becomes more difficult when customers walk into a dealership with a preconceived negative attitude about salesmen. One of the other problems in the industry, depending on the brand, has been the decline in the economy.

Having a passion for cars is the key to having a fulfilling career as a car salesman, said Joe Batchik, a 22-year-old salesman at Cauley Chevrolet in West Bloomfield. Not only does it make the atmosphere more enjoyable, but learning the selling craft and details of each vehicle becomes a simpler process.

“I’ve always enjoyed being around cars, especially performance vehicles,” Batchik said. “When you’re excited and have a passion for the car you’re talking about, customers will see that passion and they will start developing a passion themselves.”

Fred Lavery Company salesman Jay Douglas of Birmingham said he has been obsessed with cars his whole life and gets a thrill out of working for a Porsche and Audi dealer.

“My dad always had muscle and antique cars and since the time I could walk, I wanted something to do with cars,” Douglas said.

Douglas said he enjoys access to sports cars in the Fred Lavery collection and he likes meeting interesting people who enjoy automobiles.

“Here you get a lot of really cool, auto-savvy clientele,” Douglas said. “One thing that’s also really fun is delivering someone their dream car. You have people who have saved their whole life and are purchasing this dream car for their retirement.”

The day for a car salesman begins around 9 a.m. First priority tends to be checking voicemails, emails, and for salesman in the website department, internet leads. Follow-up calls are placed to customers who recently purchased cars to ensure satisfaction. Buckman said salesmen go through backlists to see which leases are close to ending and contacting those customers and see what their needs will be.

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Il progetto prende le mosse dall’emulazione delle auto degli immigrati, che ritornano al proprio paese trasportando ogni genere di oggetti avvolti da grandi teli sul portapacchi, da parte del gruppo GAP. Il gruppo di artisti, infatti., ha preso una Matiz trasformandola in un enorme pacco che, come una scultura viaggiante, è in viaggio per l’Italia. L’obiettivo è documentare, attraverso video, foto e mappe sonore, come questa scultura viaggiante modifichi la percezione degli spazi e dei luoghi che si trova a percorrere e a occupare.

American motorist

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A quarterly record of evangelization in Italy, ed. by a resident in Italy