Confessions of a Sales Manager - Vol 2

While I was at Fredericton Mitsubishi, one of the challenges I faced was in hiring people. We were the newest store in town, for a less well-known brand, and we were literally on the other side of the city from where most car dealerships were located. 

However the challenge wasn’t in finding applicants, it was the pressure I put on myself to hire “the right” applicants. I knew that I could teach the necessary product knowledge, and I knew that most people could learn our processes and policies. I was also sure that most people would fit into our culture and into the team fairly easily.

But what I really wanted to find were those rare and unteachable intangibles that I felt attributed to my own success. Still, to this day, I look for the things that can't be taught when I'm interviewing. Do they have passion and integrity? Do they have the perseverance to withstand rejection? Are they proactive, determined, and outgoing? But mostly - can they establish a connection and carry on a conversation with me, and therefore, our customers. 

This philosophy has led me to hire some truly incredible people like Luke MacInnis, Jesse Pugh, and Dave Allison while I was at Honda. Austin Kitchen and James Morland at Mitsubishi and even more recently at Steele Chev when we hired Jordan Smith, Julie Gallant, Olivia Shaw and Paul Henderson. 

All of these hires have taken to the car business differently, and all have had or will have different paths to success. However, there are also people that I didn’t hire that also have had success. Often sales managers will think they are infallible decision-makers when they become responsible for hiring new staff. It's important to have confidence in the decisions you make when hiring, but it's important to reflect on your decision-making process so you can fine-tune it over time and the best time for fine-tuning is when you realize you have made a mistake. One hiring decision that I definitely got wrong was Justin Foreman. 

Justin recently completed his first full calendar year in the automotive industry at Fredericton Hyundai and CRUSHED IT. He was two cars short of tying for the top salesperson at Fredericton Hyundai in 2020 and was the top producing salesperson for the F&I Office and I am so thrilled for him. However before he joined Hyundai, I interviewed him at Mitsubishi. 

We had worked together at Honda a couple of years earlier, so we already had a connection and I thought he would be a good addition to the team. On paper and in my mind he was the perfect hire. He was familiar with the car industry and had a large personal network. He had just been selling insurance for the past few years and had a fantastic drive. But when the interview came, I felt like he was missing that unteachable intangible that I looked for, so I hesitated.

I let doubt creep in. My gut was telling me to hire him right away, but I was worried that was only because we had worked together before. I felt like we hadn't' established much rapport during the interview, so I thought that may translate to his interactions with customers.

But what I failed to recognize, was that we had already built rapport working together in the past.

I failed to realize that I had never interviewed someone I had worked with before and that my litmus test for new hires didn’t quite work the same on people I already had a relationship with. When the other sales manager finally convinced me I was being ridiculous and Justin would make a great addition to the team, it was too late. He had already accepted an offer from Fredericton Hyundai - our main competition. 

When you’re hiring someone, or in anything really: be confident in your decisions, and don’t be afraid to make a mistake, but always trust your gut. And to Justin, I am sorry I ever doubted you, but I’m glad you continue to prove just how wrong I was. Keep up the incredible work. 

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Brandon is a Sales Manager at Steele Chevrolet Buick GMC Cadillac in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia - the #1 GM Store in Atlantic Canada. He is also one of the founding captains of the Strategy Mob, a network of content creators created to give dealers and people in the automotive industry access to original content, thought-provoking conversations, and best practices for the betterment of the entire automotive industry.

For more incredible content from some of the best minds and content creators in the automotive industry, check out the Strategy Mob.

If you're in the market for a new or used vehicle anywhere in Atlantic Canada, check out Steele Chevrolet Buick GMC Cadillac for all your vehicle needs!