Louis Pe & #324;a dispenses words of wisdom to a room full of 40 or so “green peas”,students learning how to sell autos at the Automotive Sales and Marketing University in Costa Mesa.
“The first thing these people buy is you,” said Pe & #324;a, who’s known as “Uncle Louie” to students.
The school, run by the Costa Mesa-based Orange County Automobile Dealers Association, offers free three-day training sessions, three times a month. It’s all part of an effort to cut turnover at local dealerships.
For dealers, finding auto salespeople is easier than finding auto technicians,who are a rare breed these days. The tricky part is keeping salespeople.
“It’s kind of hit or miss because they don’t have experience,” said Cliff Allen, co-owner of Allen Cadillac GMC and Hyundai of San Juan Capistrano. “Sometimes it’s a plus if they don’t have experience.”
During the third and last day of a session in May, Pe & #324;a directed the class to take out a sheet of paper. He asked: “What are the three things required to be a successful salesperson?”
The answer: honesty, hard work and the ability to take direction.
With the Internet, most buyers are well informed before they get to the showroom.
“There aren’t any secrets any more,” he said.
Selling cars is a career few consider. Dealers see salespeople come and go because few perceive it as a profession, Pe & #324;a said.
In a nutshell, that’s the school’s purpose,to make auto sales a career, to do away with the stereotype of the arm-twisting salesman with slicked back hair. You know, the guy who pounds on your window as you flee the dealership in horror.
Pe & #324;a, who once put on seminars with Tony Robbins, said selling cars is like any form of salesmanship.
It’s about getting the customer to like you, he said.
“You don’t even have to sell yourself,” he tells students. “Just be yourself.”
The draw for many of the students, who in this particular class are diverse in ethnicity, gender and age, is the potential to make a good living. Pe & #324;a homes in on that.
He asks the class: “If you know your stuff, you make what?” They answer in unison: “Money.”
Auto salespeople can make upward of $100,000 a year, according to Pe & #324;a.
In OC, the 2005 median annual salary for auto salespeople was $55,700, according to John Sackrison, executive director of the dealers’ association.
In April, about 70 people attended the school. About 40 of them were hired at dealerships in the county.
The association seeks out students. The group has a six-person team headed by Sean Taylor. The team recruits people from national job sites such as Monster.com.
They make scores of calls a day, schedule interviews and match graduates with dealerships.
Recruits have diverse backgrounds. Some of the students have been lawyers, accountants, former Boeing Co. workers and business owners.
They needn’t be college graduates. The school is looking for the clich & #233;d “people person.”
“No one plans to go into the dealership industry,” Taylor said.
One of the challenges is finding bilingual salespeople, Sackrison said.
Another is overcoming recruits’ concerns of being scammed.
Bill Farris, a graduate of the program, said he received a call from the school after he had posted his resume on several national job boards.
“The first question they asked was, ‘Would you like to sell cars?'” Farris said.
“I said, ‘No.'”
“He said, ‘Why?'”
Farris said he explained he didn’t like the way he had been treated by auto salespeople.
His attitude was what made him the perfect candidate, the recruiter said.
“And then I got a little suspicious,” Farris said.
Farris said he thought he’d be hit later with a $1,000 fee for the training. But then he said he started thinking about the money.
He said he asked if it were possible to make more than $150,000 a year. Farris, a onetime business owner and former vice president of Fidelity National Financial Inc.’s Chicago Title in Santa Ana, used to earn that kind of money.
The recruiter said, “Yes, it is.”
But to earn that much, the recruiter told Farris he’d have to worker harder than the average salesperson.
Farris said he decided to attend the classes with an open mind.
He called Pe & #324;a “an excellent teacher.”
On the last day of the three-day session, Farris said he went out on a couple of interviews. The school sets up the interviews with local dealers.
Farris went to a Jaguar dealership, which he said kept him waiting and left him disappointed.
Then he went to one in Tustin. He said the dealership seemed to offer the kind of arm-twisting he didn’t want to be a part of.
Finally, he interviewed at Allen Cadillac GMC and Hyundai. Farris said he liked the no-pressure sales and every other weekend off. During his first couple of weeks, he sold two cars.
“Bill Farris has been a huge success for us,” Allen said.
There’s a constant fight against the stereotype, Farris said. Some customers still expect aggressive salespeople, he said.
“They really put up the wall,” Farris said.
Back at the school, students are in the parking lot doing what’s called a “walk around.”
The students walk around a car. They take turns being the buyer and seller.
Students leave with four appointments with dealers, Pe & #324;a said.
“If it’s introduced as a career, they’ll stay,” he said.
