Can Girls Sell Cars?

[Mataiva]

Wassap guys & gals!

Well the answer to the above is ~ Hell Yea!! Aloha everyone my name is Tristin and I'm a Sales Consultant for a dealership in Kailua. Just one month ago (May '06) I entered the car industry, being the ONLY female I was totally intimidated. When the other salesMEN saw me, they thought it was a joke!

Until.....I started to sell. I sold my very first car ~ and I was excited, flipped out, happy, all of the above. The salesMEN started saying, " its only 1, don't get too excited, its a trap" (as if to say, that was the ONLY sale I'll ever get).

Then I sold another. . . .then another. . . .then another. . . and so on... and guess what?. . .I placed 3rd in top sales for my very first month in the car industry! ! ! Hows that one? ~ I was amazed, because to be honest, in the beginning I couldn't even tell my cars apart! Make/model,trim levels, accesories, transmissions, engines ~ all greek to me!!

I think the secret was that deep down inside I wanted to show these boys what I could do ~ all their taunting, teasing, trash talk ~ I wanted to shove it up their. . . .(forgive me, I'm not usually this emotional. LOL ) and I did it! I did it with a GREAT BIG SMILE!!

The boys call me the BLACK WIDOW, seems too harsh to me * but they say its bcuz I wear black, and when I have a customer I keep them in my web. The truth is, I have fun with my customers! Buying a car sucks( I know I've bought 2 cars on my own before), so I try to make it as entertaining as possible ~ Keep 'em laughing & most importantly INFORMED. When that happens it becomes a pleasant experience instead of a pressured experience.

Anyways, it would be nice to see more girls out on the lot ~ wouldn't it? Let me know what you think, it would be interesting to see what people actually think of having a Salesgirl vs. a SalesMan!


Well ALOHA all, take care and Drive Safe! ! !

Tristin-Mataiva
Sales Consultant
mataiva@hotmail.com

[1stwahine]

Re: Can Girls Sell Cars?

Is this a Sales Pitch or an Introduction? Nah, nah, joke!

Welcome to Hawaiithreads.com! Way to go girlfriend! If dey like talk about Black Widows dey can come meet me in da flesh!heheheh

I'm Auntie Lynn of Chinatown ...at your Service!

[damontucker]

Re: Can Girls Sell Cars?

Congrats...

If ladies can fight in Iraq... then yes they can sell cars.

However, I do see where your coming from... it does seem like a male dominated industry.

I'm a firm believer that we will have a female president by the time I pass away. I think females in general can do many things much better than men...and vice a versa... thats why we were given our bodies so that we could work together to get all the kinks out.

Heck...if my intent was to buy a new car... It would be the car that's most important me.

Don't think the gender of the sales person would come to mind as long as they were knowledgeable and not pushy.

[adrian]

Re: Can Girls Sell Cars?

I thought this was a misplaced thread relating to sexism, but glad that you showed those boys that you can do it! (I just hate people who disrespect the opposite sex).

Welcome to Hawaii Threads, and enjoy your stay here!

[GypsyLika]

Re: Can Girls Sell Cars?

My girlfriend/classmate has been selling used cars for 5 years at Waipahu's Flugers? I think thats what its called? Anyway I said the same thing when she told us she sells cars, you know cars? She knows how to sell not necessarily the mechanics of a car.
Our other classmate (a male) said "SHE tried to sell me a piss of shit." We were all just laughing. She told him, "you were looking for a TACOMA and that was a Tacoma!"

[timkona]

Re: Can Girls Sell Cars?

Selling cars is great money if you have lots of customers and close deals. I've seen lots of women selling cars. Most are very pretty. Remember, a lot of times men are the buyers.

5 years at one location? Must be great. Wonder what kind of car she drives? Or what kind of house she lives in? I bet she's killin it.

[sinjin]

Re: Can Girls Sell Cars?

Please learn your product backwards and forwards. And don't be afraid to say you don't know but will find out. Nothing sours me more than salespeople who know less about their product than I know already and then have the audacity to start talking out their, well you know.

[SusieMisajon]

Re: Can Girls Sell Cars?

I'd like to see women designing cars. More of things that are useful, less of things that serve as phallic symbols.

[Mataiva]

Re: Can Girls Sell Cars?

Thank you very much for your advice everyone, I'm up every night reading, investigating, researching, until my eyes are all puffy, LOL.

and sorry for those who may have thought I was being sexist or something. I posted this thread to share my experience. I have nothing against the male gender ~ I just don't appreciate people(male/female) who prejudge, and are ignorant.

Well aloha all, and mahalo for the reply's and advice! ! ! !

thanx again,

Tristin-Mataiva

[kimo55]

Re: Can Girls Sell Cars?

I just don't appreciate people(male/female) who .... are ignorant.

sheesh. we can't all be Einsteins.

[MadAzza]

Re: Can Girls Sell Cars?

Oh, wow. A "girl" selling cars. How groundbreaking.


<yawn>

[speedtek]

Re: Can Girls Sell Cars?

from a male point of view:

Being a former shop owner, girls can sell anything. I use to have a friend help me at one of my old auto parts shops. She knew a lot about cars and she also use to race SCCA. Guys would come by all the time to talk to her and she would sell them parts and rims and tires and whatever we were promoting at the time. It was amazing. you can talk to someone till youre blue in the face and they wont buy it. then along comes my friend who tells the guy that she likes that brand of tire because of this and that.....and the guy buys a set!

If youre selling cars, learn more about the mechanics of the car. people are always impressed about that point and they feel more comfortable buying the car from you also. That is the tactic I used when selling cars.

When I sold my first car I was jumping for joy. The guys razzed me about being only 1. but the guy who bought the first car from me was so please he sent his friends who both bought cars within a week! I loved my first commission check!

GOOD LUCK!

[oceanpacific]

Re: Can Girls Sell Cars?

You betcha! There is absolutely NO reason a woman cannot be as successful as a man. In fact, they should be even more successful. Let me outline the reasons why.

I have observed that in a majority of the households, women control the purse-strings. Part of this is because most women work outside the home, as opposed to a much smaller percentage a generation or two ago. I have been in the financial services industry for over 30 years and when I sit down with my married clients, I direct most of the decision-making conversation to the wives. Women are more security conscious than men and have a greater input into financial decisions. The men? Unless they're accountants or bankers, they're often satisfied with retiring to the family room with a Bud in their hands to watch a game. Even those with more than a passing interest tend to defer to their wives instead of making unilateral decisions.

Women are more comfortable talking with another woman, and car sales are no different. In fact, that could be even more so. Women in car sales will already have a big edge there.

The other thing is that you don't want your career to depend on "floor ups" for sales. A salesman once asked me what the "secret" was. The "secret" is to develop CLIENTS, not just sales or customers. A sale may only buy from you once during your career, a customer may buy another car every 4-6 years. But, a client will not only be a repeat sale, but will send you his friends, family, and business associates year-round for a LONG, LONG time.

So, don't only think of scoring a "four-pounder" ($4000 gross profit) on every sale. Think volume (no. of sales) over unit gross profit and your commissions will take care of itself. Better to sell 20 cars at $35K gross then 10 units at the same $40K. That's double the client base and you'll probably earn more on the $35K by getting an extra percentage for exceeding the units sold quota. Not to mention any spiffs for moving specified units which have been slow sellers.

Good luck in your chosen endeavor.

[Vanguard]

Re: Can Girls Sell Cars?

Can Girls Sell Cars?

One time, a girl got me to buy a pair of shoes that I didn't even want -- so I'd have to go with "yes".

[lavagal]

Re: Can Girls Sell Cars?

Back in the 80s there were two women in Kakaako, each of whom owned their own luxury car dealerships. We're talking don't even look this way if you don't want to drive one of our lowly BMWs. I know one of them got talked into selling her dealership and joining the Jaguar group when it first opened on Kapiolani...and that was still the 1980s.

I did a story on her for PBN back then. She wasn't the only woman selling cars in Hawaii, even then.

One of those Journalism 101 rules: never believe nor assert something or someone as the first, best, latest, greatest, oldest, newest, stinkiest, prettiest...maybe you can go with the "dumbest" ... but then again, these are all things that can be perceived differently by individuals.