Recommended Newcastle VW dealer

[mitch_gti]

Good Afternoon everyone.

Just thought i would give everyone a heads up.

If there are any Newcastle locals prowling the forums who are interested in buying a new Volkswagen please get in touch with me.

I work at Klosters (albeit at the suzuki dealership) but i and am able to help people out and make sure they are looked after properly, with any brand car within Klosters including Volkswagen, ford, nissan etc.

I am a trainee within the group and im simply trying to secure my position by proving to my bosses that im self motivated and keen to provide great customer service and advice. I take great pride in making the process of finding a new car as enjoyable and relaxing as possible.

So if anyone needs any info or help please send me a pm.



Kind Regards,

Mitchell W.

[syncro]

You've got your work cut out for you there! They haven't got a very good name.

[neil]

Mitchell hi.
Good to see you trying hard.
Maybe you can improve the customer experience with Klosters.
My preferred dealer was Chatswood out of a total of 5 I visited.
Neil.

[mitch_gti]

It's unfortunate that people have had poor experiences.

I had one myself when i was looking to buy my GTI, i was told at ford to not hurt my foot whilst kicking tyres (i went into have a look at the XR5). Needless to say i stormed out of there and went and bought a GTI straight away.

So yes, i realise that no matter which dealership you go to, no matter which part of Australia you live in, you will always come across negative people who dont take pride in their work.

Thats why i thought i would give this a try, im passionate about cars and im relaxed. No high pressure techniques or mind games. I just want to help people find the right car, roll out the red carpet for them and make sure they are looked after.

[bombsquad21]

I like your thinking Mitch, i'm considering a foray into new car sales myself..I'm a big service kind of guy, I too have felt the brunt of absolutely crap service one too many times. If you don't like people...why be in customer service?

I am curious about a couple of things on the car selling side of things.....
What kind of cash can be earned??
Do you always get new cars for personal use?
How do you deal with the massive amount of Jerks who are your co-workers?

Cheers

p.s
can you sell cars with your techniques? product knowleadge, courtesy, follow up, hard work? I hope so..

[peedman]

Having worked in retail i hate it. I respect those who do it and do it well, i just dont have patience with those that jerk me around. You seem to be a down to earth guy, if im thinking of getting a VW in the near future (pending graduation and finding fulltime work) ill definately come up just to speak to you :)

[mitch_gti]

I am curious about a couple of things on the car selling side of things.....
What kind of cash can be earned??
Do you always get new cars for personal use?
How do you deal with the massive amount of Jerks who are your co-workers?

Cheers

p.s
can you sell cars with your techniques? product knowleadge, courtesy, follow up, hard work? I hope so..

Hey there Bomb,

You should give sales a go. Just remember you will have to be patient and work hard for your keep.
Alot of dealerships are very cut throat, if you dont sell enough in one month your gone.
At the end of the day, those dealerships are the ones who create unpleasant salespeople.

Im lucky that the dealership network which I am part of is a little more supportive than that. I (at suzuki) have a FANTASTIC boss. We are best mates, and its just a really positive environment. Which means you can focus on providing good customer service and spend more time with people.

90% of people who walk through the door are as cold as ice towards you. It's upto you to turn that around and build a mutual respect and understanding quite quickly. Results are seen only through hard work, long hours, concentration and huge effort. But yes to sell a car you also need basic technical knowledge.

Unfortunately we dont get cars to drive home. Im not saying its the same at everydealership because my ex work mate said that at the local nissan dealership he was working at gave him a car (tiida) to drive home every night.
What we do get is a car allowance, which is more than enough to pay for the weeks fuel + put a bit away for insurance.

Yes money is there to be earnt, but what you have to remember is that in most new cars, theres very very VERY little margin. As a salesperson you are paid on a percentage of profit left in the car after the sale.

So to earn money you have to sell in very high numbers.

The hardest thing in this industry which im quickly learning is dealing with workmates.

Even the gentleman who cleans the cars gives you lip.
The mistake i make is that i help people too much. Recently our detailer was cleaning up a car for one of my bosses deliveries.
I got out my alloy polish and started polishing the lip on the rims. Then i got my own meguiars wax out and re did a couple areas of the car.
All without him ever asking anything from me, because i saw he needed help and i jumped in.

Yesterday i needed help preparing a car, and he refused because he was too busy drinking tea and watching tv.

The steam was flying out of my ears n: and my workmate has constant cracks at me to try and put me in a negative state of mind which then affects my performance.

So yes, its hard. lol

[bombsquad21]

Thanks for the reply Mitch, I guess it just depends on the situation. Probably explains all the turnover and vacancies in Car Sales. I need to make 80k ish(tell me i'm dreaming) to make this viable, probably less if a car is involved, I'm fully prepared to be canvasing the service department at 7am and offering test drives at 7pm...I've considered making the change for so long, it's just the risk..everyone always tells me not to do it. If you control your own destiny, then i'm in...but as you said...the co-worker jerks may end up being an obstacle. Decisions...decisions..

[mitch_gti]

Truth is that unless you have experience in the motor industry with sales then you will probably be put on as a trainee. This means doing a course which to be honest is very easy, and only takes up about an our or two a week. You just complete some work books and then a guy from the MTA comes around to collect them and have a bit of a chat to you.

What you would need to do is find a dealership who do things a little differently. You need active training. Because most dealerships treat trainees terribly, they basically get lunch for everyone.

You need to find someone who will get you out there on your first day talking to customers and making mistakes. Its the only way to learn. You need to be paid com straight away (paid once a month, on the second week of the new month) plus of course a good retainer.

If you have a natural knack for presenting a product and getting along with people combined with hard work then 100 grand isnt out of the question. But you have to a way to achieve constant and never ending improvement.

[bombsquad21]

Nice work Mitch, I think have to raise some capital to make a move like this...I got a house, kids at school, dog, cat, wife, 2 VW's and a BMW to support. Not sure that a 'trainee' wage is gonna maintain that...But I like the sounds of 100k..plus there is a new $18 million BMW dealership opening up close to my place...hmmm.

[mitch_gti]

hehe sounds interesting !!!

yes a trainee wage would suck.

So you need to score what i did, trainee with normal pay and com :)


BMW would definately not be a good first step into the sales world. Something like honda/suzuki/subaru would be the shot :D

[melissa]

Hello Mitch

It's the service department at Hunter City that lets it down. Check out my post here...
http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newforum/upload/showthread.php?t=4901

I realise you are in sales, good luck with it.:)

[mitch_gti]

Sorry to hear about your problems melissa.

On a slightly different note, if the combined vw/mitsu/suzuki service dept has let you down then maybe you should call European car centre in railway street wickham.

I took my GTI there to get some stuff done to it there and they were wonderful. Renee and Jo are VERY helpful.