If you are a Ferrari salesman, do you own one?

Although I think it would be ideal for every Ferrari sales person to own a Ferrari, it's highly unrealistic to expect this as many dealerships do not pay their sales people enough to afford one, most Ferrari dealerships are located in large metropolitan areas that have a very high cost of living (i.e. leaving the salesperson with little discretionary income left over for toys), and lets face it....when you get to enjoy the performance of modern Ferraris on a regular basis why would a Ferrari salesmen make huge sacrifices to own a Ferrari that is much less thrilling?

On a positvie note, my experience has shown me that although most Ferrari sales people I have met do not own a Ferrari, many of them do own a sports car of another brand (just a less expensive one), are very passionate for the Ferrari marque, and became a Ferrari salesperson as they figured this would be the only way they would ever be able to drive and be around these cars on a regularly basis...same goes for the mechanics that work on them. Should you ever find this isn't that case at Ferrari dealer you visit, it likely means that the owner of the dealership is not a Ferrari enthusiast or a car guy, is indifferent to the experience customers have at their dealership, treats their employees poorly, and/or is a cheap ****** that is unwilling to pay what it takes to attract and retain high-quality employees. Unfortunately, a lot of car dealerships are now owned by 2nd and 3rd generation "silver spoon" kids who have had everything given to them and don't appreciate hard work like their founding parents/grandparents did, which usually decreases the overall customer experience at the dealership. If this is not the kind of dealership you like to work with, the best thing you can do is to just don't do business with them and/or let the owner know why you don't like their dealership and that you'll will be taking your business elsewhere because of this.

 

There are "salesmen" and there are order-takers. Every true salesman is passionate without pretending.

Every order-taker is a pretender who fools himself into thinking that he is a true, passionate, professional salesman

He's not. He's just a "would you like fries with that" order-taker.

You can judge for yourself if merely owning a Ferrari (or McMansion in the case of real-estate agents) is
Sufficient for endowing someone with real passion.

 

+10000

 

His salespeople should get a raise!

 

I don't think profits from the Ferrari dealership were what bought his cars-- so maybe the Honda salesmen should get a raise, you mean.

 

Indeed. Quite a chain of dealerships he has.

 

I feel they should have one. I don't feel they can properly inform the buyer what Ferrari ownership is like without ever owning one themselves. It is like going to a marriage counsler who has been divorced 3 times. JMHO.

 

This reminds me of Herb Chambers, the guy who owned one Daytona, and hired Wayne to find a second Daytona from his childhood. He owned a chain of Mercedes dealerships. It was one of the better episodes of Chasing Classic Cars.

 

Some do, most do not.

Its absurd to think you need to own one to have a very real interest in them.

And to those that think we can get a great deal I worked for 2 of the largest dealers of their time and both regularly gave better deals to customers than was EVER offered to us. At 2 different times I was interested in cars in inventory. I asked what it would take to get them and was told a pie in the sky price. One was wholesaled for very cheap and the other languished on the lot for some time before it was bought. The selling price for either was far less than I was willing to pay.
Dealer principals want a home run every time even if it is on an employee.


And someone said the people in this business that do own don't buy with money made from this business............exactly correct.

 

My salesman and his GM both drive F-cars . Nice people and yet another reason I bought from them. And they are a Maserati dealer.

 

Why is that? Even when times are hard and they would rather wholesale a car at a loss than give a good deal to a hard working employee...??? Seems odd.

 

Who said at a loss?


Mother Teresa was never a sales manager.

 

I'm not a salesman but I am friends with someone who is and he drives an Audi S4 station wagon. I'm guessing he doesn't own one simply because of the cost issue. Also, he is the manager at the dealer so he can use any of the fleet cars any time he wants.

 

I have been selling cars for 13 years. I have never even wanted to work at a Ferrari dealer. I know at least 6 sales people around the country at different Ferrari and Lamborghini dealerships. They typically dont make any more money that I do selling Subaru's. It's a passion thing. I'm sure that the most well established and stable sales people do better than others but that can be said at every dealership I have ever seen. I worked with a guy many years ago at a Chrysler store in Portland that worked at Tonkin Gran Turismo for 4 or 5 years if I remember correctly and he said the money wasn't any better. Can't remember his name now.

 

My thoughts - if you can afford a Ferrari why would you be selling cars at all? Unless you are EXTREMELY successful at it. I am sure that there are lots of very successful sales people who sell everything from Subarus, Ford, Ferrari, or whatever who could easily afford it. But generally speaking most are paid on commission which is not guaranteed enough (in my mind) to warrant sinking that kind of cash into a Ferrari. I could easily be wrong with that, but I looked into entering car sales several years ago and just could not justify the insecurity of my own paycheck being enough to support myself, much less anyone else.

Just my random thoughts....


PDG

 

I always thought that type of management rule was the first sign of ignoring innovation from others

back to the question the poster asked, I dont care if the salesperson owns one or not, I do care that they have passion and knowledge of the products, and I don't care for the salespeople (be they F or porsche or other) who think they are in some higher social class just because they are the salesperson of an expensive item.

 

Familiarity breeds contempt.

 

I suppose some folks feel that way, but I have seen a fair share of class-ism from those of significant means vs. those without. The rich like to spend their money amongst peers, so as not to feel guilty about their conspicuous spending habits. Seldom would a rich person feel comfortable handing-out six-figure certified checks to minimum-wage salespeople who commute in beater Hondas - I'm not saying said salespeople couldn't be trusted or be professional, but the COMFORT-LEVEL isn't there - its a peer/status 'thing'. When you're in a business that caters to well-heeled clients who are looking to spend large amounts of discretionary income on 'toys', the comfort-level of those customers becomes a paramount concern if you're going to attempt to win their business. Whom they spend money with is just as important as what is being bought.

 

I suppose from a business owner's standpoint he wants to pay the bare minimum to his sales people, but still give them an incentive.
A guy that walks into his showroom looking to buy a Ferrari is probably not going to buy a Corvette if he doesn't get a great deal.
He is going to buy a Ferrari, period.
So why pay the salesman extremely well if the average customer is also a captive one?
The same can probably be said at the BMW store or Subaru store.