"Small and Honest" is Working for Topcars Direct
Topcars Direct likes to keep its team small and its integrity big – and the formula is working for them.
The Waikato’s longest-running car importer has a sales team of two and that’s exactly how CEO Blake Johnson wants to keep it.
“My philosophy,” says Blake,” is to never get loaded with salespeople. I’d rather have two that complement each other as a team and are very good guys, than have more staff. There are yards the size of ours that would easily have four salespeople and I believe the quality of the service can potentially drop”.
Blake hand-picked his team of two with careful consideration. Neither Stu Phillips nor Richard Hudson had any experience in car sales before meeting Blake. They’ve now been with Topcars Direct now for more than a decade each.
Stu was working in radio and met Blake while creating ads for him. “One day Blake called me and said, ‘do you want to come and sell cars?’ and I said ‘mate, I know nothing about selling cars’ and he said, ‘that’s what I want – I want to train someone up from the start.’
Blake explains, “every salesman that’s worked for me I’ve trained from scratch. I’ve never wanted to take someone that’s already in the industry because I’ve got a certain way that I want things done.”
When Topcars Direct needed another salesperson, Stu thought of his friend Richard Hudson, a boat builder.
“I thought,” says Stu, “who out of my friends has got the right personality to be honest and treat people nicely, because that’s the way we wanted to operate. I approached Richard and said ‘have you ever thought about selling cars? Would you like to come and try?’”
Richard came on board and Stu taught him the ropes.
“We used to roleplay out in the yard,” says Stu.
Richard says, “the biggest thing I remember him telling me is, ‘just don’t lie to people. Just be yourself.’ ”
“Don’t bullcrap people,” says Stu. “If you don’t know something, tell them you don’t know, because people can see through it.”
Blake agrees: “When people are looking at two equal cars and they find out how long we’ve been in business, they’ll always buy from us. The formula is working”.
Contact Top Cars Direct
Address: 86 Killarney Road, Hamilton
Phone: (07) 838 1506
Mobile: Richard: (027) 486 7663, Stu: (027) 210 9222
CALL FREE: 0800 838 1506
Email: richard@topcarsdirect.co.nz
Website: http://www.topcarsdirect.co.nz/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/topcarsdirect.hamilton/?fref=ts
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