Never Buy From Greenway Ford or Greenway Auto Group

I have bought many cars over the past 20 years and never bought from Greenway Ford and after working there will never buy from this auto group ever. My recent experience working there has left a bad taste in my mouth for this company for how I was treated. I have always been told the car business is cut throat and now I have been shown.

As a business person, I found a variety of things that could be improved or enhanced that would improve work conditions, retention of salesmen and increased profitability. I made a report about it and shared it with my supervisor:

Introduction

I knew when I started at Greenway Ford that it wasn't going to be easy as it was briefed in the introductory interview with Mr Nelson. I always wanted to sell for Greenway Ford and I felt this was the right time. He also told me that I should expect to make about $4 thousand a month if I average 10 sales a month.

Commission

I find it hard to believe that when I sell a vehicle off the price on the first pencil that it is a loser deal. I understand that automobiles are depreciating assets and the longer a vehicle stays on the lot the less it is worth. I also know that there is no way a business can stay running if all of their transactions create a loss of money.

When I questioned this with another sales rep I was close enough to the “trainer” who abruptly said that is why we have a unit bonus. We have to work super hard on a deal many times for multiple days and can do everything we can to try to make a unit bonus. When we reach the goal, it feels like there becomes a reason why one of the deals doesn’t count and has to roll to the next month. However when you are over a sales goal and not close enough to the next one, don’t let a sales manager hear you say, “That’s alright, it will just roll to the next month.” I have seen a sales manager fight to get a deal to count that was questionable, but when you need that one deal to count for your bonus you feel left out.

As a past business owner, I understand Greenway Ford has overhead and a lot of it from the accounting office to the Greenroom to the floor managers. I just don’t think it is fair to charge the customer’s a fee and try to be fully transparent, but at the same time charge the sales rep by taking from the gross profit and yet telling us that we are getting paid 25% commission.

I quickly learned after starting at Greenway Ford that the 50th Anniversary Mustang GT commission is reduced to 15%. This shows to be another unfair commission practice as we are expected to sell a Mustang that is twenty thousand higher that most Mustang GTs.

I have also learned that you make more money selling recent vehicles that just came in on trade.

Paid for What Worth

I desired to sell cars and go commission because I wanted to make more than an hourly wage. Due to the unfair commission structure, the only way to make more than minimum wage is to sell a high volume of vehicles. As a salesman, it is understood that we are sacrificing our weekends and working 50 to 70 hours a week. We know this is a cutthroat business, but to give a better experience for customers I would think that the business would want to take care of it’s employees to reduce the strain on the customers. I don’t know any salesman at this dealership that would purposely try to cause strain on a customer, but it still comes through the process.

Sales Contest

Apparently profits are up as we suddenly have a sales contest. It is unfortunate that this sales contest only rewards the top producer who certainly have been hustling harder than others to reach their goal and deserve to be paid more. What is unfortunate about it is there are many more salesman that have quit and are close to quitting that this incentive money could be used to restructure the commission payout plan. A month end sales contest feels like a slap in the face to everyone else who puts in their hours, works hard and performs to the best of their ability with the limited sales training that is provided.

Turn Over Expense

Every week news salesmen are hired and every month a few leave. Not all of the salesmen that leave were unsuccessful. Everyone that leaves was unsuccessful at getting paid what they felt they were worth. As a business owner, every new employee costs the company approximately $5000 to train between wages, time spent by management, opportunity lost with customers not closed, and bad reputation created by an unsatisfied customer who tells others. Therefore the $5000 amount might be very modest and it could equal closer to $15k per new employee between letting customers go without a TO and bad reputation through poor customer reviews.

Rather than properly spend the time and train each salesman properly, they are placed at a computer with minor classroom time to learn how to sell a car. There are many policies that are expected to be picked up in the process of training that don’t get learned until there is a problem.

Not everyone that is hired as a salesman is meant to be a salesman at Greenway Ford. Not every salesman that leaves Greenway Ford is unsuccessful, but due to the way they are treated by certain levels of management combined with the lack of fair pay, they find another way to earn a living.

Apparently it is more cost effective to spend $20,000 on hiring 4 new salesman than take care of one quality saleman. I say this because it takes at least 4 new hires to get one good one. Some that know the true numbers might say it takes more than 5 to get one good one. It just seems like a waste of money and resources to hire so many people and not take care of the good ones.

Surveys, Sales Managers and Rebates

It is pointed out that the surveys are a direct reflection of how the salesman did in the process. Sales managers are affected financially by surveys not being perfect and salesmen are rewarded for having perfect surveys. Certain sales managers take no responsibility for bad surveys, but there is a reason why they are affected financially by the surveys.

Every customer should be touched by a sales manager, but even when they know a sale is happening, they disappear and are not available to thank a customer. This has happened the same day when it is agreed in a meeting that a sales manager should meet every customer who buys a car. It can be said that there is always a manager available, but every night when the customer is ready to go to finance and it's after 9pm, all managers leave.

Surveys are a direct reflection of the dealership and not of a salesman. If a customer stated the process took too long it was in part by the number of times a salesman had to go to the desk to speak with a sales manager. In that one process, the salesman might have had to wait behind 4 other salesman even when there are 2 desk managers for the new cars. Then Mr. Whatts computer has been freezing on him for the past 2 months causing us to wait excessively at times.

Regardless, the process takes too long for many customers because a lack of transparency between the appraisal of a customer’s vehicle and what is given on the worksheet. The process is delayed longer by a desk manager pushing an interest rate that is higher than what the customer qualifies for. Many times the desk is pretty close on the rate, but when they have pulled the credit and see the score is high, why should the salesman be placed in a point of friction with a customer who knows he can get a better rate than what is shown? This obviously does not apply to everyone who says they are 700 credit score and are really in the low 600’s, but it does apply for the ones who are over 680.

If we are going to be transparent, the initial offer should include a breakdown of rebates and how they qualify for them. It would save at least one trip to the desk if not two for those high credit scores that want to go through their credit union so they understand how much in rebates they are losing for doing so. It was explained that this information is on the Vincent, but when we ask how to read the Vincent or what to look for, we are told that we “don’t need to know” by Mr Whatts or “I will show you on your next one” by Mr Roberts and it doesn’t happen.

A few times a customer will come in with a $750 Ford Loyalty Rebate sent to them in the mail from Ford. Each time the desk manager has said the customer has all of the rebates they qualify for. With the card in hand at the desk, the manager has refused to look at it. It is not until the 3rd trip to the desk will it get acknowledged if not in finance and the customer questions the finance manager about it.

These are just a few of examples of processes that need to be made better in the car buying process and to further illustrate that an imperfect survey is a reflection of the dealership and not just the salesman. It certainly is not right for a sales manager to say to a salesman to think about them when discussing a survey because it affects them by as much as 4 digits on their check when the salesman is lucky to see one deposit a month that has a comma in it. A deflection of responsibility is the same as an excuse for not stepping up and the sales manager taking ownership of their part of the sales process.

CONCLUSIONS

Customer Satisfaction

Who ever is the sales manager who is staying until close should not leave without meeting every customer and thanking them for their business. If the customer is in finance, they should wait for the customer to come out to thank them for their business if they weren't thanked ahead of time. This is not too much to ask and can help every customer in a positive way.

Coaching and Performance Reviews

Morning training is good to share ideas and make everyone better. Unfortunately there are many items that are not covered in training such as how to read your sales reports and commission statements. Before someone is handed the contract to switch to commission, they should be explained how the commission structure is set up and not have to figure it out with the hopes of making more money. It can be extremely frustrating when nobody explains what is needed and you find out a deal didn't count and you missed your bonus which causes you to go further into the commission draw bucket.

Commission Structure

I already mentioned that It is quite disheartening to sell a vehicle for full price to find it was a loser deal. Most deals are not completed in one day as we are chasing paperwork for many days later. It should be worth more than a minimum of $50 when splitting a mini deal. There should be $150 available for a mini deal.

I understand the purpose of the packs on the cars, but it feels really unfair to charge the customer A dealer fee and then charge a pack on the vehicle on top of reconditioning expenses. That feels like double dipping. I understand that the sales bonus must come from somewhere, but it would be more rewarding if we got a higher amount of the minimum like $200 or 20% of true gross profit.

Longevity

The longevity bonus is great for anyone who can make it 2 years working at Greenway Ford. Instead of having to wait 2 years, why not have a fair evaluation process every 3 months like any other job and offer it as an incentive for learning the job and doing it right. If it would help retain just 1 of 3 good salesman, that would save the company at least $25,000 based on the need to hire 4 salesman and lose the one good one.

I don't say this because I feel like I deserve it because I have been at Greenway Ford for 90 days. I don't need motivation to want to become better, but the possibility of a longevity bonus would reduce the de-motivational factors that are faced everyday.

Minimum Income

This could be used as an alternative to a change in the commission structure as to set sales marks to guarantee that if a salesman sells 12 cars they make a minimum of $5000 for that month.

I did not realize when I shared this with my manager, the general manager was out of state for a week which made me feel bad, but regardless I felt something needed to be done. I was informed by my manager that the Human Resource Department specifically instructed management that they should not do anything to me in retaliation.

I did feel challenged to make sure I did everything I could do to be the best salesman I could be for Greenway Ford and did not feel as though any manager directly gave me a hard time. I was shorted $500 on my bonus 3 different months including April, August and September. Each month I had the sales, but each month there was a reason why one sale didn't count for that month. I was dedicated to make sure everything closed smoothly and got outstanding documents taken care of quickly, yet I felt punished.

I attempted to meet with my manager about a variety of issues, but after being pushed off for a couple of weeks, I had enough and wrote an exit letter:

It has been a few months since the last letter that I wrote that made it to management and some things were addressed and handled such as Mr Whatts getting a new computer and we have at least one manager that cares to speak with every customer before she leaves at the end of the night. Unfortunately she is the only female manager at Greenway Ford.

There have been nothing mentioned by management regarding change to the commission structure. We are told that it is better than the Greenway sister stores. We still have people coming and going who sell a decent amount of cars, but still don't feel like they are getting paid what they are worth. The poor excuse is the old redneck one of this is how it has been, it works (for Greenway) and we don't care to change it.

Apparently that isn't the only thing that doesn't get changed as we are Greenway Ford sharing the same piece of land as Greenway Chrysler and yet we can't share used inventory with them. Greenway Ford shares used car inventory with all of the others in the Greenway group of dealers, but not with Chrysler. I found this even more ridiculous when I was invited to an interview with Holler Honda. I didn't desire to work for Honda, but wanted to see the difference.

At the interview with Holler Honda, I was happy to hear that all of their dealerships share used car inventory with each other.  There were a couple of things that stood out to me. The first is the store looked alive with bright colors of excitement with beautiful images of different Honda vehicles which made the interior of Greenway Ford look like a prison with palm trees. One aquarium in the front of the store is completely forgotten about once you pass the front desk into the holding cell.

The 2nd thing that impressed me with Holler Honda is the dealership's pricing policy.  They practice Truecar pricing on every car and tell the customer that the price is clearly listed on the window. They are truly a no haggle dealership and brand themselves that way from introduction. I found that changing the way I handled customers worked better when I tell the customer upfront that we are a no haggle dealership as well until I get the customer who says that they haggle the last time they were at Greenway. Ultimately this is a fundamental breakdown in training along with marketing efforts of the store.

Website marketing efforts are being adjusted to remove things like "Click here for a better price." I know that is just a way to get leads, but the customer thinks there is room for negotiation even when the vehicle is listed at cost which brings me to another big issue.  

It is completely rude to tell salesmen that they are selling a car as a loser deal even when sold at cost.  The only loser is the salesman selling the car that they spent a day with explaining everything. The sales manager gets paid based on units because the company never loses money on cars sold. The dealership charges $899 in dealer fees which is up to $999 as of Wednesday October 7th along with increasing an "electronic filing fee" from $30.50 to $58. We all know that the government only changes fees charged in the first quarter of the year and not midway through the 3rd quarter,

The dealer fee going up doesn't decrease the pack fees added to all new or used cars whether anything was done to them or not. The dealer assessed packs are taken directly from gross profit from which we are paid commission on. The increased dealer fees only mean more money for the dealership and nothing added for the salesmen who spend a minimum of 3 hours and many times as long as 3 weeks completing a deal for only $100.

As a salesman, I can not expect more than the $100 as I have been robbed $500 on my bonus in 2 consecutive months. I was told a sad story by one manager how he missed his bonus his first month and then he told me that he appreciated me working at Greenway Ford.  Just as I have to remind customers that it is 2015 and not 1995 and the $5000 car out the door doesn't exist, $100 is not enough money especially when you might only get one sale in 2 or 3 days. And appreciation doesn’t make up for the 60 hours I worked in a week or staying to 11pm or later when he left at 9pm and was missing during the last half hour when the store was open.

Stores get compared to each other all of the time and Ford probably has the most competition as we have the most known brand. Multiple times a week we speak with a customer who compares us to Mullinax Ford who doesn't have dealer fees. And many times we meet someone when we are not working and when we tell them that we work for Greenway Ford, they say they won't buy there because of the dealer fee. This is the same dealer fee that just went up over $100. This is the same dealer fee that many times we have to justify when we don't see that money go into our pocket. Many times we have to justify the fee but end up discounting the vehicle in the amount of the fee which may reduce our commission as much as $250. But we never know until the next day what the gross profit is even though we are on commission. And of course we still have the situation everyday where we closed the deal on the first pencil knowing we held $1000 on the trade only to find there was no profit and it is a loser deal. But then again, no deal is truly a loser deal for the company as it is protected by assessed packs and dealer fees.

I was told by colleagues after my first letter that they were not going to do anything. This time it doesn't matter as I know what I knew before that there will not be change in pay without a change in management pay structure to allow for salesman to be paid more. For that matter, there will not be real change without a change in management. It doesn't matter to the owner as he still gets paid although it should as he continues wasting money on more new hires than to help the good ones already there.

I feel bad because I know that I am better than what I am paid for and as long as I work for Greenway Ford, I will never be paid what I am truly worth. The entrepreneur in me always wants to do better and do things as if it were my business. Since I only have my time to invest, I would rather roll the dice and invest my time somewhere else where I can realize a benefit for my efforts and not falling in line for the head of the prison (owner) when he bangs on the window. I am thankful for being taught the discipline of putting in the time at work just as I learned what hard work was when I dug 6' ditches when I worked for the day labor jobs when money was real tough.

Enough said.