Do You Remember Your First Day in the Motor Trade?
I remember mine very clearly.
I got into this industry because I was obsessed with cars. As a kid I’d go into local dealerships just to stand in the showroom. Even now, walking into a dealership still gives me the same feeling.
People say it’s the smell of leather… but let’s be honest, it was probably polish, plastic and new car smell.
Eventually I got a job answering the phones on a Sunday for £50 a day.
Back then, Sundays were slightly different…
That was the instruction from the sales executive, who would literally sleep in the service waiting area on a Sunday afternoon.
One Sunday a customer walked in asking about a black D-reg Ford XR3i Mk5. Personally, I preferred the Mk3 because that’s what I had at the time.
Anyway, I got chatting to the customer, got on well with him and when I woke the sales executive from his Sunday afternoon slumber… the customer simply said:
That was it.
A few days later I was offered a trainee sales role, much to my parents’ disappointment at the time.
Fast forward 30 years and I still genuinely love this industry.
My First Proper Day
My first proper day still makes me laugh now.
The uniform:
- Trousers with the dealership logo
- White shirt with logo — nothing changes there
- Tie with logo
- And a red V-neck jumper with logo
The best thing about the jumper?
You only had to iron the bit of shirt visible through the “V”.
Anyone else admit to doing this?
So… Day 1
- No induction
- No FCA
- No SOPs
- No health & safety briefing
- No fire assembly points
Different world now, isn’t it?
What I do remember:
Rothmans cigarettes everywhere. I’m not sure why Rothmans specifically, but I distinctly remember them being known as the “dealership pack”.
Dealership tea culture… obviously making the tea quickly became my job. To be fair, it probably still is now. Yorkshire Tea only though.
A huge 3-inch thick diary, a calculator and pen… and then came my assigned responsibility.
Putting six dealership flags out every morning and bringing them back in every night.
Then I got sent to Farnham to collect a Citroën XM.
So that was Day 1.
30 years later and I still love walking into dealerships.
How Did You Start?
How did you start in the industry, and do you still remember your first day?
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