Chasing the Top Sales Record? I Don’t Think So

Recently, the story dropped of a salesman at Les Stanford Chevrolet Cadillac named Ali Reda. 

Ali has reportedly bested the long-standing sales record of vehicles sold in a year. The dealership claims he’s sold and rolled 1,530 new vehicles in 2017. 

If your jaw just dropped, you aren’t alone. That number is beyond impressive – it’s almost unbelievable. To one man, Joe Girard, it is actually unbelievable. He’s 89 years old and is the man who has held the previous record for more than four decades. The previous record tally was 1,425 cars. 

While Joe hotly contests that his record has been broken and goes as far as to threaten legal action if the numbers have been fudged, the sheer sales volume can’t be denied. But is it good?

More Than Five a Day

Let’s break down the numbers. Annually, there are between 260 and 262 work days in a year in the United States, assuming five days per week. That works out to 5.83 cars sold every work day! Volume sales of 1,530 obviously require Saturdays as well sometimes, and even at six days per week, it’s still 4.9 cars per day. 

Another number to consider is the time spent per client. Even if Ali works 12 hours per day (totaling over 80 hours per week), it means that every client receives just 2.44 hours of his time. Make no mistake: that’s for the whole process, start to finish, not just the sales demonstration and agreement. It includes vehicle delivery, sales-to-service handoff, and the introduction to the F&I office. It also doesn’t account for time spent getting a coffee, having a conversation, or going to the bathroom.

It Can’t Be Healthy

More than 1,500 cars per year – hell, even 1,425 cars in a year – can’t be good for the customer. They might get the car they want and a great price, but they haven’t developed a relationship with their salesperson or dealership. 

Customers demand an experience at the dealership to become loyal clients. Take that away, and you might sell cars, and lots of them. But will those customers come back for service, collision repairs, accessories, or what-have-you? Will they even know how to use the car they’ve bought in a blink of an eye?

It’s healthy to set sales targets; to desire professional improvement. But don’t neglect the time – the emotional investment – in your customers. Is it a good idea to try to sell more cars? Definitely. Should you chase the sales record? I don’t think so. 

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