In a bid to move up at a dealership to a Marketing Manager role, and in a move that confounded my peers, I sought out and attained a position as a sales consultant for a Chevrolet dealership. This was for a year, and although I am not averse to long or late hours, the business encroaches on family life. But it was not the gritty world that one would imagine. Car buying has changed a lot in just the past ten years… including the tools available to sales professionals who see themselves as independent business owners, almost separate from the dealership that employs them.
What has been very effective for sales professionals with the know-how and commitment is an online content marketing strategy centered around a personal website. Without violating Chevrolet copyright or the dealer’s rules, I designed my personal sales website (archived here) with graphic elements used in Chevrolet collateral. My content included search engine-optimized articles and videos. It ranked pretty well in local searches (my videos got around 5,000 views altogether – local, thanks to geo-tagging), and even generated a few leads for me.
The website and other marketing channels I used really challenged and demonstrates my entire skill set: web development, photography, copywriting, video production, SEO, etc. Helping people find cars that they loved was fun too. ΜΤ