[cc1999]

I have been on both side of the table. I sold for 4 years back in the early to mid 90s before returning to the family distribution business. And now manage one of our stores and take care of our fleet of 50 cars and trucks company wide. So I am buying cars and trucks (Mainly trucks) all the time it seems like now days.

I was one of the few in the dealership that I worked for that did know about the products, at least I tried, we had Chevy, Dodge, Chry, ply, Geo, and Mazda all under one roof. I admit I was weak on the car side though. There were just way to many different models to try and keep up with. Mazda had a on-line certification test that we all had to take. So that helped keep us all more up to speed with there line. But back then Chevy had 0 training and testing and Dodge did try to train and test at least on there truck lines. I remember going to Dodge sales ride and drive schools. Where Dodge had not only there trucks at these schools but also all there competitors trucks as well. I would think that now days there is even more training available than a decade ago, and there is no excuse for a salesman to not know at least the basics of there best selling vehicles (Trucks). When I was selling I always looked at it from the perspective that why do I deserve to call myself a salesman or deserve a commision from the sale, if I don't even know the first thing about what I am selling. How can I overcome the compitions offerings and build value in my offering if I don't even know what I am offering. With the the new internet age approaching more than a decade old, and marketing research thats telling the mfg's to dump TV and print adds and go with on-line advertising instead, the days of a salesman standing around smiling and BS-ing are numbered.