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The Drive to Sell

Graham revving up sales at CAL Isuzu

Sales professionals have an opportunity to drive their own career success, reaping the rewards of hard work and becoming and indispensable part of every company’s success.

FutureForce® caught up with CAL Isuzu’s New Truck Sales Manager Graham, who was on track for a career in heavy automotive before he realised sales was an option.

Graham Crocker

Sales Manager

Graham’s Career Advice

“Have a willingness to work, show up and be the best version of yourself every day and the rest will fall into place. Opportunities are everywhere if you put in the hard yards, you will get there.”

A chat with Graham about his role

How did you get started with CAL Isuzu?

I’ve been bought up in the heavy automotive industry. My uncles and my Dad all worked in this industry so I was surrounded by it growing up and that got me interested in it.

I applied for a summer job here as a parts store person and originally planned on doing a diesel mechanic apprenticeship. But the plan changed slightly, fast forward to today and I am now the Waikato area sales manager! Once I developed an understanding of what the transport industry involves, that opened my eyes to all the other roles out there.

What do you do as New Truck Sales Manager?

My role is selling new trucks across all of CAL Isuzu. That means selling complete turnkey packages to end users, within the transport industry. When a truck arrives in the country as just a cab and chasse with nothing on the back, my role is to either sell it as is or engage with our engineers to put a body on the back of the truck and then sell that to the end user.

My day-to-day business is looking after key account customers within the transport industry. I aim to sell and deliver new Isuzu trucks throughout the Waikato and New Zealand. My goal is to ensure customers are moving forward where they can achieve their day-to-day business hassle free.

What do you like most about working at CAL Izuzu?

Every day there are endless opportunities to grow at CAL Isuzu. It is a good feeling closing deals you have put a lot of hours into. You’re working alongside a great team consisting of knowledgeable people who can guide you into the right opportunity.

What sort of person would be good at this type of work?

You need to be a go-getter in this line of work, showing up every day with a willingness to work hard, and being prepared to overcome challenges. You are dealing with people from all walks of life so need to be flexible and open-minded.

There are a lot of interpersonal skills that go into being a salesperson, being outgoing and honest are crucial. It is also important to have an open mind in terms of taking on constructive criticism. This is where resilience becomes important.

What skills have you learnt in this role?

While working in sales I have learnt time management skills, networking skills, learning from people with extensive knowledge, and other important life skills. Being able to problem solve and communicate are key skills in this line of work. Working towards deadlines and understanding customers business is crucial.

What challenges have you had to overcome?

Sticking to time frames, exceeding customer expectations, understanding the reality of delays and all those other contributing factors the challenge a smooth process. You must be honest with your customers throughout the process as a lot of this industry is out of your control. Having the ability to network with the people that surround you at work will help make the process a lot more efficient.

Sometimes customers will have an issue and come back to their salesperson, as you have built the relationship with the customer. Here it is important to be able to work with others within the business to get the best outcome for all parties.

What do you like most working at CAL Isuzu?

The people. We all show up every day knowing we have a common goal to keep our customers happy. I’ve met some great people over the years here at CAL Isuzu, who have taught me some valuable life lessons. CAL has created opportunities for me that my younger self would only ever have dreamt of.

Where do you want to take your career?

The next pathway for me would be to become the branch manager, which will open the doors to becoming a dealer principal here at CAL Isuzu.

Tips & Advice

What advice would you give someone wanting to get into sales?

Start now, if you want to get into this industry start networking as soon as possible. Take risks and utilise every opportunity that presents itself. Pick up the phone or come in and have a chat, ask questions and learn more where you can. When you’re in school, you have a lot of time up your sleeve that you can to use to your advantage. In sales you need to keep an open mind, don’t take anything personally. You can’t make everyone happy but you can work towards your goals as best you can.

Have a willingness to work, show up and be the best version of yourself every day and the rest will fall into place. Opportunities are everywhere if you put in the hard yards, you will get there.

What do you wish you knew before leaving school?

I would have liked to learn more about the trucking industry. This is not really spoken about in school, but there is a range of opportunities in different sectors that you never hear about until you get amongst it. I initially thought an apprenticeship in trucking only meant mechanics, but the reality is there are multiple pathways, from parts, engineering, sales… the opportunities are endless.

Overall, our objective at CAL Isuzu is to reach our KPIs (key performance indicators) and to try to maintain a 50 percent market share within Isuzu in and within the Japanese automotive market in New Zealand. Our goal is to keep our customers moving and getting customers product from point A to point B in a timely fashion.

What school subjects could be useful in this role?

A useful subject would be maths because numbers in sales are crucial. If you have an opportunity to take accounting that is useful also. For transport sales specifically, I would say any subjects that are automotive related or subjects involving hands-on work are also a plus. You need to get the figures right, the industry is competitive and you need to understand what your competitors are selling, the various price ranges, and where you can compete.

Do you have any advice for managing stress?

It is good to have a good support network within the company, where if faced with challenges you can talk to someone who has faced similar issues in the past.

In sales it is a big skill to have the ability to say no. Sometimes keeping customers happy and saying yes to everything will add a layer of stress. Having hobbies outside of work such as spending time with family and riding motorcycles is a really good way to clear my mind.

About CAL Isuzu

CAL Isuzu is a Hamilton-based industry leader in new and used trucks, modifying hundreds of heavy vehicles each year to meet customer demand.

With the latest models and access to the newest technology, the CAL Isuzu team is stoked when the alarm goes off in the morning because they love what they do.

They get a kick out of working with new technology, making modifications and performing maintenance to keep their customers on the road.

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