Learning the sales ropes the hard way
Matt Johnson kind of learned car selling the hard way. “I wasn’t very good,” he said of his start in the business almost two decades ago. “I was scared. If I hadn’t been the CFO’s kid, I might not have had a job. They actually moved me from used cars to new cars because they were concerned I wasn’t going to sell anything.”
So as a 20-year-old, just learning the ropes, it was tough.
“I had a very thin skin,” said Johnson, who is now the sales manager at University Volkswagen Mazda.
So that first sale almost three weeks after his start was noteworthy indeed.
“It was a little stick Hyundai Accent,” Johnson said. “I was selling them before they had the 100,000-mile warranty. I like to say I was selling Hyundais when Hyundais weren’t cool.”
But when that first sale went down, “It was awesome,” he said. “I knew I would be doing this for a long time just to feel that rush again. And I’ve just kept on selling cars.”
Still, it’s not as if a light bulb went off and Johnson suddenly became a carselling dynamo.
Instead, it was a process. He picked up the art of credit while working for the defunct Dave’s Ideal Wheels. Then Johnson credits Bob Cockerham, now University general manager and partner, with not only giving him an education in the business but also supporting him when things were bleak.
For instance, years ago when first diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, Cockerham kept him on the payroll. And when Johnson’s 2-year-old son suffered a stroke, Cockerham gave him time off whenever it was needed.
“He taught me banking and finance and being a manager,” Johnson said. “He’s really loyal and he always had my back when I needed it.”
Likewise, he said, University owner Randy Price has been the type of owner employees embrace.
“His caring for the people he employs is unbelievable,” Johnson said. “The two of them have been so good to me.”
He’s actually been with Cockerham through two dealerships and can’t see ever going elsewhere.
“I think they’re the best in Albuquerque,” he said of Price and Cockerham. “If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think I would be doing this anymore.”