What’s it like to work at the auto show?
Being knowledgeable about industry trends is vital to anyone staffing the floor
The Canadian International Auto Show is the culmination of new ideas, designs, shapes, colours and electric concepts created by people who want to see how fast and far they can get in front of the curve.
But to get to that last step in the puzzle takes several turns that most auto show visitors will never see, as well as days, often months, of preparation.
From my perspective as a representative of General Motors, and that of most of the other people working on the show floor, when the audience (who are potential customers) arrives, the game is nearly over.
Show Day is the last inning. Preparation starts before the last big show of the season a year previously was even over. You start thinking about how to make everything more appealing, interesting, informative and — most of all — fun.
You think about the sets, the stages, the staff, training, vehicles, videos, displays, carpeting — and then, almost before you know it, the doors swing open.
Answering all of the questions, getting the most-engaging responses and encouraging a potential buyer to stop at a dealership in their hometown is the home run everyone swings for at the show.
Every exhibit staff member, if they’re going to be “in the game,” has got to be approachable, be engaging, make a good impression and (the one that takes the most work) have the right answer. To everything. Even if the answer is, “Let’s find out.”
To get that far, in my experience, involves 365 days of training. Yes, a full year. It’s daily work — keeping on top of the industry, our brand, and, if we can find time, our competitors’ too.
It’s the biggest challenge of the show season. If you’re beside a Cadillac, visitors will often ask about a Benz; the staff members beside the Volt have to be well versed on the merits of Tesla. And go ahead: ask me about the Corvette. But that’s just the start. At General Motors, management gets the entire team together before the Christmas-New Year’s holidays for a week of serious training at corporate headquarters in Oshawa.
Each day, we are reminded that we are “the face of General Motors.” If, by chance, that hasn’t sunk in by the end of training, the first day of the auto show serves as a reminder.
Everyone on hand does the best they can to know everything about the product, the features and the benefits of owning and how best to convey that message to everyone who approaches you — from the 5- year-old who’s taking mom and dad for a tour of the cargo space of an SUV to the sharply dressed gentleman who wants to be assured that the stitching on the dashboard leather is up to his standards.
It really does take all kinds to keep the up-to-12-hour days on the show floor interesting. It’s the variety that makes it fun for the staff — not just the cars but the people, too.
The best are the folks who come to a car show because they’re like us, enthusiasts.
They test your limits hourly in search of a nugget of information their best friend didn’t get out of you yesterday. And honestly, now and then, they beat us. We’re only human.
At the other end of the scale — well, it does take all kinds. They just want to stump us, whether they’re a fan of something out of this world (like a multimillion-dollar dream machine) or the defender of their grandmother’s 60-year-old jalopy that “for some reason,” the company won’t fix under warranty even though she drove it for 37 years and put about a zillion kilometres on it before going to her great reward half-a-dozen years ago.
Somewhere in between the two extremes are the 95 per cent who come to the auto show to see what there is to see.
If they have an interest in something, we’ll try to help explain why; if they’ve yet to find something, we’ll do our best to point them in the right direction. Our job, like everyone else’s on the floor, is to make everyone’s visit worthwhile.
I got into the business more than a decade ago because I love cars and I love talking to people.
And best of all, just about every five minutes at the Canadian International auto show, I can have the privilege of hearing somebody say, “Thanks.”
Now, about my aching feet . . . Jim Martyn is a veteran of auto industry trade shows and auto racing. He is the chief announcer at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. This is his first contribution to Toronto Star Wheels. For more automotive news, go to thestar.com/ autos. To reach Wheels Editor Norris McDonald: nmcdonald@thestar.ca