It’s official! As of Monday, July 25, 2011 I work as an Internet Sales Manager for Sears Imports Mercedes-Benz in Minnetonka, MN. Sears contacted me regarding a position they believed I might be a good fit for recently and after several meetings and some serious thought, I decided to accept the job. I work out of Sears Imports Mercedes-Benz showroom on Wayzata Blvd. in Minnetonka, the North frontage road of I394 just west of downtown Minneapolis.
I leave Feldmann Imports Mercedes-Benz in Bloomington on the best of terms after more than three years. I enjoyed my time at Feldmann’s. I learned a lot and will always be grateful to the Feldmann family and to their entire organization for hiring me when I had no automotive industry experience and bringing me up through their ranks. Feldmann Imports is a quality organization full of good people.
An opportunity presented itself to me at Sears and I know I would have looked back in ten years and said “What if…?” if I didn’t accept the job and jump in with both feet. Of course, I’ll miss my friends at Feldmanns, but I hope to make some new friends at Sears.
I’m looking forward to getting started tomorrow morning (as I’m writing this Sunday night, tomorrow is my first day). I will be handling internet sales, interacting with customers as I have been for the, past few years via the internet, email, and phone. The difference with my position at Sears Imports is that once a customer is ready to come in, they come in to see me. I don’t make an appointment for someone else, I don’t hand the customer off. You talk to me via email or on the phone, you come in to see me, we look at the car, I answer your questions, I handle the entire transaction.
It’s a different method, but I’m looking forward to giving this new process a try, getting back in front of the customers I get to know via email and on the phone, and watching them drive off into the sunset in their new (or new to them) car with my business card in the glove box.
I drove over to scope out my new digs Sunday evening, there were lots of people walking around the lot looking at cars.