When I first started working in the auto transportation industry back in 2002 I knew absolutely nothing about it. I fell into it completely unexpectedly and for no other reason than I REALLY needed a job; so working as a commission-only sales person for an auto transportation brokerage did not scare me in the least.
Having virtually no experience in sales, I operated the only way I knew how; by giving the customer all of the information that I would want if I were on their end of our phone conversations. I probably lost more business than I gained by my honest answers to universal questions such as “How soon can you pick up my car?”, “Can I put stuff in it?” and “Are my dates guaranteed?” because my answers were always the truth and that's rarely the answer that the customer asking such questions is looking for. However, I did not want for a moment for my customers to feel that they were being or had been misled or that my only interest was in getting my commission, regardless of any consequences for my customers.
The things that I have learned through my experiences working at another company, from witnessing my competitors' behavior and through the feedback from my customers over the years, both positive and negative, guided me in my formation of this company and my effort to create a more customer friendly environment in which to assist people with the transportation of their vehicles.
I chose the name “Honesty First” because the number one thing I have learned is that honesty is a very rare quality in this industry, with a substantial absence of integrity following close behind, not from carriers, mind you, but from other brokers. That is a large part of why my hiring policy places a person's character far ahead of their sales experience. I am not interested in hiring ‘closers' whose ability to acquire your credit card information surpasses their ability to obtain your trust. I hire a person based on their intelligence as well as their ability to courteously and professionally explain the process of transporting your vehicle. |
