Even Ali Reda, who bills himself as the world’s most successful car salesman, can’t be in five places at once — it only seems that way, as he routinely sells 100-plus cars a month for Les Stanford Chevrolet in Dearborn, MI.
That’s more than triple the usual dealership benchmark of 30 cars per month per salesperson, Reda says in a recent Fixed Ops Roundtable webinar hosted by Ted Ings.
“The industry lied to us when it told us 30 is elite, that 30 is the ceiling,” Reda says, adding he has twice achieved 209 car sales in a month, his all-time monthly record.
Reda says his record for a full year is 1,582 vehicles sold, in 2017, which he says is a world record. The total includes 1,530 new and 52 used, Reda says.
“It’s controlled chaos a lot of the time,” he says. Reda credits trainer Damian Boudreaux, founder of Auto Training Academy, with changing his mindset to believe much higher volume is possible while retaining the personal touch.
At the most basic level, Reda says he sees himself as a problem-solver for car shoppers. Despite the high volume, Reda says all those customers feel like they’re getting Reda’s personal touch. “We want to make sure every customer knows we’re focused on them, and only them,” he says in the webinar.
Reda tells Wards he sometimes works on four or five transactions at the same time, shuttling from one to another.
He also credits teamwork, specifically with his assistant Merna Beydoun. She takes on a lot of administrative tasks including filling out forms and documents, making sure required notices are provided and signatures are collected.
“We have exactly mocked a doctor’s office. I have five offices. Each office is at a different stage” of the transaction, Reda says. “It’s fast, it’s efficient, it’s not rushed.”
Reda says that in years of refining his process, he has decided what he can delegate, such as managing the deal jackets, and what demands his personal attention.
Notably, Reda acts as his own F&I manager. Someone else may collect customers’ information, ship documents and collect signatures, but Reda says he submits the credit applications to lenders.
“I don’t need to do certain things, going over the cars,” he says. “I need somebody to fill out a deal jacket. Things that were important to be done weren’t that important for me to do them anymore” as his client list has grown, Reda says.
“Our F&I process is a little unique,” he says. “That part of it I settle, I handle it, myself.”
