Sheldon Lautamus is one of the three longest-serving employees at Murray GM, along with Brenda Reilly and owner Charles Vanden Broek. Lautamus still recalls being there for the ribbon cutting ceremony. To pay forward his past success of 26 years with the company, he shares his story and offers advice to help others in their workplace.
Sheldon’s story
Given his background, the last thing Lautamus expected to be doing was sales.
“Coming from a farm background… I always thought I’d be working at Mosaic or CP Rail in more of a labour job,” he said.
When Lautamus approached the dealer Charles Vanden Broek at Murray GM for a job, he figured he would be pushing a broom. Vanden Broek, on the other hand, had a different idea — sales.
“I went up there just to look for something to do in the meantime and asked him if there was anything open in the clean-up bay. He wanted me to try sales, and of course, I tried to talk my way out of it.
“He must have caught me at a weak moment!”
Working at Murray GM
Today, Lautamus works in the sales department and has remained there since he started back in 1997.
Vanden Broek certainly saw something in him, because he loves his job and has earned a steady stream of sales performance awards since 1998.
“All of a sudden I realized I was selling more cars, and one month it was 28 cars that I sold,” said Lautamus.
He was recognized by the Murray Automotive Group for his performance and has earned six plaques for being on the top 10 sales list between all 27 GM locations across Canada.
Lautamus said the best part of his job has been the ability to be his own boss.
“You’re the one that makes it happen for that month, right? If you’re not going to do it, it’s not going to work,” he said.
Advice from a long-standing employee
Lautamus shares four of the principles behind his success:
- Have the right mindset
The most important thing is your attitude, he says. From his years of experience, he says he can interview a new salesperson and predict their success from how they respond to questions.
“A lot of people we hire, I can almost tell right away if they are going to make it or not just by talking to them for 10 or 15 minutes.”
He said this intuition can also be picked up in a fast-food drive-through when speaking with the service provider thinking, “That kid would do really good if they ever wanted to get out of the food industry.”
Lautamus says a lot of people come in to work at the dealership and they get irritated by customers. “If you’re the type of person that can’t take insults… and you boil real quick, this is obviously not for you,” he says.
He thinks the reason could be that the customer is upset because the salesperson hasn’t listened to their needs.
- Be driven
Lautamus says he was born competitive, and this drive helps his work. He views awards strategically and uses them as motivation to do better.
“I’ve always had that drive, just to come to work to work. Just get out there and make it happen. If you do that it will work for you, but if you don’t have that drive (it won’t work out).”
Be driven to learn everything you can, he says. By mastering your craft, you will be more successful.
He admits, “I didn’t know a lot about vehicles. I didn’t know a lot about the math end of it, how everything works. I was starting fresh in everything.”
- Be fearless
Lautamus says you must be fearless in this role as a sales person; be firm with customers, with management, and with embracing uncertainty.
As in any position, conflict can be introduced but Lautamus says he just moves on.
“You have to be fearless. You got to just be strong and tell them to listen (when you have valuable input)...”
- You have to like the work that you do
Lautamus says he could have been a manager, but he’s happiest where he is and that makes all the difference. “If you feel comfortable where you’re at, I feel it’s best to stay there.
“First of all, you have to like the car business (to work here). I like it all, and because I like it all, I come to work to work…”
And of course, these principles can apply to any field of employment so Lautamus encourages everyone to take the right steps… learn what these are, set a goal for yourself, and find the motivation to achieve it.
