Car Salesmen Beat Economic Blues
By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Hyundai Motor salesman Choi Jin-sung is in charge of the carmaker's showroom in Haehwa-dong in central Seoul, but spotting the 43-year-old there isn't easy because of the huge client base he manages all across the city. Being the Hyundai No. 1 salesman eight years in a row, Choi's tactic is clearly different.
``The economy is bad, but that's not an excuse for me to slow down,'' the sales whiz recently said after winning the No. 1 spot again last year for selling 300 cars.
Choi said unlike other sales professionals, who typically expand their network through family and friends, he studies which industries are up and coming.
``I first find out who can afford the leisure of buying a new car, and that's where I start building my contacts,'' said Choi, who earns more than a hundred million won (about $76,000) per year.
While his accomplishment in the news earlier this month was impressive, Choi apparently isn't the only one who excelled through the downturn in 2008.
Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group said Tuesday that 283 sales professionals working for Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors took home more than a hundred million won last year, which is up from 251 employees a year earlier.
Hyundai Motor, the world's fifth-largest maker, said its top 206 salesmen sold 27,856 vehicles, which accounts for 4.7 percent of the auto group's sales, while Kia Motor said its top 77 staff sold 10,507 cars, which takes up 3.3 percent of total sales.
The company said although the economy was sluggish and the market was in a downbeat mood, strong incentive programs drove employees to deliver even better figures compared to 2007.
Hyundai Motor sold more than 1.66 million in 2008, a drop of 1.9 percent from 2007. Domestic sales slipped 8.7 percent to 570,000, but exports jumped 2.1 percent to 1.09 million. Meanwhile, Kia Motors' domestic sales rose 16 percent to 315,200 last year.