The Work We Do: Joseph Tumminello, Riverhead Buick GMC
I’m Joseph Tumminello of Riverhead Buick GMC. I am an automotive sales executive here.
We are a family-owned dealership. We own Riverhead Buick GMC. Next door, we own Riverhead Ford Lincoln and the Riverhead Toyota dealership down the road. A lot of the people who are in management, they set the tone for doing the right thing and taking the time. That doesn’t mean don’t be aggressive and don’t try to sell as many vehicles as possible, but let it come naturally.
I’m a rookie. I’ve only actually been here for about one year. I’ve been in sales in general for almost 30 years, but the automotive industry is relatively new [to me].
My last sales executive job was in the advertising field, working for Times Review Media and it was a wonderful experience and it certainly dealt with a lot of the automotive dealerships and I’m happy to have transferred those relationships to this job.
In sales in general, you’re always wanting to match your products and services with what the potential customer needs. It’s good communication skills, probing questions, just kind of finding out what their needs are. I’ve always enjoyed that tremendously. It’s very interesting knowing about where people are in their different stages of life.
This is actually a lot more fast-paced than I thought. There is some desk time, but if you’re doing it right, you are out of your chair, walking the lot, seeing if there’s anybody looking at any pre-owned or new cars. You should be on test drives. You should be just walking around the showroom, learning about all the new technologies, jumping in and out of the new cars that come in. I’m not at my desk very often and I kind of like that.
To do it right, you have to be in that sales mode all the time. It’s a lot of fun what I’m doing now. It kind of fits where I am at this stage in my life. Again, it’s been very, very successful and I’m very thankful.
“The Work We Do” is a News-Review multimedia project profiling workers around Riverhead Town.
