Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in areas like psychology and early childhood education are not things one typically finds in the background of your everyday salesperson. Then again, Drew Toborowski is probably not your everyday salesperson.

Toborowski previously worked with handicapped and developmentally delayed preschool children, but after about 14 years in the field, he felt the early stages of burnout and decided to try something completely different. He spotted an ad in the local paper for a job selling cars and thought he’d try it for a year. Eighteen years later, he’s still at the very same dealership where he started, Vito Rinaldi Chevrolet in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania.

Toborowski averages 25 sales every month. He estimated that 60 to 65 percent of that business is made up of repeat or referral customers, most of which can likely be credited to the unique way he went about building his customer base, starting about 20 miles away in the town where he lives, Hazleton.

When friends there learned Toborowski was selling cars, some of them made the trip to Shenandoah to talk to him about a vehicle. A problem for many of them, however, was the idea of having to travel that distance when their car needed service. “Even though it’s only 20 miles,” said Toborowski, “around here, people see that as a large distance.”

His solution? He told them he would personally pick up their car and bring it in for service, even for just an oil change, and leave them a loaner. What started as something offered to a few customers and friends became a good closing tool, and now his daily routine involves picking up a customer’s car on the way to work, leaving them his loaner, and swapping cars again on his way home.

Toborowski said the practice has endeared him and the dealership to customers. It has also garnered a lot of repeat and referral business. “There are a lot of salesman out there, and if you’re going to be a little better than the others, you have to do something a little different than the others,” he explained. “I thought that would be my little niche, just to show people that we’re not going to forget about them after they buy the car.” 

This approach has definitely earned Toborowski the loyalty of his customers. Vito Rinaldi’s business manager, Nick Chivinski, said that many of Toborowski’s returning customers never go to another dealership for a quote; they simply come straight back to Toborowski when they’re ready to buy. Said Chivinski, “It’s not uncommon to see him with three or four people waiting for him while he’s dealing with a customer.”

Toborowski said he sees the job as more than just selling cars, that it’s a matter of finding the right car for someone and finding the right approach for each individual customer. “If you listen more than you talk, you’re going to get a lot more information, and that makes it easier to structure the deal for that customer. If you ask them the right questions, they’re going to tell you a little bit about themselves and that helps you select the right car for them.” He also said it was important to give the full sales approach to each customer and not make assumptions about their ability or inability to buy.

While time spent at the dealership and shuttling customers’ cars for service leaves Toborowski with little time for outside interests, he likes to spend time with friends and his brothers at their hunting cabin. Married for 31 years, he also stays busy with the eleven nieces and nephews among his two brothers and six sisters, not to mention several nieces and nephews on his wife’s side.

Toborowski admitted that, while the hours of the job do get to him on occasion, his time spent at work is time he enjoys. “I enjoy the fact that it’s something different every day,” he said. “You meet new people all the time, and the business keeps changing.” He said selling cars is a completely different business now than when he started in 1990. However, he said, he and the others at Vito Rinaldi look at hard times in the market “as more of a challenge and an opportunity to try and change the business and sell cars in spite of it.”

Our congratulations to Drew Toborowski, Sales Professional of the Month, and our thanks to Nick Chivinski, business manager, for bringing him to our attention.  

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