Cortez averages 21 sold units per month, which equates to about one-third of the dealership’s monthly totals. The five other sales associates make up the remaining two-thirds of the dealership’s sales. His success, which he’s quite modest about, may be because he spends a large chunk of his time on the phone when he’s in the office.

He spends at least 20 to 25 hours on the phone each week. He splits his phone time between the morning and afternoon, so if a customer works in the morning, he’ll call that customer in the afternoon or early evening and vice versa. He estimated that he makes between 50 and 60 calls on a normal day; if it’s a slow day, he makes up to 80.

The reward for so much phone work is a high percentage of referral business.  Cortez asks each of his customers for 10 referrals, and he gets them. He estimated 30 percent of his sales come from customer referrals.

Cortez said if someone told him a decade ago that he’d wind up selling cars in 10 years, he wouldn’t have believed them. His previous job in electronics was two to three hours away from home.  After growing tired of that daily commute, he had to make a decision—to move closer to his place of work or look for a job closer to home. He decided it was time for a career switch and applied at R&R even though he had no previous sales experience.  Now, he lives only five blocks from work and is more than satisfied with the career switch, which is good because he said he’s “forgot” almost everything about electronics.

“It’s just weird how it happened … It seems I started with the right foot and started selling cars like crazy, and you know, my boss liked that,” said Cortez with a chuckle. Six years ago, while training on his very first day, he sold a car. “When I sold my first car I was really nervous. I didn’t know if I was saying the right stuff … I didn’t even have my training done yet … I thought, ‘How do I fill out this credit app?’” he recalled. He ended his first month rather strongly, selling 10 vehicles, and more than doubled his earnings from his previous job. He confidently said, “It’s hard, but once you get the hang of it, it’s easy money,” but quickly added, “Sometimes, you have to work hard for it too.”

Campbell accredited Cortez’s success to “the way he treats people” and talks to them. His soothing, yet confident voice may appeal to customers. He’s a bit of a jokester, too. He believes humor helps put customers at ease.

In addition to selling used vehicles, Cortez sells F&I products. He said, “It’s not that I don’t trust the finance managers … I just like to do my own financing because I feel more comfortable doing it.” When he started at R&R six years ago, the staff was so small that taking the customer through the entire buying process – from meet and greet to signing papers in the finance office – was something he had to do. When the dealership expanded and hired dedicated finance managers, Campbell offered Cortez a finance manager position. Cortez declined. “I have a better opportunity to make more money if I’m in sales doing what I’m doing,” he said.

When off the clock, he enjoys riding his motorcycle, target shooting and hunting to clear his head, so he can go back to work refreshed and ready to sell cars. It’s obvious Cortez has plenty to keep him busy. As if selling 20+ vehicles a month were enough, he also makes at least 50 calls each day and assumes the role of finance manager for all his customers. He really is a “hero” of a salesperson at R&R.

Congratulations to Jorge Cortez, our sales professional of the month, and thank you to Gary Campbell for bringing Cortez to our attention.