Yev Primbetov admitted he’s “always been kind of a car nerd,” which makes his job incredibly fun. “The business I’m in now is like show-and-tell.”

Apparently he’s good at show-and-tell because he averaged 18 vehicle sales a month during the last quarter of 2011. Bryan Horne, general manager at Harrisonburg Honda in Harrisonburg, Va., said Primbetov is “a natural.” He added, “From the first deal, he knew what he was doing.”

Horne hired Primbetov about three years ago immediately after meeting him. Horne said, “He applied on my day off. When I came in the next morning, a co-worker of mine handed me his application and said, ‘I think you will like this guy.’ I called him that morning to set up an interview, and when I reached the point of setting the time and day to meet, he said, ‘I’ll be there in 15 minutes!’”

He continued, “I hired him on the spot, and he has shown that same drive and eagerness every day that he has been employed at our dealership … He is a valuable asset to our dealership and has a very bright future in the car business.”

Primbetov, who was born in Russia, is fluent in Russian and Ukrainian. He moved to the United States with his family when at the age of five. Shortly after graduating high school, he served almost three years in the U.S. Air Force, before moving back to his hometown (Harrisonburg) to go to college.

Once home, he applied for and got the sales job at Harrisonburg Honda, where he’s been working while taking three classes a semester in pursuit a bachelor’s degree in finance. He has a year-and-a-half left until he graduates, and once that happens, he said he’s not certain of his plans. He said he wants to stay in the car business and mentioned the possibility of one day becoming a finance director. He added, “I’ve thought about being one of the finance managers.”

While he’s not quite ready to transition to the F&I office yet, he was recently promoted from to the Internet sales department. Horne said, “I promoted Yev to Internet sales because he likes to stay busy. We had an opening in the department and rather than put someone new, or an underperformer there, I decided to utilize Yev’s follow-up skills and initiative and place him in the Internet department.”

Primbetov still sells on the floor when it gets busy, but he’s quickly adjusted to Internet sales. December 2011 was his first full month in the Internet department, during which time he sold 19 cars, and by mid-January he was on track to sell 25 to 30 cars that month. “That’s a pretty good month,” he said with a chuckle.

His closing ratio also immediately improved when he switched departments. “In the industry, if you have a 30-percent closing ratio, that’s a pretty good percentage, from what I understand from the books I’ve read. Mine was typically about 37 to 40 percent closing ratio before. My Internet sales [closing rate] jumped up to about 76 percent [in December].”

The key, Primbetov said, is to be quick. “You have to be one of the fastest responders to at least pique their interest … You have to get them on the phone quickly.” His goal is to respond to Internet inquires within 10 minutes, and he responds to each inquiry with three emails. An automated response is sent first; then he sends one asking what vehicle colors they prefer and how soon they want to purchase. Finally, the third email contains a price quote. Then, he immediately calls them. “I like to get in contact with them [via phone] before they check their email,” he added.

If he hasn’t gotten a customer into the store within a couple days of the initial inquiry, he’ll send a couple more emails to stay fresh in the customer’s mind. “I’m constantly checking my email,” he said.

Congratulations to Yev Primbetov, Sales Professional of the Month, and thank you to Bryan Horne for bringing him to our attention.

Nominate Your Sales Pro Now

Vol. 9, Issue 2