- Lindsberg Pettway Jr. spent the early part of his career in various roles in education.
- He now works as a sales manager at a Chevrolet dealership in Michigan.
Lindsberg Pettway Jr. is a 50-year-old car sales manager at Feldman Chevrolet in Livonia, Michigan, and has created a brand around giving car-buying customers a "4Real Deal." He operates a website and social-media platforms, including TikTok, with his 4 REAL Automotive team of seven. Pettway averages 20 car sales each month, with his team averaging 120 monthly. He previously spent 18 years in education as a teacher, dean of students, high-school principal, and athletic coach. He's also been a personal trainer. In addition to his sales position, Pettway mentors young men, and he's working on an e-book guide to car-buying.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
March 2017 was my first month in the car business.
That first month, I sold 16 cars, which, in the industry was kind of unheard of. But I utilized social media as a platform and had a circle to lean on. I got the word out there, and it transitioned to be the open, honest, transparent, get you in-and-out of the dealership as quickly as possible, "4Real Deal."
We use TikTok and balance entertainment with informational pieces because sometimes people are intimidated when they go into a car dealership.
It is a major purchase and if you don't have the knowledge, you can make a mistake. The most important thing that I'm trying to put out there is giving people the knowledge that they can take when they sit down in front of a salesperson, product specialist, finance manager, or whoever it is, and have confidence that they have some sense of what's going on.
You need to know your credit score
You need to know where you stand so you can understand what's going on with the interest rate. You need to understand the interest rate market. A lot of people are coming in now with vehicles they purchased two, three years ago and we're telling them what the interest rate is now and they're just blown away.
If you're trading in, get the value of your vehicle.
Do some shopping. Build the vehicle you're looking for, get some comparative prices from different dealerships and find that middle ground and what the price might be.
We're on a build-to-need basis
We used to have three lots full of cars. Now we're down to one lot that is half full. The latest trend is we're selling vehicles before they get there.
That's one of the biggest questions. Do you have it, is it coming in, when is it coming in? Also, what's the interest rate?
If you know what you want, if you have an idea of what your score is, if you start the process early enough, when you come to the dealership, you're basically test-driving and signing.
More buyers are doing that, not just coming to the dealership to kick tires and walk around. When you go through that process of pulling the credit, getting the approval, test driving, financing, getting the car cleaned, that's a two- to three-hour process. What I like to do with my clients is gather their information before they get there, get their approval secured, send them the numbers, so when they come in, most times they just test drive the vehicle and make sure it has the right features.
Today's pricing and inventory issues look like the dealership's fault, but it's bigger than us
The pandemic changed the whole selling process. So now more people are handling those things before they get there to make the process quicker. I think the misconception is the pricing. Back in the day we were allowed to have a certain amount of dealer cash to make deals. But in our industry, in our brand, we don't have that anymore. There always used to be the $100 leases and we would have 60 of the same color Equinox, but now the manufacturer has reduced the amount of rebates and incentives.
Whatever brand it is, having the brand discount, the employee discount or the family/friend discount, having a current lease, the lease loyalty or the conquest-lease or having that particular brand in the household, and whatever factory rebates are coming from the manufacturer, that's just about it.
These days, one of the most challenging things is having a vehicle for the client
We get calls for different vehicles and if you don't have the car, then the person hangs up or leaves and goes to the next dealership. We have eight Chevy stores, so we're a larger group. I think the larger groups have an advantage where you can pull inventory from other stores. The other challenge is convincing my client who has been with me for the last six years and been getting great lease prices of $250 - $290, that when they come in and sit down for the same car, it's going to cost them $410. Inflation has changed the game.
As for used cars, at one point we were scavenging for trade-ins because we didn't have anything and we were paying more than what they were worth.
Now, in the last five to six months, we are in need of pre-owned vehicles.
If you are leasing, try to keep your miles down if possible
That's going to give you the biggest return when you turn your lease in. If you're purchasing, don't be afraid to do extended terms if you have to, to get the payment you want. Very few people keep their car for the long-term anyway. And make sure you're coming in with a decent score. I've seen a lot of subprime, and it pains me to give them that price point because of the high-interest rate.
People think we're out to get them, but we're not looking to build a house on a client
My brand is built on word of mouth and I do that so that people can trust me, come back. I always try to put people in position to win. I have to feed my family and my team has to feed their family. At one point certain vehicles had a market adjustment because they were so far and few in between, but that has pretty much changed.
Most times people know what they want and I'm just here to help you get through the process.