Say What? Scion Salespeople Collaborate, Rather than Compete

I was chatting on the phone the other day with Alex Millen, who heads up the Scion sales operation at Wilson Scion in Ames, Iowa.  My motivation for calling him was a rumor that he recently had a Scion logo, with custom flames, tattooed to his right forearm.

It turns out the rumor is true, a tangible sign—as Alex puts it—that his he is  true to the brand. (That massive arm in the photo to the right belongs to Alex, and he was kind enough to give Open Road readers a glimpse of his striking tattoo.)

But in the course of the conversation, he said something that I found to be even more radical than branding yourself with, well, the company brand. He said Scion sales consultants are actually encouraged to steal ideas from one another.

“We’re a close-knit group of friends,” says Alex of his colleagues at supposedly competing Toyota dealerships that carry Scion vehicles. “With the controlled volume, we’re never hurting to move cars. So we share our ideas and work to build the brand as a whole. We feed off of each other. It’s definitely a different way to think about the business.”

I’ll say. The car biz, or so the stereotype goes, is a zero-sum game. I win (make the sale) when you lose (don’t make the sale). I knew that Scion, with its “pure pricing” model that—in essence—eliminates price negotiation, lowered the stress level on customers. What I didn’t know is that the salespeople have also been set free. They’re responding by doing the right thing and collaborating rather than competing.

Bizarre…even more than that tattoo…but very encouraging.  By the way, showing off body art and inked appendages is a hot topic among online Scion aficionados as evidenced by recent discussion threads observed by Open Road on some of the more popular Scion enthusiast boards.

-Contributed by Dan Miller, TMS Corporate Communications

Comments

[Isaac]

It's a pleasure to find honest people who are passionate about what they do.

[guymcd]

This just goes to show the commitment and long term vision of both Toyota/Scion and Alex. He is a great guy and believes in the future of Scion and Toyota! Keep up the great work Alex!

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