What is a green pea in car sales?

Where the term fits on the lot

Car dealerships run on their own vocabulary. Customers are ups, customers who leave are be-backs, handing a customer to a manager is a T.O., and a new salesperson is a green pea. You'll hear it from managers, from veterans on the floor, and occasionally from yourself after a rough first week.

Most stores consider you a green pea until you've sold consistently for a few months and can work a deal from greeting to delivery without a manager walking you through every step. There's no official graduation. One day the desk stops double-checking your write-ups, and that's it.

How managers look at a green pea

Turnover in car sales is high, especially in the first ninety days. Managers know that, so they spend the first few weeks figuring out one thing: is this person going to make it? They aren't grading you on how many cars you sell in week one. They're watching for signals that predict whether you'll be selling twelve, fifteen, twenty cars a month a year from now:

• Do you show up? On time, every shift, including Saturdays.
• Are you coachable? When a manager tells you to change something, do you change it, or do you argue?
• Do you follow the process? Greeting, fact-finding, walkaround, demo drive, write-up. Skipping steps is the most common reason new people lose deals.
• Do you take ups? Green peas who hide inside when the lot gets busy don't last.
• Do you follow up? Your phone and your CRM tell the manager whether you work when nobody's on the lot.

Why green peas often outsell veterans early

It surprises people, but it's common for a brand-new salesperson to have a strong first month. There are a few reasons:

• No bad habits. You do the whole process because you don't know any shortcuts yet. The process works.
• No prejudging. Veterans sometimes decide in ten seconds that a customer “isn't buying today.” You don't know enough to make that mistake, so you treat everyone like a buyer.
• Energy. Customers can feel the difference between someone who's excited to be there and someone who's on their ninth year of Saturdays.
• Help from the desk. Managers T.O. green peas more often, which means a skilled closer is on more of your deals.

Ethan Reynolds, the author of The Green Pea Playbook, walked in with zero experience and sold twelve and a half cars his first full month, second in his store.

How to stop being a green pea

1. Learn your product cold. Trims, packages, towing capacity, the infotainment system, how to pair a phone. Customers trust the person who knows the car.
2. Learn the pay plan. You can't manage what you don't understand. Read our guide to how car sales pay plans work.
3. Run the full Road to the Sale on every customer. See the seven steps.
4. Build your own follow-up system early. Every customer you meet goes into your CRM with a next step.
5. Ask for the T.O. before the customer leaves, not after.
6. Start your own book of business. Past customers and referrals are what separate a twenty-car salesperson from an eight-car one.