Eagers Automotive

Michael Helps | Sales Manager North Harbour Mazda

By the time Michael Helps turned 17 he'd had enough of school. He was eager to enter the workforce; however, the only work experience he had was a part-time job flipping McDonalds burgers.

He knew he wanted to be a leader, not a follower, but he wasn't sure where to start. Soon though, the opportunity presented itself. Michael's boss told him that he'd give him a duty-managers position if he joined the company full-time and 'learned the ropes.' He jumped at the chance, leaving the 7th form behind him.

However, after about three years [2012] with the 'golden arches', Michael's hunger for growth soon prevailed had him looking for more. He'd always had a passion for cooking (you'd know if you're lucky enough to have tried his ribs), so for a while he toyed with enrolling in culinary school. However, he was worried that by becoming a Chef would make him resent his love for the kitchen so, he kept looking.

Michael Helps

Persistence, resilience, patience, and competitiveness are some of the core traits that one finds in great salespeople - one day a friend of Michael's pointed out to him that he processed these exact traits and that sales would be a perfect match for him. This shift in thinking soon lead him into car sales and soon enough, Michael made his start selling used vehicles at Honda in New Market.

A little while later he joined the used car team at North Harbour Mazda. As it turns out Michael found out that he was rather good at selling cars, winning 'used car salesperson of the year' in his first year at North Harbour Mazda. In only three and a half years he took over as the manager of the new vehicle department, helping lead the team to winning the 'Mazda Dealer Performance Award' in 2019.

Michael will tell you that his success is because the Mazda brand is so easy to love. "Customer's love the product and Mazda's quality and reliability means that people never need to complain." There's no doubting the truth of this but we all know that cars, even the best ones, don't just sell themselves!

Interacting with customers and coming up with the best solution for them, is Michael's favourite aspect of car sales. He also gets a great deal of satisfaction that comes from finding ways to get the best out of the team and watching everyone grow in their roles. He loves going above and beyond to help other people achieve their goals. For Michael, the measure of success will be judged by looking back over the last 10 years and seeing how far his team has come.

While he is proud of the team's past success, Michael is very mindful that the current environment is full of uncertainties. Today's market is constantly throwing curveballs. However, Michael remains eager to lead his team around these obstacles and set an aspirational future path that includes continued growth for the company and personal growth for him.

In his spare time, Michael continues to enjoy cooking, riding his motorcycle, hanging out with friends, and going to the gym. In fact, some of you may have noticed the benefits of Michael's gym interest; he's recently undergone a massive weight loss transformation – a losing 70kg in the last two years!

Michael Helps
Michael Helps

Michael's story just goes to show, that if you're currently working at McDonalds and aspiring to move into car sales, there is no reason you can't, one day, be a sales manager. As Michael would say "there's the car yard, now go and get it!"

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