Kia in Fort Myers shoots for best in state with great sales team, sales manager says

EVAN WILLIAMS / FLORIDA WEEKLY Ken Merrill Ken Merrill said he's working with one of the strongest sales teams he's seen in more than 15 years as a car salesman. The general sales manager at Galeana Kia in Fort Myers oversees a sevenmember team, two of whom are among the top 25 Kia salesman in the country.

"I'm a big believer in motivating my sales force and not beating them up," Merrill said. "We're on the way," he added, although with the economy, "it's tough right now."

His plan is to ride out the bad times, keep his sales force happy and make the dealership the top Kia store in Florida.

For Merrill, an average day at Galeana Kia is spent reviewing sales records and working on getting customer referrals through great customer service. To that end, he believes in making the sales process as simple as possible. "They can come in and do a straight deal without all the B.S.," he said.

Some customers research the cars on the Internet and know exactly what they want upon arrival at the dealership. If they don't know what they're looking for, Merrill steers them toward a vehicle that suits their wants and needs: something that fits family, work and play.

The majority of Galeana Kia's customers are 45 and older; Merrill theorizes that the relative newness of the Kia brand has scared off younger buyers, while older, wiser ones have researched the car on the Internet.

Kia is a less pricey alternative for Honda, Toyota and Nissan buyers, he said. And in general, the Kias also come with a longer warranty — a five-year/60,000-mile, bumper-tobumper warranty, and 100,000-mile Power Train protection. Some of the more popular models include the Rio (a sporty compact car), Spectra (also a compact, and Kia's top selling car in the U.S.) and Optima (a sedan). Currently, a midsize SUV, the Sorento, comes with a $5,000 rebate.

These days, Merrill is surprised the relatively low-priced cars aren't selling to people looking for a bargain in a down economy. "I would think the Kia would do better with this market," he said. "People should come by and see what an easy experience it is here and what the value of the dollar is."

Merrill was born and raised in Scotch Plains, a township in central New Jersey where he played baseball and football. "Nice town," he said. "Mostly Italian."

He got hooked on sales after getting a job installing home water softeners in. His boss offered him $100 if he could sell one. He didn't, but he did try to sell one to his cousin, who worked for Prudential Realty and was impressed with the sales pitch enough to offer him a job.

Before leaving New Jersey for Fort Myers in 2005, Merrill was sales manager for a Nissan dealership for 15 years. "I love the car business." It's an honest living, even if car salesmen aren't always perceived that way, he said. "Everybody thinks that this has to be all trickery. It doesn't."

He stepped out of the car business once before, shortly after moving here a few weeks before Hurricane Charley. (His parents and grandmother moved to town 39 years ago, and his mother's eight sisters all live in Florida, too.) "I didn't think the hurricane was going to hit until 15 minutes before," he said. "We were all hunkered at my house when Charley happened. What amazed me afterwards is everywhere we went, people were helping each other."

When he's not working, Merrill is often at one of his two sons' sports games. Alex, 13, is a baseball player, and Frank, 14, plays football and lacrosse. Through the boys' sports leagues, he has also met a group of friends at practices and games, who get together on Sundays.

"Now it's all about the boys," Merrill said. "When I get off work on a Saturday night, I go get changed and go to the football field."