For 9 years in a row, Bassam Aboul-Hosn, a Lebanese-American car salesman at Fairlane Ford on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn Michigan has been salesperson of the year outselling all the other salespersons at the prominent dealership.
by Rasheed AlNozili & Abbas Shehab
The Yemeni American News
“Bassam” is an Arabic name which means “one who smiles”. He is truly living up to his name, one car sale at a time. The Yemeni American News wanted to hear more about his success and take a closer look at this amazing member of our local community.
John Markovski, the General Sales Manager had some insights into just how Bassam is so successful, saying “I have been in the business for 33 years, I’ve known Bassam for 10, one thing that is special about Bassam is that he is a very positive and caring individual. He gets so much repeat business to sell somebody a car. The people like him because he is very energetic. I don’t think I have seen ever not smile. He’s always smiling and I think it’s infectious. He works the deal properly and gives them the best possible deal that he can. People appreciate him and they send other customers. He’s been a good friend of mine, I just like him, his character is fantastic, and a good person. Period.”
Julie Walker, the savvy owner of the historic dealership concurred, “I’ve worked with Bassam going on 16 years now. Bassam is just happy all the time he brings joy to the organization. As busy as he is, he always has a smile for everyone! And we are always laughing and kidding around and I like that, he’s a big part of my family here at the dealership. Bassam goes out of his way to help me, the dealership, his clients and his fellow co-workers.”
She added, “For instance, we have a new employee here on the showroom and he has kind of taken her under his wing and mentored her. Even though he’s very busy for that, he does it because he cares about his fellow co-workers so much.”
When you sit across the desk from Bassam in his cubicle the smile truly does shine through and warms the heart. His story as an immigrant who overcame challenges also warms the soul, “I came to this country 25 years ago, and like any other student that comes to this country I started working at a gas station and a restaurant for a few months then I went to college. I went to Wayne State and I had a degree in Business Administration. My brother used to work at Fairlane Ford so he invited me to work with him, I’ve been here for 15 years now and I’m doing very good.”
He still recalls his first car sale from years ago, “The first car was a black Explorer, I was very scared and I didn’t know what to do but there’s a lot of friendly people here and they helped me to process the sale and the customer was very happy. That same customer still comes here, I think I sold him like 10 cars so far! Same repeat customer.” His kind energetic persona and peaceful smile that keeps people coming back and has helped him collect many plaques on the wall behind his desk. ”I want to thank my customers, you know I have a lot of repeat customers, that’s how I got here, so I want to thank God and thank my customers for referring people to me and for coming back and I am very happy to help them.”
Walker sees the value in these qualities as a person to grow the customer base, “Bassam continues to get salesperson of the year because the more people he sells vehicles to the more they tell their friends and family and so his organization, the clients that he speaks to and his sphere of influence just continues to grow and grow.”
So why does Bassam choose to work at Fairlane Ford over any other dealer? He answers “I like this place, it’s a friendly place, it’s in Dearborn. I got a lot of nice customers, neighbors and people in this dealership are very friendly, the manager, the owner, everything, everybody here is trying to help out.”
The question remains, can any of the other salespersons outsell Bassam in 2018? According to him, not a chance! He says, with a smile “This year started to be a very promising year so hopefully I will do better this year. I am sure I will win this year!” John Markovski agrees. He says “I don’t see how he cannot. I mean the longer he stays in the business I think he’s going to sell more and more cars because more and more customers will send their friends and relatives of course to see him.”
So what is the message to Bassam’s existing customers and anyone else looking for a good Ford dealership, Julie Walker said, “They already know how great Bassam is because they work with him one on one. Bassam is always here for them if they have a problem say with a car that has been in a collision or they need service work they can always call him first and he will help guide them through any process that we have here. We can detail their car and he can set those appointments up so he is here to help them with all their vehicle needs.”
