AUTO SALES ENTERS NEW ERA SELLING CARS NOW REQUIRES INTERNET SAVVY AND THE ABILITY TO AID TIME- PRESSED BUYERS

Before the dawn of the Internet and increasing time pressures ontwo-income families, car salesmen had the luxury of shooting thebreeze nonstop with potential customers.

Now, automobile dealers are looking increasingly to hire newcomersto auto sales - people who can schmooze, sure, but who also areknowledgeable about the Internet, which consumers surf for all typesof information on cars, from prices to safety records.

This new breed of car salesman also must have presentation skillsso that, according to sales managers interviewed, they can shortenthe process for busy consumers who want to get down to the businessof buying with a minimum of chitchat.

"It's a different selling climate today," said David Vernet,general sales manager of Waltham Ford. "People walking in the doorknow a lot more about cars, due to what they've seen on the Internet.And they want to be able to make decisions quickly."

His dealership, Vernet noted, recently hired four salespeople "whohad never sold a car before." Two of the new employees have generalsales experience, another is a part-time college student, and thefourth is a retired Cambridge elementary school principal. He has 12salespeople in all.

James Coady, the retired principal, began working Monday forWaltham Ford, convinced, he said, that he can become a team player by"being upfront" with prospective customers who want some quickanswers. And he knows something about setting realistic goals, Coadyadded, having once coached Cambridge Latin's football team.

Another former football coach, Orfio Collilouri, entered the autobusiness two years ago and is now sales manager of Natick Subaru.

"A sales person is a sales person, so I train people who haven'tbeen in car sales," said Collilouri, a Boston College assistant coachin the 1980s, during quarterback Doug Flutie's glory years.

His eight salespeople, he said, have been screened for "goodcommunications and presentation skills, and as keeping an even keelemotionally."

One salesman is responsible for keeping tabs on customers via theInternet. "Before the Internet, if you couldn't get information to acustomer for a day, that was OK. Today, people expect answers in fiveminutes," Collilouri said.

Three of 16 salespeople assigned to his dealership's e-commercedepartment are referred to as "the digital kids," said David Bazazi,sales manager of Toyota of Watertown. "They'd never sold cars before,but we'd rather get people like that from outside the auto industryand then train them."

"That's different from 20 years ago, when it would have been toughhiring someone without car sales experience," he said.

Wellesley's Haskins Oldsmobile, a family business started 71 yearsago, also is taking advantage of salesmen who honed their skills inother industries, said Robert Haskins, who worked in the health-caremanagement field before joining the family firm as sales manager in1991.

Of the two others who made career switches, one had been in theclothing business, and the other had been in the merchant marine,Haskins noted. He added that he's always "keeping an eye open forothers who want to get into this business and, importantly, have agood record of relating quickly to people of very differentbackgrounds."

For now, Philippe Chanial is the salesman-sales manager of Ferrariof New England, which has showrooms in Newton. "We're always lookingfor people, too, but ours is a business that deals with the self-made man," someone who can pay from $140,000 to $230,000 for a newFerrari, and between $25,000 and $2 million for older models,including vintage collectors' cars, Chanial said.

"It's a different ballgame today," he continued. "You have to knowwhat you're talking about - not only cars, but also something on anynumber of topics a buyer might bring up. And those sales people arehard to find."