I was terminated from my role as Sales Advisor in September. My termination
was public, the press team made their statement and I wanted to write this post to share the other side of the story.
One of the many reasons I truly enjoyed working with Tesla was because unlike a traditional auto company, Tesla promotes a culture where Sales Advisors can operate their business within a business. The primary objectives were to provide an amazing customer experience and sell as many vehicles as possible.
As you may remember at the end of August Tesla was offering incentives on 100D and P100D inventory. These inventory vehicles were produced with almost all the upgrades that are now standard on these models which triggered a price reduction. Then the price was reduced by an additional $10,000 including custom orders. With these combined incentives some of the P100D's were up to $34,000 off the original sticker price. You could lease a P100D from inventory, with nearly all the upgrades for the same monthly payment as an equally equipped custom order 100D.
I was fortunate to work in a location ranked as one of the highest for foot traffic in the country and time management was crucial. My team was occasionally encouraged to use tools such as sending bulk email (mail merging) to relay information to owners quickly. I saw value in the 100D/P100D incentive and wanted to spread the word. My assistant manager (now store manager) was on the same page and asked a colleague and me to email a list of owners in Arizona that purchased Model S in 2012 and 2013. I sent the email to my half of the list and immediately received a lot of interest. My colleague was busy with prior obligations and didn't have the time to reach out to his half. The following morning he agreed to let me reach out to them.
The outreach immediately converted to inventory sales and potentially more from the owners that I was in communication with before being terminated. As you know, the email was posted on TMC by one of the recipients, and then Electrek wrote an article about it. After the
Electrek story, my store manager informed me that I needed to run larger email communications by our leadership team. The story started spreading negative publicity about Tesla not being able to hit sales numbers. About a week after I sent the email I was terminated by my regional manager for "misrepresenting the company in my email." I was told they didn't like the words "showroom discount" or that I included monthly payments.
I originally received the email format from a template that the company provided when the Model S 60 lease was at an all-time low and included the monthly payments. I have over 30 "inventory vehicle price quotes" and "pro-forma mvpa" docs that reflect "showroom discount" and "showroom incentive." I also have conversations that reflect my store manager and my district manager knew I had sent the emails to customers days before it was made public. One of my leaders stated in a text message that I was "very effective with these email communications.” In hindsight, I see how out of context the email could be misunderstood, and have a negative effect on the company.
I sent an email to my entire leadership team (nearly all the way to the top) asking them to reconsider the decision, but they refused to respond. I received offers from numerous owners to write letters and emails to the top executives. At the time I was attempting to allow time for the team to reconsider without pressure which is why I didn't respond on TMC or to Electreks request to write a followup response.
This situation left my family in a tough spot because I was terminated three weeks before EOQ, and the compensation plan requires you to be employed when the quarters vehicles are delivered to be paid for them. I was also terminated three days before a portion of my stock would have vested. That being said, in this case, the grass is greener on the other side. I used this opportunity to transition into a new career that allows me to spend more time with my two young children. I want to thank you for taking the time to read this and from the bottom of my heart thank everyone who defended me during this situation. Tesla owners truly are a family, and I had the pleasure of connecting with some amazing people. Despite the way things ended I believe in the companies mission and wish them the best.
