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Is the Auto Sales Profession for Me?
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I still don't know where to find all the topics on edmonds.
You have already found one great resource and that is this web site. Read through it and you will get a good idea of the very wide perception people have of the folks in our industry. Allot of it has to do with what your selling and how your management staff works.
Next look at your personal life. Are you married with kids, if so will your wife be able to handle you working every Saturday and late 3 nights a week with some Sundays thrown in the mix to?
I see you are in OH so you may have Blue Laws which makes this a mute point.
Next, do you have some money in the bank to carry you for awhile? If you are broke right now then your chances of success are cut in half. It takes awhile to get going and make decent money.
Can you handle rejection? You get it daily.
Are you afraid to talk on the phone? If you are not willing to have a stack of prior customers phone numbers handed to you and call them then it may be rough.
Can you handle boredom, yet stay motivated? There are days when this business is boring as hell.
There are a bunch more things but this will get us started.
Anyway, I figure if I can comfortably retire and sell cars more as enjoyment than necessity, maybe it won't stress me out as it does those folks who depend on it. Maybe I'm just dreaming.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
Are you self-motivated?
Can you handle repeated rejections with a good attitude?
Do you have a stable home life?
Do you have a problem with long hours?
How are you at overcoming objections?
If you are a really nice guy, I don't think this is the business for you. I think you can answer those questions above and know what the best answers would be for a salesman.
I think if you can be successful in car sales, you can be successful in most any sales. It can be tough to keep your attitude straight. That's why you take your days off and enjoy life outside as much as possible.
Joel touched on the boredom factor. Sometimes the dealership is so slow you can watch sweat form. It's mind numbing. Can you deal with that? Being able to get along with your fellow salesmen is almost as important as being a salesman.
I think that's a start. How about some other sales shmo helps out a little too. What'd I miss?
-Moo
Hmmm... maybe I should try it...
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I'm curious myself. Car nut. While I have little sales experience, I've got tons of sales management experience. I know how the sales career works. Yes, rejection is a big part of it. Good demeanor (at least I think so)!
My issue is I want to take a crack at it part time. Do dealerships have part time positions? Or, are they all full time gigs?
While money isn't the issue with me (I'm assuming if you sell, you get compensated), I'd be curious to hear what the real earnings are of a good car sales person.
We have partime sales people. The thing about part time in the car biz is that it works out to about a 40 hour week.
The only problem I have with PT sales people is that customer service suffers. Allot of times other sales people have to take care of your customer, and no sales person in the world wants to handle some one elses problems.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
Mack
Then you have the long hours, the customers that don't show when they tell you they're coming and then when they are two hours late they get mad at you because you are assisting someone else. Can you handle rejection? Rememer the girl you liked in Jr. High that wouldn't give you the time of day?
Mackabee
:shades:
Gets off his soapbox..
You mean by spraying or urinating? I saw Jack Nicholson do this in the movie "Wolf". :sick:
Shop for the right dealership:
More expensive acrs will pay off the most, so if you can get hired at a highline - I would choose that over an economy brand.
Try to go with the brand you like, you will have more credibility while selling.
interview the people you are going to be working with, just like they interview you. you have to like them - you will be spending up to 10 hours a day with them.
You have to have self-discipline to be successful. Go through the process, find something to do on the towntime, basically you are your own boss.
You have to NEED to make money or to be sucessful. We all have seen it: some young hotshot sells 20 cars in a month, makes 10 grand, next month he can barely sell 5, because he is not disciplined, and he doesn't need the money that much.
You have to have the strenth to go through the tough times. I start to get depressed by 12th of every month, because it's slow, not enough cars sold. Somehow I make it every month, but it's hard going a week without selling a car.
Mackabee
Anyway, I am very competitive. I hate to lose! If I really bored out of my mind at work; If my product order is 25 pages, I will do 10 pages and bust my rear after lunch do the 15 to make it challenging.
I've thought of doing sales few times. I am not really supermodel attractive but most people think of me as "Cute" and the "Girl Next Door." If I do I would want to sell Scion & Toyota.
I'm aware some days you're not going to make any money. Maybe I'll give it try down the road when I'm financially in order
One out of six ain't bad. Sign me up!
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
NORTSR
When I was on the floor I never really looked at it as though I had to sell the consumer on my product, I just had to educate them about it and build value in the car. The consumer is obviously interested in it or they would not be here in the first place. I looked at my competition as the other Ford Dealerships not the other brands.
Granted I sold before the internet was a every day thing and there was not so much information available. Usually when some one came to look at a new model it was the first time they have seen it except on a TV or print add.
Someone said earlier that you can't be a nice guy. Hey I believe I am one of the nicest people you would ever meet
Product knowledge is king. Be an informed sales person and sell your self along with the car. Be able to point out everything on the car regardless if it is an entry model or the top dog you sell.
I used to point out every thing I could think of right down to the most smallest detail even if it is standard on all models.
The reason I did this was in case the consumer shopped me I would hope that there next stop was with a lazy sales person, and he was done with his presentation the consumer would think that my car has more equipment then the competitors
That $15K entry level car you are showing the young couple is a huge investment from there stand point and they need to be treated the same as the guy looking to pay cash for $60K car.
It always goes back to one thing to being succesfull though. Can you and your family handle the hours, and can you keep from going ballistic when you are on a 12 day slick spot and every night you kid says "did you sell anything today Daddy?"
-Moo
They said they didn't want to hire anyone with any bad habits that they would have to break.
-Moo
Saturday 7:00am-9:00pm
Sunday 10:00am-6:00pm
Monday 7:00am-9:00pm
So I will log 36 hours in the next 3 days.
I am not whining, I knew the hours when I signed up for the job and after 14 years it is just a way of life now for me and my family. At least I am home in my own bed every night and not like the sales guys on the road that leave Monday morning and get home Friday night.
My dealership sells Audi, Volvo, VW and Mazda, so it is on the highline side.
When I applied with them first - they didn't even respond, but then a guy that used to work there reffered me and I got hired right away, without car-selling experience. They actually prefer no experience - no bad habits.
I also applied at Acura store, and got hired after 5 interviews, but I chose to go with the first dealership.
Also are there benefits to selling New vs Used?
I was prospecting for a sale. You never know when they might tell a guy needs to spend $4000 to keep his $2000 car running. I would get about 3 sales a month working the lane.
From recent posts it appears some car salespeople put in long hours and have to suffer through dead periods of no customers. What happens if you do not make your quota of sales in a given month? Do you just not get paid? or do you eventually get fired?
Also are there benefits to selling New vs Used?
In my store it is hard to get fired as long as you are working hard. I have seen guys go 3 or 4 months in a row with only a couple sales each month.
There is allot more profit to be made in used cars then there are new.
If you were in sales in a related field,if you owned your own business,etc.
If you are a real greenpea in sales in general,you have almost no shot at getting hired by a BMW,Benz,Porsche dealer.
Those dealers want pro's.
Lexus,Infiniti,Volvo,Acura it depends on the dealer.
Some dealers can't take the time to train a salesperson,some dealers WANT greenpea's so they can control them.
I've heard of companies that specialize in setting up working vacations for professionals that are looking to change careers. Wish I could do something like that with car sales!
The time of year you do it though will make a big difference. You can't judge sales in the summer as to what you experience in the winter, just like sales traffic in the summer can't be expected in the winter. If that makes any sense at all.
Yup and reverse that if you are selling Jeeps, Land Rovers and in some areas Subarus.
Mack
'
You step on a lot of toes
I was wondering if in your first auto sales job you went with whomever was hiring, or your favorite brand of car. I would tend to go with my favorite brand, if possible. I like Mazda.
Mazda is not a mremium brand, and there is no reason a Mazda dealership will not hire somebody without experience.
If you like Mazda - you should definately go with what you like.
I met a sales guy in a Lexus dealership that used to be a service tech. I asked him how he liked it. He said he really liked it. I replied that the money must much better. He had a big smile. Nice kid, in his late 20s
"Nothing" the customer answers...
The scene is the begining of the movie 'Tin Men' when Richard Dryfuess and Danny DeVito. The Fins of the varied Cadillics on the show-room floor for '62 a marvelous sight, and the director using "cadillac" script to highlight the names of the actors at the beginning of the movie.
Endelibly etched in my mind that scene is redolant of what selling cas is really all about: a battle, and ultimately a concession. The horror show of the dealer pimping customers on the cable channel for sales, and the ultimate rise and fall of the deal on the credit check is enough to prevent me from ever wanting to "sell" cars in a captive environment like dealers have with sales-people today. I'd rather bring demos to the customer and one-on-one the deal then have to wait for them to come to me and then fight over who gets the "up", sweat it out with the credit check while the customer waits impatiently and (later perhaps if lucky) not having to insult them about their credit capacity.
In short, I've sold a lot of stuff in previous jobs, but the way cars are sold today on dealer lots is nothing short of akin to going to the dentist. And we won't mention the fact that manufacturers dump cars on dealers to make quotas, and that pushes dealers to pimp the merchandise out the door.
You'd have to really want to sell cars for a living to do it, just ask a Jaguar salesmen.
DouglasR
Ultimately, ALL sales is a battle.
whether you are selling cell phones,cars,houses,medical equipment.
People come to you and want to pay the least they can for your goods, while you want to make the biggest commission you can.
Personally, I think outside sales are the worst.
At least when someone walks in your door you know they have SOME interest in what you are selling.
I did outside sales for Fleet Truck sales. That was the WORST.
Most of the time the people you went to see had no intention of buying anything.
As for bad credit,how is that the salespersons fault?
It's only the salespersons fault if he doesn't do a good job of qualifying his customer and determining early on if there is a credit issue.
If, as a salesperson, you cannot do your job that is no ones fault but your own.
Personally, I think car salespeople are just an easy target.
There are PLENTY of other salespeople who make more money than car salespeople, yet no one thinks twice about it.
Realtors for example. People complain if they overpay $500 for a car,what if you overpay $50,000 for a house?
What about the markup in the last watch you bought from a jeweler?
There are pluses and minuses to any sales job.
It is not for everyone.
Obviously,its not for you.
But there is no need to denigrate the people that do it,and make a living doing it.
You'd have to really want to sell cars for a living to do it
That is true in any profession.
You'd have to really want to be a teacher for a living to do it
You'd have to really want to be an accountant for a living to do it
You'd have to really want to be a ditch digger for a living to do it
If you really don't want to do what ever your profession is then it is time to change professions.
The manufacture does not dump cars on us, we are in the process of begging for inventory and buying from any dealer who will give them up.
We unloaded about half of our remaining 2007 MY inventory this month, including the last 2007 MY Range Rover, and should be able to unload the rest in September.
Our Storage lot holds about 250 units. Right now there are about 10 on it.
But come beginning of the year that won't matter any more. We will be the second biggest dealer by planning volume in the state of TN when we open our new store.
We are practically out of 07's,and we don't have many 08's arriving sson.
Our C30's won't be here until Oct at the earliest. Our S80's won't be in until Nov.
We bought extra 07's because we were running out.