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Smart Shopper Is the Auto Sales Profession for Me?
148 messages, Last post on Aug 24, 2009 at 6:44 PM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
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Replying to: cole (Aug 17, 2007 7:31 am) 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. |
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maybe i'm off my rocker, but I often dream of retiring into auto sales. Its something I've always wanted to do, for some reason, and have even discussed my own lot with the wife. But I know that would be too difficult and require too much money and risk for us to bear. 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. |
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Replying to: cole (Aug 17, 2007 7:31 am) 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
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Replying to: madmanmoo (Aug 17, 2007 8:27 am) Hmmm... maybe I should try it... 
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Replying to: kyfdx (Aug 17, 2007 9:39 am) 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.
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Replying to: graphicguy (Aug 17, 2007 9:46 am) 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.
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Replying to: joel0622 (Aug 17, 2007 10:16 am)
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Replying to: graphicguy (Aug 17, 2007 10:32 am) |
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At one of my competitors which I worked for briefly, there is a couple of part timers. One is a female school teacher who works full time in the summer and part time during the school year. It supplements her income nicely as she has loads of customers from her parent/teacher conferences and also from her church. The other one works as a clothing distributor and is there only on weekends. It does create a bit of friction between the regulars since the part timers only coming on Saturdays when the cream of the customers come in. The reguars have to endure the boredom of during the week and by the time Saturday rolls along they are tired and the part timers are full of energy. The dealership doesn't car since they only pay the part timers for what they sell. Mack |
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You got to be thick skinned and not run home to mama the first time a customer cusses at you or insults your product. You have to be able to think on your feet or they'll eat you alive. You have to fight the other sales people and mark your territory. You have to fight with the sales managers to get your deals done. You have to fight with the finance managers to get your deals approved. 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?  Sales are a lot like courting a girl. Once you get to know them and win them over than they will let you take them on a date.  It's not for everyone. Once I even thought it wasn't for me either and some days when there's a lot of down time I start to wonder what I'm doing here. Ah, but that all changes in a minute when the next customer walks in and you're employed again! There's nothing like an adrenaline rush of selling 3 or 4 cars in one day! You feel like you can do no wrong. When I'm on my game there's nobody else like me. I can close anyone, even an Eskimo. If you feel you can handle the pressure of the last day of the month when you are one unit away from a big bonus or that big grand slam deal you just crushed gets blown out of F$I because the business manager pissed off your customers then by all means come and joins us. This is a great place to work at, you'll make a lot of money as long as you keep doing the basics every single time, every single day. Remember Michael Jordan didn't get to be the greatest ball player by sitting on his laurels. He practiced every day. When someone asks "How does this car compare to the Zorch?" I tell them "Sir, when you're number one. You don't compare yourself to anyone." You have to believe. Mackabee  Gets off his soapbox..
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