[OT] Anyone here a/was a car salesmen?

[Paul_Klein]

I'm pretty desperate for a job right now, and so I applied at a car dealership near my town. They said if I wanted, they would give me the job, and right now I'm considering it.

I'm asking if anyone here has any experience with that line of work.

Basically I would work 50 hours a week and work purely on commision. I'm a little hesitant, but the oppurtinuty to make good money is there. And I *really* need a job right now.

So can anyone here offer any insight?

Thanks

 

[Mistwell]

Do you think you will make a decent salesmen?

 

[jmucchiello]

My father tried this for a while. He wasn't cutthroat enough. He wouldn't sell a car to someone when he knew they couldn't affoard the payments. Or when the payments were rediculous. People would come in and say they don't want higher than a $250 payment. He would say the only terms I can give you would mean that you would pay 2.5 times the value of the car over the next 6 years. And they would want to take the deal. He'd be trying to convince them they'd be better off in the smaller model and his boss is telling him to throw in the extended warrentee for an extra 6 months of payment. Drove him batty.

If you have a conscience, I don't recommend it.

 

[Piratecat]

I'm really leery of any commission-based sales jobs. If it were me, I think I'd be better off in almost any retail job than in car sales.

 

[Greatwyrm]

Being desparate for a job is a pretty good time to experiment with job options. At least, it was for me. If you don't have a job now, what do you lose by trying car sales for a month. If you're unemployed now, your worst case scenario is finding out you don't like it.

My wife works in a car dealership. From what she's told me, I'd agree with the others that auto sales takes a certain "moral flexibility (see Grosse Point Blank)". But I've known people who've made careers out of being honest car salesmen.

Working on straight commission can be pretty scary at first. But compared to going hungry, you may prefer to try your hand at the commission.

 

[der_kluge]

When my dad was younger he sold cars. He seemed to do well at it, I suppose, and they can make good money.

My brother-in-law was in a similar position recently. He was an out of work technical guy that needed a job, and thus found one selling Volvos, I think. He hated it. They made him park nearly a mile away, since there was no parking at the dealership. He had no desk of his own, and had to basically share one with a senior person. If the senior person needed it, my brother-in-law had to leave. It sounded a little bit like a "good-ol'-boy" system. And, in that kind of environment, there's a lot of backstabbing going on, because frankly, if you don't sell the car, the that works with you will. So, it's real competetive.

Still, if you're honest, and hard-working, and work in a good environment, it can be good. My advice is to treat people fairly. My wife has a thing about salesmen ignoring her and talking to me. So, if you do it, I'd spend special care with the wife, since they usually have as much, if not more buying power than the guy does. You'd certainly win my wife's heart over.

 

[Desdichado]

It's a good enough job if you have the personality for it (where's Kaptain_Kantrip?) I don't have that personality, though, so I'd probably fail miserably. I've tried other sales jobs before that were "cold calls" and that's a bit worse -- at least you wait for the customers to come to you.

Still, depending on how desperate for a job I was, I might take it anyway.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

::shrug::

There's no pride in not working. I've taken some really crummy jobs between "real" gigs. The idea being that I'm better off with money in the bank and moving myself towards a position where I have more options. The last time I tried to hold out for getting a "good" job I ended up getting a repossesion notice on my car.

If it were me, I'd look at it as an opportunity to help people make good consumer choices. There are some VERY sleazy car salesmen out there*, you'd be one of the good guys.

-BG

* There's a story out this way about a car salesman who took a woman's keys when she wanted to test drive a car. When she returned he refused to give her the keys back until she bought the car. Sadly for the slimeball, she had a cellphone and called the cops.

 

[Drkfathr1]

Its true that any job is better than no job.

My father was a car salesman for a couple of years too. Some months he made good money, but for the most part we struggled. He was a good salesman, and had the personality for it, but its a very fickle market.

 

[BluWolf]

I have been in high tech consultative sales for over 8 years and I can tell you honestly that being a REAL sales person is a career and NOT an easyone.

I have never worked in auto sales but I have looked at it from time to time when the thought of getting on another freakin' plane just depresses the hell outta me.

Here is what I think I know.

Autosales, like most sales, is a numbers game. Essentially in order for dealerships to make any real money they have to move alot of cars. So they incentives their folks accorsingly. Low base pay and a commision plan that pays a little but is based on a combination of volume and margin.

The only autosales positions I have ever heard of that were straight commision were luxury cars and I'm not talkin Caddies. I'm talkin ferraris. So if someone wants you to sell cars on straight commision I hope it ain't Yugos.

Now in order to assess the reality here on money, you need to look at what kind of commision rate they are going to pay you and how much they expect you to earn.

If the guy is telling you you can make 5k a month on a 2% commision rate that means you are going to have to sell 250k worth of cars a month. Is it possible? I don't know it depends on a lot of things I don;t know about the situation. The biggest thing is to be a realist and do some basic math when it comes to comp plans.

One trait that is universal amongst sales people is the phrase "hope springs eternal". If the guy tells you you can make 5k a month but none of his other guys have ever done it before, chances are you won't either.

As far as the ruthless thing. Well I can't speak from experience but I have a pretty good idea of how the game is played. Your comp plan is set up to reward you for ceratin types of transactions. Whether its volume or margin or whatever. it doesn't matter. All they are gonna look at is are you hitting your quotas and are you making them money. Motivations and tactics fall in line from there.

Something else you need to realise. Autosales is a high turn over business. Very few people stay in it long and the dealerships know this. They plan for it. It is part of their business model. And their sales sytem si structured for this condition. It is normally a very hands on, micro managed approach.

At the end of the day, the sales manager is gonna sit down and ask you; how many people you talk to today? how many phone calls did you make? how many follow ups?

I'm not trying to discourage you. This could be a very profitable interim position for you. I know what it is like to not be working. I just want to give you any insight I can to ry and help out.

If you would like to ping me some more on this send me an email.

Good luck.