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I say don't do it.
The internet is great for many things, but it has killed relationship based sales in the car industry. No matter how nice you may be and how much you know, the majority of people are going to cross shop your offer with people who don't know or care about customer servive or product knowledge. The lowest number usually wins. That indicates that although people want good service, they don't want to pay for it. You have to go up the food chain of car sales to make a good living.
Find something else to sell that is much more relationship based. Selling cars will only kill your love of cars. It will also shake your faith in humanity when you realize that the customer is often easily as mean and tricky as the nastiest salesperson/dealership. Car knowledge is frequently optional, as I've seen some very talented people with only basic knowledge of the brand still do very well. What you need is people skills. You need to know not only how to make them your friend, but how to influence them in a very short period of time. It's all about manipulation. Sure, you may have their best interests at heart, but you got to eat too.
You aren't making money unless you're at the dealership, and that means working weekends, evenings, and holidays. Since salespeople are usually set up as indpendent contractors, overtime doesn't exist, and you can expect to spend 60 to 80 hours a week at work on average. That means your social life goes down the tubes. Many salespeople are divorced.
Also, I wouldn't work at a dealership that accepts inexperienced salespeople (greenpeas). Any dealership - but especially a Saab dealership I would imagine - has only a limited number of customers who step onto the lot any given day. A greepea would not have the experience to quickly know if there is a deal to be had or not, and wouldn't have ability to apply careful pressure when needed. That usually translates into a lot of "burned" ups (customers). A good dealership doesn't burn many ups. Sure, some folks are just shopping, but good salespeople know that customers usually buy within 72 hours of starting to shop, so the trick is to get them to stop looking and start buying when they arrive at your dealership.
The thing to do is to work at a greenpea store (usually high volume place like Toyota, Nissan, Honda) for 3 to 6 months and see if you can hack the attitudes, rejection, and the hours. If you do well there, then you can write your ticket at a good dealership for the mid-level lines such as Saab, Audi, and perhaps BMW. Spend a few years doing that, and then work your way up to Porsche or other high line brands.
The real money is in selling cars that retain good profit margins. That would be BMW, Mercedes, and Lexus.
posted by 66.125.120...
, Thu, 8 Dec 2005 07:27:38
, Thu, 8 Dec 2005 07:18:04
, Wed, 7 Dec 2005 23:04:41
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