1.5 hours to work? Damn, I would imagine taking this job would save you about 10k a year in gas money alone! Good luck in whatever you choose.

Nato,
I was in the car business for about 10 years in various positions. I started as a salesman, worked in the F&I office for a while ( That's the guy you go see to finalize the paperwork) and for the last few years I was a wholesaler for a couple dealerships. Without making this a novel I'll hit a couple key elements to being successful (IMO):

1) Stay at one dealership!!! You'll see plenty of guys bounce around...NO GOOD!.. You'll be amazed at the amount of repeat & referral business you'll get if you stay where you start.

2) I know everyone will laugh at this, but BE NICE & most importantly BE HONEST!!!! People will see through the bullshitting and story telling. People buy things from people they like...work hard on identifying different personalities and adapting to them ( just like poker!!!)

3) As far as working on comission you'll have fantastic weeks and some not so fantastic, but over a years time it will all average out so you'll know how to budget. Allow your self some cushion for the first year...sock some away on the big weeks.

Feel free to IM me if you have MSN Messenger I'm jchandler@arguslogistics.com

Nato,

I am currently in the car business. I have been for over 14 years. I run one of the largest Ford dealerships in the country and I used to own a Toyota dealership in the 90's, with my family.

It's true, you can make a lot of money. But, as someone else stated, it is a lot of work. You must be willing to committ to 10-12 hour days in the beginning to build a solid customer base. After a very short time, if you take care of the people you sell, you will start receiving referal business. I feel the extra hours and extra effort really pay off in the long run.

However, there is so much more to consider. First and foremost is the type of dealership you choose. You have been offered a job with a Toyota Dealer and it doesn't get much better than that. Toyota is continuing it's growth in the United States and doesn't seem to be slowing down. They are about to open a huge truck plant in San Antonio to give the "big three" (Ford, Dodge, Chevy) more competition in the truck market. Toyota has superior product engineering so it lends itself nicely to good customer service. Less problems with the product means happier customers and more referals. Another important factor is the pay plan of the dealership. There are almost as many pay plans as there are dealers. I would be happy to review the pay plan they are offering you and tell you my opinion on the ability of you to earn based on their commission structure and availability of bonuses. Also, you need to know the type of training they will offer you, if any. It's not a job you can just show up, start working and have instant success. Good training is very important for proper sales techniques as well as product knowlege.

This is a tough time of year to get into the car business. October and november are typically a little slower months. December is always a strong month, as a lot of buyers have a pre-conceived notion that you get a better deal at the end of the year and there are some tax benefits for consumers who purchase by the end of the year if they own a small business. January and February are horrible months and then comes the Spring. The spring and Summer are great. You get fat checks from March through September and this is the time of year you need to save a little extra each month to help get through the slower times of winter. I always tell new hires that if they can live on a small income for three to four months and take the time to learn the business the right way, with proper training then you will be rewarded greatly in the future.

I don't mean to sound to negative because I think the car business is great. I am just trying to tell you things that a lot of people wont tell you when they are trying to hire you.

As I said earlier, I would be happy to discuss the terms of employment with you and the pay plan and answer anyother questions you have. You can email me at utterczar@yahoo.com if you want.

Good luck

Wow. You guys are great. Thank you all for responding. I have an "interview" tomorrow and after that I will contact you guys. Any tips for tomorrow when I have to meet the manager? Smile a lot? Confidence? Again you guys are great and thank you for taking your time to respond.

If it's truly one of your personality traits you want to make sure you exhibit the ability to "sell" your ideas or thoughts about a particular subject to your interviewer especially if he seems he's trying to show resistance to your thought patterns. I worked w/ a guy who would always ask a potential hire a question like... " You're wearing Armani?... you like Armani?".... of course they would answer.. "yes"... then he would say something like..."Well, I tend to think they make crummy suits." He never hired anyone that immediately caved in and agreed w/ him....lol. He just wanted to see if the person had the ego drive to not be crushed the first time the customer said no. Be yourself, but be aware of the fact that most sharp GM's are looking for someone w/ the ego drive to forge forward over all the obstacles the buyer puts up yet possess enough empathy to not blow people out of the water.

Good luck,

Jeff

I just looked at your bio and see you live in Houston. I live in Austin and I know a lot of people in Houston in the car business. What dealership are you going to? Who are you supposed to meet with?

I was not joking. I would say this though I would have a team of people to help me. Figure 2 lot guys, an assistant likely your own finance person and I completely believe it is possible 20 days a month is 5 cars a day. Very Possible.

In the mortgage business I had many months where I did over 40 home loans, not home equity's. I had a great team. Do remember that the car business is full of morons who don't have a clue of how to network market or build a team. Would be a fun challenge if I were to decide to take it on but honestly all I would do is have people to help me so I am not sure that really goes with the spirit of the challenge. Remember I had months were I did 30 and wasn't half the baller I am now 12 years departed.

100 is totally doable. I would be disappointed with 50.

let me know how it goes.

gl

First, let's acknowledge this fact. If you like sales and you work hard at it your income is more secured and you will make a greater amount of income from sales then from a 9 to 5 position.

In the mortgage industry, after your first year you should be making a minimum of 6 figures. I have known many sales people in this industry who make between 100K and 800K per year. But it is up to you, are you failing forward, do you work hard, and do you enjoy sales?

You also need to be entrepenuerial-run your own business within a business. And you must constantly be on the phone and in person talking to people and selling-always be closing.

There is quite a bit to learn in the mortgage industry, and although not as complicated still a learning curve in the car industry. So when you say you "have comfort in that paycheck versus commission" do you have time and a bankroll put away to support your goal of greater income and the empowerment of running your own succesful "business within a business".

If you do enjoy sales, then in the long run if you learn your craft life will be much more enjoyable. The key is "do you enjoy it" and do you have the time to develop your skills?

Good luck!

Don't know how much time I need to actually start making any money in car sales but I have a small amount set aside (2 months worth). I am a very hard worker and I am very money motivated. I never had a sales job before but I do have over 8 years of customer service experience.

Thing is this isn't something that I am going to try and then quit. If I am going to do it then I have no choice but to "hustle" and make some money. I currently only make $40k/yr in my IT position. I drive about 36 hours a week to go to and from work and spend about $300 in gas. In order for me to survive with the bare minimums I would need to make at least $2500/month. I really don't know how hard that is for someone just starting off. This is obviously a tough decision for me.

Nato,
I Started @ a Chevy dealership in a small town of 15,000 people and made 48,000 my first year. You'll crush that your first year in a market as big as your in if you'll follow the advice of many of the posts in this thread. I'd like to take a second to mention a few pitfalls as we've all given pointers on what to do.... try w/ all your might to avoid these ( some of them won't make much sense right now, but will be crystal clear in the near future) :

Stay away from the coffee crowd... ( many dealerships are very lax on what salesman do while not working an up) Spend your free time prospecting, doing follow up calls & devouring product knowledge. BUILD YOUR BUSINESS.

Do not pre-qualify any customer.... you'll see the veterans do what we called thru the window qualifying.... it's true, some folks do like to go out kicking tires, but they all have to buy sometime or know people who have a more urgent need.

Don't get too smart. As you get more experienced you'll start to remember what invoice costs on vehicles are, approx. how much trade-ins are worth, how much the dealership has in the used cars on the lot, what the going finance rates are, and so on. You'll know none of this to start and you'll see yourself making good money on the deals you close. But, then you'll be seasoned and go through a period where " you know it all" and you'll see your gross on sales start to drop because you've begun to take short cuts and doing everyone else's job as well as yours. I'll sum it up this way.... A very succesful old-timer I sold with always said " stay dumb as a fox." A Green-Pea ( that's what we called new salesman) won't know the customer just offered him 2500 profit on a car & he'll go back to the desk and work the deal properly ( and be sent back looking to bump the customer).. the know it all..well, you get the point.

Don't get discouraged!! Utterczar can help me on this number since I've been out of the field for over 5 years, but a GOOD salesman will only sell 1 out of every 3 "ups" ( customers) he takes. It's a numbers game...the more people you get in front of you the more you'll sell. Also, it can be a little unnerving sometimes when you walk out full of confidence, big smile on your face, exuding all the positive vibes you can and as you approach the customer stick out your hand and give him the warmest greeting in the world...... he acts as if you've just ass-raped every female member of his family. Don't become offended ( I know you're thinking.. well, duh, of course I'm not going to be offended) as some days after 82 million times of being looked at like you're Dahmer reincarnated your natural reaction is to be deflated ( geezz... here we go again... gotta prove myself all over again... this is why it IS CRITICAL TO BUILD REPEAT & REFERRAL BUSINESS...100X EASIER TO SELL SOMEONE THE 2ND, 3RD, 4TH TIME OR IF THEY'VE BEEN REFERRED TO YOU) Just remember your akin to an actor in a Broadway play repeating the same role every night for a different crowd. You really have to work hard to maintain a positive attitude when you're failing possibly 2 out of 3 times.

Finally I'll remind you no matter what you see or hear... BE HONEST & BE NICE!!!

Sorry this got so long.... I wish you the best of luck!!

Jeff

Nato,

send your phone number to my PM and I will call and discuss the car business at length with you and I would like to review the pay plan they offered you as well. This will help to determine what kind of compensation you can expect to make. Also, I am sure there will be a lot of questions you have that i will attempt to answer and some that may arise that you will need to ask the dealership to help make your decision.

Congrats on the offer and look forward to talking with you,

utter

pm sent