Car Sales: 2 Week Update

[OldCannon]

Learn what truck and engine configurations are best at towing X sheep and Y cattle.

Memorize it.

[jmra]

Dealerships notorious for hiring too males sales persons. Hire one then a few weeks later fire the guy on bottom of sales chart

Sure do hope he wasn't looking for encouragement.

[snatchel]

LoL. OldGrumpy & jmra-- I don't really need encouragement. I took the job, but i'm not desperate for money. Sure, a full time job with decent income would be nice... but I have other options. I took this job knowing I'd be working 65 or 70 hour weeks, Mon-Sat, with no guarantee of making any money. I could end this month with $500, or I could end the month with $7,000. I'm mostly doing it for the experience. Call it research :)

As others have mentioned, I am hated because I am the competition. There is a system for Ups, and I've been following it. Actually, I've only worked 1 day alone, the first 3 have been with another salesman for training. I earned $0 for the 5 cars we sold. He made something like $1500.

I'm pretty sure I know why I was hired. The guys I work with go from 40 years old to about 65. None are ex-military. Only 1 is a college graduate. I'm pretty certain they hired me because they needed a young, ex military guy to bring up their military sales. Today I had 3 customers, I lost them all--but they were all kicked to me from the manager. Interestingly enough, all 3 were military guys. That did not make the other salesmen happy, but whatever.

Tomorrow is Saturday. I work from 8:30 - 5:00 pm. Maybe i'll get some business.

[cheezit]

make a friend of a good tech in the shop. they can awnser questions and confirm things for customers that may be in question. however sometimes it wise to keep us techs away from them too. we seem to be more honest about the things we see and what needs to be fixed, after all that is how we get paid.
make a friend in the parts dept too. thoses are the guys that get alot of your we owes handled.
yes I have beeten sales people at there own game. but when you only pay dealer pricing to begain with its not really an uphill battle. 99% of the people dont manage it though.

[baldeagle]

I've never worked in car sales, but have several years of sales experience. I've sold vacuum cleaners door to door, insurance products and for a while was self employed selling fasteners, lubricants and chemicals to farmers and other accounts. There are certain rules you learn about sales.

Never lie to a customer. Nothing will cost you more business than that.
Always under promise and over deliver. If you can have the car ready by 2PM, tell them 4PM. Then call them up and surprise them.
Listen to what the customer says and give them what they're asking for. Customers will tell you what matters to them by their questions. Figure out how your product meets their requirements and tell them that.
Learn the buying signals. If someone asks you what the total price is including tax, title and license, stop selling and start closing. Ask them if they're going to pay cash or finance.
When a customer asks you a question about how to use the product in his circumstances, he's considering buying.
Don't give your product away. You have to eat too.

[snatchel]

Well, i've made progress. The salesmen don't hate me as much I don't think, but you can tell there is still some friction between us.

Whoever said, "Customers are Liars.." ---- Dude, you nailed it. I have never heard so many lies. I expect the ones to try to get out of here, they are busy, have appts, etc... and they don't bother me. What drives me nuts is when folks come in here with a 520 credit, but pretend to have a 720. They refuse to let me run their credit until I have negotiated for 2 hours on the assumption that they have really high credit. I get them numbers they like, and finally get a SS# to run their credit and things go south quickly. ONe guy was UPSET when I came back and told him that I could still finance him for the $36,000 car, but rather than having $450 monthly payments they are going to be in the $650-$700 neighborhood. He yelled at me, said I was cheating him, and stormed out. His credit score was 510.

This has happened twice. It's aggravating.

Otherwise I have enjoyed it. I actually like talking to customers, I like showing cars. It's an interesting gig..

[OldGrumpy]

Yeah, they get real indignant when their bad records are revealed. Every once in a while you run into one that is not that. Had a lady come in one time with 500+ rating. Managed to get her into a new car even though she had to pay about 18% interest. She was so thankful. I used to see her in my hometown and know that she kept that car immaculate and kept it for years. Makes you feel good to help someone like that.

[snatchel]

I'm working a deal right now for a guy who is in a bind.....

16% APR on a 2008 Yaris, and $670 payments.

Since his payments are so high, he can't afford to get a second vehicle for his wife. I'm in/out'ing his Yaris, refinancing it for 8%, and tacking the loan onto a new Corrola. His combined payments are going to be in the $450-500 range.

This is the kind of stuff that makes my day. Actually helping someone out who NEEDS it. Some car salesman screwed him before and he knows it, i'm glad to show him that not all car salesmen are dirtbags.

[CainA]

You may be the only one that's not!

[OldGrumpy]

I'm working a deal right now for a guy who is in a bind.....

16% APR on a 2008 Yaris, and $670 payments.

Since his payments are so high, he can't afford to get a second vehicle for his wife. I'm in/out'ing his Yaris, refinancing it for 8%, and tacking the loan onto a new Corrola. His combined payments are going to be in the $450-500 range.

This is the kind of stuff that makes my day. Actually helping someone out who NEEDS it. Some car salesman screwed him before and he knows it, i'm glad to show him that not all car salesmen are dirtbags.

Correct.. In a business full of bad "reps" it is nice to find one every once in a while who actually care about people. By the way, I only sold for 6 months, but tried to always treat my customers honestly based on what I knew. Last month or two I was there I put more cars on the board than anyone.

[fickman]

Eventually, you'll have to watch "Glengarry Glen Ross". It's a great movie (adapted from a play) with an incredible cast and rich dialogue. . . but it seems nobody can appreciate it like a salesman.

(Extreme language warning, but if you're in sales, it's nothing you're not hearing around the water cooler.)

[snatchel]

Eventually, you'll have to watch "Glengarry Glen Ross". It's a great movie (adapted from a play) with an incredible cast and rich dialogue. . . but it seems nobody can appreciate it like a salesman.

(Extreme language warning, but if you're in sales, it's nothing you're not hearing around the water cooler.)

Or out of my own mouth. I gave up cursing for lent. Again. 3rd year in a row... it rarely goes as well as I would like.

[gigag04]

Yeah, they get real indignant when their bad records are revealed. Every once in a while you run into one that is not that. Had a lady come in one time with 500+ rating. Managed to get her into a new car even though she had to pay about 18% interest. She was so thankful. I used to see her in my hometown and know that she kept that car immaculate and kept it for years. Makes you feel good to help someone like that.

Helping someone into a depreciating asset at 18% APR is hardly something I would consider help...

[snatchel]

Yeah, they get real indignant when their bad records are revealed. Every once in a while you run into one that is not that. Had a lady come in one time with 500+ rating. Managed to get her into a new car even though she had to pay about 18% interest. She was so thankful. I used to see her in my hometown and know that she kept that car immaculate and kept it for years. Makes you feel good to help someone like that.

Helping someone into a depreciating asset at 18% APR is hardly something I would consider help...

If you have terrible credit, you aren't going to get good APR.

His point is this: A customer wants something, the customer gets it. It isn't as if we tell them, "Fantastic.... we got you a deal. 18% APR is not bad these days, so don't even worry about that."

It goes more like, "Listen, I can get you in a new car if you really need it. Your credit is tanked, so I can't do it with less than 18% APR, which is terrible, but that is a direct result of your bad credit."

This beats getting them into a 1998 GeoMetro for 4K at 18%. At least the new car holds some kind of value. Ultimately, it's the customer's choice. If they are happy, we are happy. Customer satisfaction is the goal. I bet this woman needed a car real bad.

[CainA]

Is "depreciating asset" an oxymoron? I don't classify things that depreciate an asset, but I'm not an accountant.