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I would have bought cars more often had the experience been less distasteful and opaque.
Just ONE of the complaints- salesman always has to write up an offer, go back to "manager," waste a half hour, and come back with a price a few bucks below MSRP. Rinse and repeat.
What kinds of questions are you looking for? How about these: How do you get the bottom dollar price? Also, why doesn't the salesman make the deal? Why is the business manager always involved?
I would have bought cars more often had the experience been less distasteful and opaque.
Just ONE of the complaints- salesman always has to write up an offer, go back to "manager," waste a half hour, and come back with a price a few bucks below MSRP. Rinse and repeat.
I don't even really focus on selling cars honestly, I just focus on making sure every person coming in has a fantastic experience with me on the store, I talk to people like they're my best friends - joke around but make them feel very comfortable - as a result, I sell about 20-30 cars a month
as far as your comment about negotiation. Every dealership has that structure because they want to make sure they're making the maximum profit. They know that salespeople are very hungry so they might take a terrible deal for the dealership if it gets them to a bonus level. They want somebody overseeing the process.
With that being said, I rarely negotiate for more than 10-15 minutes. Most of my deals are done very quickly - some customers pay MSRP and I make 500-1500 dollars, other times they haggle to nothing and I make $100 mini. I'm very good at my job so customers like me and they're willing to pay a little more to buy from me - this results in me being very high in the store in terms of gross profit generated.
What kinds of questions are you looking for? How about these: How do you get the bottom dollar price? Also, why doesn't the salesman make the deal? Why is the business manager always involved?
I answered your question about why you need a sales manager involved in the post above this
as far as getting the bottom dollar? Research is your best tool. See what's a fair price for the car online and buy it.
What do you find is the least attractive aspect of your particular job, and/or of the automobile sales industry in general?
extreme micro management is just terrible - most dealerships have a lot of micromanagement and our store is probably the absolute worst
working Saturdays blows
Having to remove snow off cars in Winter sucks
extreme micro management is just terrible - most dealerships have a lot of micromanagement and our store is probably the absolute worst
working Saturdays blows
Having to remove snow off cars in Winter sucks
Is it something you think you could make a living at long-term? Or do you see yourself moving up/out of the sales angle; or switching to another line of work entirely?
Is it something you think you could make a living at long-term? Or do you see yourself moving up/out of the sales angle; or switching to another line of work entirely?
I've been here for 2 years now. My first year, I made 100K and this year I will likely clear 160-165K. I don't know what the limit is - if I start to get more repeat and referral customers, I can maybe get all the way up to 180-240K. At 26 years old, I am very very fortunate.
It just depends on how much I can tolerate the hours and the extreme micromanagement - also hoping the industry structure doesn't change to cripple my potential earnings
Honestly, I have no idea how long I will be in the business. I won't be doing anything else in the car biz though - sales managers make the same/less money as me to work 10-15 more hours...no thanks
The salesman takes the written deal to the manager, the manager opens his secret profit book and tells the salesman this is the price we have to have if you want to get paid. Then they sit back, drink a coke or coffee, tell a few customer jokes, make the customer sweat, come back with a counter offer and it goes from there.
If the customer is offering MSRP or some high ridiculous profit for the store, the salesman, the manager and the dealer go laughing all the way to the bank, high 5's all the way. Bonus time.
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