With all the talk of buying cars... would you become a car salesman?

[look 171]

Hey Scott, you have a big pinky ring and a lot of chest hair?

A friend is a high school PE teacher. He quit coaching track and started flipping cars. Not Porsche or any brand specific but cars that sell at under 4-5000 bucks. He buys them at 2-2500, put a few bucks in it and get it cleaned up and sell them off. He made a deal with a local body shop near USC to get the exposure to his marketing target (he works at the local high school around there). The bodyshop get a small cut and sells the car for him and he makes 800-1000 bucks on each car. Now, he makes pretty good money doing it because he's hooked up with a mechanic. Retiring at 57 to do that. He does go to auctions for cars.

he started with one car every three weeks and now averages three a month and has his lic

[cabmandone]

I say go for it. When you have no pressure to make a sale because you need the money you'll be relaxed and the buyers will notice because you won't be applying pressure they way others that need the income will.

[pavulon]

Selling cars isn't about cars or people.

[billybek]

A number of retired guys work at the dealership shuttling customers from the service department to work and back.
That might not be bad a few days a week.

[Clint Lando]

I would do all job before welfare but car salesman is last resort after ditch digging and toilet cleaning

[CurtEgerer]

There was a good documentary on used car salesman with Kurt Russell in the 80s.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Hell no. Super high turnover, low barrier to entry, long hours, crappy working conditions, no value put on people, what’s not to love. Like Patrick said, the profession is dying. Go get a retail job at Home Depot or the local FLAPS.

Funny because Home Depot is on my list of jobs to check out.

[Steve Carlton]

Originally Posted by Clint Lando

I would do all job before welfare but car salesman is last resort after ditch digging and toilet cleaning

Be sure to leave the "Sanitized for Your Protection" label on the lid, please.

[Clint Lando]

yes ok

[vash]

If I was living comfortably financially. Hell yes! Zero pressure. I’d make it fun.

[speeder]

The truth of the matter is that it's always been a schit job or a good job, depending on where you're working. People need cars and buy them by the millions from dealers, so there is no reason why it has to be so horrible.

90%+ of new luxury cars, (BMW/Audi/MB/etc.), are leased. The business model for having repeat customers, which has always been the backbone of car selling, is actually better than ever. I can't count how many people I know who lease a new BMW or Audi every 36 months, or less.

If you worked at one of those places, all you'd need is to get good at leasing and learn the product, (as well as the competition), and be good at marketing yourself online and networking plus provide good after sale service. Leave business cards all over town, etc. The advent of cell phones has actually helped the profession a lot; one of the biggest problems in the old days was customers showing up when you were off work and buying from someone else. Now days, you would only give them your cell number.

Like I said, it sucked in 1977 if you worked at the wrong place. A lot of dealers have business models that do not support the sales staff at all and actually undermine your chances of making a decent living. I've seen it up close. The places value their staff and customers more and create an environment where scumbag salesmen and tactics don't fly. When I worked at Westwood Porsche in the '80s, it was about as straightforward as it gets and I'd say more of a legitimate business model than many other stores selling other things. You paid a lot for our product, (Porsches and service), but there was no monkey business and we had a good name in town.

Like I said earlier in the thread, I recently visited two VW dealers to look at used Jetta TDI buy-back cars and the experience could not have been more chill. I drove a couple, gave the salesman my number and told them to call me if they got a specific car in and they did. They did not bother me w unnecessary phone calls.

[PorscheGAL]

I asked the same question as you a few years ago and tried. I hated it. It made the sales manager and finance manager angry that I asked questions. The sales manager made fun of customers and handicapped children. The last straw was when the sales manager said "don't be afraid to get down on your knees in the parking lot if it will push along the sale." Two weeks of that crap and I walked away. Still haven't seen a pay check.

[911 Rod]

Be careful. You could turn into "one of them".

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

I asked the same question as you a few years ago and tried. I hated it. It made the sales manager and finance manager angry that I asked questions. The sales manager made fun of customers and handicapped children. The last straw was when the sales manager said "don't be afraid to get down on your knees in the parking lot if it will push along the sale." Two weeks of that crap and I walked away. Still haven't seen a pay check.

He must have been a very strong religious person to suggest prayer.

[GH85Carrera]

No way would I even try that job.

At a former job we had an office across the street from a large dealership. The guy that came in and filled our vending machines. He was really mad one day when he came in. He apologized for his attitude, and said he had just been across the street at the dealership. As he filled a vending machine the salesmen were in there laughing at customers. Tow of them were supposedly talking to mangers to get the best deal, but were actually just killing time before going back to the "suckers" and several other salesmen were betting on how far upside down they could get on client. They were actually having a contest to see how far upside down on car loans they could get someone.

No doubt there are a many great car salesmen in the world. They guy that sold us our Macan has been there for over 25 years. He is knowledgeable of the cars, and he was great to deal with.

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

No way would I even try that job.

At a former job we had an office across the street from a large dealership. The guy that came in and filled our vending machines. He was really mad one day when he came in. He apologized for his attitude, and said he had just been across the street at the dealership. As he filled a vending machine the salesmen were in there laughing at customers. Tow of them were supposedly talking to mangers to get the best deal, but were actually just killing time before going back to the "suckers" and several other salesmen were betting on how far upside down they could get on client. They were actually having a contest to see how far upside down on car loans they could get someone.

No doubt there are a many great car salesmen in the world. They guy that sold us our Macan has been there for over 25 years. He is knowledgeable of the cars, and he was great to deal with.

That's really the key to selling.. Know your product and be able to speak knowledgeably about it. If you can do that, you don't have to "sell" because the product you're selling will ultimately sell itself. You become less of a "salesman" and more of an information resource. Most of the hard sell salesmen I have encountered didn't know anything about what they were selling. It's pretty easy to tell the ones who are in it to make a buck from the ones who do it because they truly enjoy the job and helping people make an informed buying decision.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by cabmando

That's really the key to selling.. Know your product and be able to speak knowledgeably about it. If you can do that, you don't have to "sell" because the product you're selling will ultimately sell itself. You become less of a "salesman" and more of an information resource. Most of the hard sell salesmen I have encountered didn't know anything about what they were selling. It's pretty easy to tell the ones who are in it to make a buck from the ones who do it because they truly enjoy the job and helping people make an informed buying decision.

That is 100% true of any salesman for any product. I was in a Best Buy a few years ago looking at monitors. I heard a salesman just speaking in pure BS. He was truly speaking gibberish, but with megahertz, and "rams" and jargon that did not make any sense. An older couple stood there nodding. I want to run up and tell them to flee the store.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by cabmando

That's really the key to selling.. Know your product and be able to speak knowledgeably about it. If you can do that, you don't have to "sell" because the product you're selling will ultimately sell itself. You become less of a "salesman" and more of an information resource. Most of the hard sell salesmen I have encountered didn't know anything about what they were selling. It's pretty easy to tell the ones who are in it to make a buck from the ones who do it because they truly enjoy the job and helping people make an informed buying decision.

I find it super annoying when I'm car shopping and I know more about the car I'm looking at than the salesman.

Well... there is always the greeter job at Walmart.

[vash]

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

I asked the same question as you a few years ago and tried. I hated it. It made the sales manager and finance manager angry that I asked questions. The sales manager made fun of customers and handicapped children. The last straw was when the sales manager said "don't be afraid to get down on your knees in the parking lot if it will push along the sale." Two weeks of that crap and I walked away. Still haven't seen a pay check.

This was difficult for me to read. Sorry you went through this.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

I asked the same question as you a few years ago and tried. I hated it. It made the sales manager and finance manager angry that I asked questions. The sales manager made fun of customers and handicapped children. The last straw was when the sales manager said "don't be afraid to get down on your knees in the parking lot if it will push along the sale." Two weeks of that crap and I walked away. Still haven't seen a pay check.

That's a horrible story and I believe every word of it but from what we've all been reading in the papers lately, it is not unique to the car dealer industry. There are a lot of hideous people out there.