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Off topic Auto sales

963 views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  Swamp Puppy 
#1 ·
Anyone do it and is it something you can make a career out of?? How hard is it to get started in??

Thanks
Jim
 
#3 ·
PA, are you looking at working at an already established dealership? I sold cars out of college. Hamelton LaGreca for the kansas guys. It was not hard, just very long hours, and High stress. For a new guy, you are working your arse off trying to grab every phone call and every new UP comming on the the lot. As some of you may know, I sorta have the gift of gab, so that worked in my favor. But the long hours and the stress was too much so i got out. I really liked it.

IF you go to and already established dealership, you will be trained by them. Every dealership has there own version of the Stuker tapes, he is a salesmn that made video training sessions about how to talk to customers on the phone and in person. You will probably have a script that you will need to learn and so on.

josh
 
#4 ·
From the time i got out of the Navy in '94 all the way through 2001 i was in auto sales. to answer your question, yes. you can make money at it...maybe even a career. it's not hard to get started..most places are always hiring and you can usually find abuot 15 different openings at any given time in the classifieds in your local paper.

i made alot of money doing it..and when i left i was considered one of the better sales trainers and the youngest General Sales Manager in our area.

now...here's the downsides.

to be successful you will need to be there when the customers are there. that means nights and weekends. not "some" nights and "a few" weekends, but ALL of them. i took 2 days off a month on average for the first 2 years i was in the business and no vacations during that time. i usually worked a minimum of 10 hours a day. i worked hollidays, missed my kids first birthday (her first 3 actually) and it cost me a marriage.

still going to go for it? good for you..persistance is a trait of a good salesman. so here is another tip. save as much as you possibly can. most dealerships don't have 401k's and even in they do you won't be working there long enough to ever get it..so don't bother putting into it. start your own retirement account and have money direct deposited to it every payday. the business will burn you out eventually and it isn't hard to spend 10-20 years in the business and not have a dime to your name. trust me..i had a sales force full of guys like that.

PM me if you have any specific questions. of post it here. i'll answer it as best i can.

Good Luck,

-Ed

hey ACE - didn't know you sold cars. did you sell them in the bay area? I worked for the Anderson Group for awhile. I was recruited to help open teh store in Cupertino when they bought it... and then at Raines Chevrolet in sunnyvale for years. Raines is gone now..owners sold out to some other group, but the store is still there on El Camino (i think.)
 
#5 ·
No swamps that was a Kansas career. I started right after i dropped out of college, i was 20yrs old. Your hours and days off sound about right. I think I averaged about 13hrs a day and 9 on my day off each week. Holidays is when you work the hardest. And if you do take a day off, all's you can think about is that customer that you have been talking to for a week trying to get back to the deelership, comes in and buys a car from another saleman and you have to split the commish with him. :pissed: So that is why you always wanted to be around.

I loved doing it, it is a great group of guys. We would get some great card games going on those cold Kansas nights.
 
#6 ·
I grew up around a dealership. My father owned the store. He went broke during the Carter/Reagan 22% interest days. Do that math on 3 million borrowed dollars for inventory of cars and parts.

After college, I worked at the store for a few years in an attempt to save the place. Its failing was probably the greatest blessing of my life. The hours were brutal. For three years, I literally worked 8am - 9pm, Monday - Thursday and 8am - 6pm Friday and Saturday. These were not long weeks, they were normal. 72 hours is a normal week!!! Long weeks were the special Sunday sales and when a customer would walk in at 9pm and spend two hours looking at cars. And vacation, forget it. I probably took fewer than 5 days off in three years.

And no, I didn't make much money.

Become a fireman. They hardly work at all (1 day on, 2 days off), make good money, have great retirement and awesome benefits. And no one will ask (every day) how much revenue you are going to generate that day.
 
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