What do the salesperson gets?

The real question is were you selling 25-30 cars a month on mini's... Sales numbers were low for me and I recognized that, but I had high profit margins in the cars I did sell. The month that sticks out most in mind was my 3rd in the business... I sold 13 cars and had $6K more in profit than the guy who who sold the most cars (27).

However, I entered the business to get into management not work the floor. I wanted to gain good practical experience that would serve me well when I get back into the game as an owner. Money was not a motivator... when I left I took what amounted to about a 50% pay cut. But again, I was gaining more practical experience to help me get where I eventually want to be. I am now in law school... again with an eye on getting experience to get me where I want to be. Did I buy a dealership at a young age, no, but I will buy one and I will do it while I am young enough to enjoy it. In the mean time, I learning through my life experiences skills and lessons that I believe will serve me well and allow me to be successful when I do.

 

If you have to ask what a mini is, you'll probably get a lot of them.

Words of wisdom, heed them.

I sold cars retail, then got moved to fleet. Had to cut a deal to stay at the dealership, just had a pipeline that was too attractive to leave. So I went from selling 35 cars at 25% margin to selling 75 cars at 15% margin. I got moved to sales management, and then eventually GSM. My margin kept slipping down, volume (read:stress) kept moving up, and eventually it just made more sense to set out on my own. Did so, and haven't ever looked back! Now I own the retailer, the finance company and the auction house. Many days, I look at my life and realize that I have always been, and will probably always be- just another used car salesman.

-joe

 

I'm guessing this would be an excellent time to buy a dealership, no?

 

Haven't sold new cars since Fiat, Lancia and IAI (Malcolm Bricklin "Pininfarina" and "Bertone"), but it was typically 20% of the net, new and used, for the small dealership I worked for. Made a lot more money converting Maserati Ghiblis from automatic to manual transmission, doing A/C repair on 308's and fixing a bunch of "rice diet" 400i owners cars...

 

That's what I hear but consumers are not the only people being tight fisted and I haven't won the lottery (sperm or otherwise). So, I am a little lacking in the funds department right now... However, I anticipate that when I get all the pieces together dealerships will still be realatively cheap (unless Obama is the messiah as some have suggested... I am hedging my bets he is not).

 

Pay can be all over the board. When I was in the business my best month and my worst month ever in terms of compensation were back to back. If you plan to get into the business your best friend is going to be your monthly spending budget.

 

My hat is off to anyone who actually is in the biz of selling cars. It's a tough biz.

 

You deserve to get paid. You just spent three years working with a client that finally bought a car. Your patience is amazing and even though you are the Maytag repairman, you eventually got some work. You might have an invisible friend that you talk to but this is understandable after years of crazy client/dealer principle antics. You spent more time with that client than you did getting to know your wife before the proposal. He owns your ass after the delivery and he has bought your undivided attention for years to come. He will call you at 3am when he is drunk and his F1 tranny is jammed on a parking garage hill.

What is your percentage for all of this? What are you worth and how do you prove it? Do you work for a dealer who retains profit through the employment of sub-standard staff or do you work for an honest and sane individual? Is his son running the dealership after working his way up in three months? Are you making flats or can you make a 40k commission on the right car?

Some observations in general for you; when you sell large volumes you are making too much money and we need to have a meeting. When times are tough we need to have a meeting to discuss how we can shower you in cash. Manufacturers behave as above but only as it relates to; you sell too many cars so we need to have another dealer or you aren’t performing to standard so we need another dealer. Don’t worry about your factory rep as the other 10 guys that had his job all had different ideas for you and he will go wherever it is that those people go so quickly. You are an independent businessman and everyone is trying to put you out of business. The shippers scratch the car and the body shop scratches the seat. The detailer burns through on the bumper with his polisher because you have only told them 954 times to be careful. The client needs time to move cash around and the dealer principle wants to know why the car is not delivered yet. The receptionist will lose your messages and parts are not available for your client that took delivery last week and he needs a widget number 2 pronto. He is on line 3 reminding you how much he paid for his car as you are trying to close another deal. The model is changing next month and your client just realized he should wait and get that one instead. Discussions about non-refundable deposits ensue. Several scam artists are pursuing you at once as your highly valuable and easily transportable product attracts them like maggots to meat.

You bought a few cars above market and failed to sell them quickly. You are now backwards a tad but don’t tell the boss because your job was only secure until yesterday. When counting your commissions at the end of the month remember, you have nothing and it is the now a new month. You know people that make 45000/yr and others that make 400000/yr selling cars. The people you meet are fantastic and some are even out of their minds. No matter, as this is a great business and you love it so what percentage will you do it for? Just go for it and work out the details on the way.