is car sales one of the most overrated jobs around ?

is car sales one of the most overrated jobs around ?

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Discussion

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 21st July 2014
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johnny fotze said:
Not sure about over-rated, they're paid a percentage of what they sell so they get what they deserve.
It's not a job that requires much technical skill or even a significant amount of training. It's not a job I could do though.
That's the problem. Good sales people come with large salaries and can demonstrate a strong history of performance. There is nothing else to gauge them on which makes employing them quite challenging i.e. they can all talk for England so it's a question of can they back up their claims? The other and arguably more important area is marketing which will generate the interest and create the feel for the business. I was once told that you cannot train for sales, which is partly true but you have to have a very thick skin, be personable and have the ability to think on your feet. IMO the way things are sold now is far more biased towards purely economical/technical decisions (car dependent) so the value of sales people in that environment is pretty low.


DoubleSix

11,691 posts

175 months

Monday 21st July 2014
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Efbe said:
no, I would go through the internet. Sales persons provide absolutely no benefit to me.

I assume you are in sales.
Kind of, but I work in the stock market not the automotive industry. My Family are on the automotive side.

However the benefit of working front line is that I don't see everything just from my perspective but from that of my clients too.

TVR1

5,460 posts

224 months

Monday 21st July 2014
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Efbe said:
no, I would go through the internet. Sales persons provide absolutely no benefit to me.

I assume you are in sales.
Out of interest, did you buy a car off the internet without ever having looked at or driving it in real life?

I guess you are one of those people who don't ever visit a dealership then? You know, to discuss a car with a errm salesperson.

Just joking, I guess you acquire the relevant information and get a test drive by stopping some random in Tesco car park and asking the owner to take you for a spin?

Edited by TVR1 on Monday 21st July 12:54

johnny fotze

394 posts

124 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
yonex said:
That's the problem. Good sales people come with large salaries and can demonstrate a strong history of performance. There is nothing else to gauge them on which makes employing them quite challenging i.e. they can all talk for England so it's a question can they back up their claims? The other and arguably more important area is marketing which will generate the interest and create the feel for the business. I was once told that you cannot train for sales, which is partly true but you have to have a very thick skin, be personable and have the ability to think on your feet. IMO the way things are sold now is far more biased towards purely economical/technical decisions (car dependent) so the value of sales people in that environment is pretty low.
I'm no expert on how they are paid (salary v commission), but surely if they were that good then a large salary would be unnecessary.

BL Fanboy

339 posts

141 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all


If I am test driving a car I am making my own judgements - often the drives are done just by throwing the keys at you.

A brochure will tell you the spec / options list.

I'd be quite happy with a "test drive centre" The salesperson is perhaps there for the garages benefit and to ride shotgun for looneys.

A car usually sells itself to me.

On the other hand...

It is of course majorly embarrassing to admit that as a car nutter I have actually been "sold" a car. The day when someone else tells me, and persuades me, to buy any particular car is the day I hang my keys up.


Tongue firmly in cheek :-))))

Probably best ask on another website to get a more balance joe public view.



walsh

652 posts

158 months

Monday 21st July 2014
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This is a normal view point of most people in sales, regardless of industry. People in other departments view us (I am in sales myself, IT reseller) mostly as overpaid idiots.
I have worked in a few different companies over the years, and the back office - Sales relationship is pretty much always the same.

Someone hit the nail on the head earlier. You can earn pretty much what you like if you are a decent salesperson, but, if it were easy, everyone would do it.

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
johnny fotze said:
I'm no expert on how they are paid (salary v commission), but surely if they were that good then a large salary would be unnecessary.
You think?

Depends on the value of the business? You need a certain level of sales person to lead but can have other less skilled who are there to help. Imagine someone comes in to discuss 50-70K worth of car, who are you going to put in front of him/her, someone on minimum wage?

I would say a solid Sales Director/Manager is key, you need someone to actively push it along. Enthusiasm is no match for experience. Each part of the group needs to work well together,you get what you pay for 99% of the time.

LeoSayer

7,299 posts

243 months

Monday 21st July 2014
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MRPULLHARD said:
I have worked in car dealerships over the years in various positions , but not sales . It never seized to amaze me how sales people were put on such pedestals! I worked in an alfa and fiat dealer many years ago were cars were flying out the door due to fiats low pricing and the fact that the alfa 156 had just been launched
If there were only one Fiat / Alfa dealer in the country then you might have a point.

There is competition from other dealers of the same manufacturer as well as other manufacturers.

Both of which are a source of potential customers, along with people who come in for a service and end up with a shiny new 500.



Edited by LeoSayer on Monday 21st July 13:15

Impasse

15,099 posts

240 months

Monday 21st July 2014
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Of the handful of dealerships I've been involved with, the service/aftersales department was the where the money was made for the business. The sales department was just the starting point for generating income.

johnny fotze

394 posts

124 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
yonex said:
You think?

Depends on the value of the business? You need a certain level of sales person to lead but can have other less skilled who are there to help. Imagine someone comes in to discuss 50-70K worth of car, who are you going to put in front of him/her, someone on minimum wage?

I would say a solid Sales Director/Manager is key, you need someone to actively push it along. Enthusiasm is no match for experience. Each part of the group needs to work well together,you get what you pay for 99% of the time.
Makes sense.

markmullen

15,877 posts

233 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
Impasse said:
Of the handful of dealerships I've been involved with, the service/aftersales department was the where the money was made for the business. The sales department was just the starting point for generating income.
And if the salesmen don't do the job and see the cars?........

okgo

37,859 posts

197 months

Monday 21st July 2014
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MRPULLHARD said:
well that's not me mr mullen! and I don't believe sales people work any harder than those who work in a busy w/ shop or parts dept.

If I am going to buy a new bmw and return to that dealer to buy another it will depend on a no. of things which have little to do with sales people.

1 . I am buying into the bmw brand

2. I will be expecting the car to drive well and look well

3. the car will have had to have been reasonably fault free

4. the dealer will have to look after me well and sort out faults when car in for servicing / warranty work or repairs
Do you work for £10k basic salary?

No, you probably don't. I wouldn't knock the sales guys, its not an easy job, its long hours, being fked left right and center by other local dealerships, massive targets on stty finance products and various gap insurances etc, which is where the selling comes in, just in case you didn't realise.

Half of the battle when I sold cars was dealing with the fking morons in the workshop that couldn't make the connection between the work they got, and the cars we sold. Thankfully most of them wouldn't be let near the front of house because they could barely string three sentences together, let alone attempt to influence a decision and close a deal. That was BMW, I imagine its even worse at the crap brands you mention.

And let me just dispel your little situation above, there were people in the dealership I worked in that had sold cars to peoples whole family, they would come in and ASK for these sales people, to say that there is not a buy in from customer to sales person is utter st. It really is.

Edited by okgo on Monday 21st July 13:49

Otispunkmeyer

12,557 posts

154 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
Efbe said:
DoubleSix said:
Really?

You don't need a business degree to appreciate that front line staff are the ones driving the the lifeblood of the company: income/sales.

A good company will always look after it's sales force, often at the expense of departments, as without sales you are what is technically known as fked.
no they aren't at all.

A sales person is not going to sell me a renault, no matter how damn good they are, because I wouldn't even walk in the door.

For me the salesperson is the least important of the whole food chain.

Marketting is probably the most important for most people.
Yes, for people on this site, we don't particularly need the salesmans help in deciding on a car. We might need them to sort a deal out, finance or whatever (oh wait... bearded directors aren't we) but to actually sell the car? No. People here would do their research and know exactly what they want. They just need the salesman to complete. He'll get the same commission of course, for less work, but for everyone one of us there'll be 10 Joe Schmoes.

Joe Schmoe on the street probably needs the salesman a lot more. To explain the trim levels, the different engines, what does that option do and should I have this option fitted? etc

A good salesman will be able to answer all those things for those not au fait with cars.


Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Monday 21st July 13:47

sideways sid

1,371 posts

214 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
yonex said:
You think?

Depends on the value of the business? You need a certain level of sales person to lead but can have other less skilled who are there to help. Imagine someone comes in to discuss 50-70K worth of car, who are you going to put in front of him/her, someone on minimum wage?

I would say a solid Sales Director/Manager is key, you need someone to actively push it along. Enthusiasm is no match for experience. Each part of the group needs to work well together,you get what you pay for 99% of the time.
It certainly helps if the salesperson can relate to the customer, and having an educated, experienced, and well-paid salesperson dealing with an affluent purchaser of a premium product makes complete sense.

FWIW, In contrast, I went to one of the giant car supermarkets a few years ago with a potential customer, and would have walked away from the purchase when it became obvious that the 19-yr old 'salesman' had almost no product knowledge, but proceeded to waste most of the day trying to sell various warranties and insurance products.

I appreciate that margins may be low, but the guy admitted that he earned £20 or something for each one. I expect (and hope) that his salary / package was pretty low, and probably lower than a half-decent service managers would receive.

MRPULLHARD

Original Poster:

318 posts

130 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
as already said if the service back up and / or the reliability of car is not good then the customer is not going to go back to the garage again no matter how nice the sales person is.

Mr mullen , do sales people work sundays and the other 6 days in the week ? I think not and also when there is no customer there they often just flute around looking busy !

I am sure part of the reason cars are priced high at SCOM is the preparation involved in each one - whether that is valeting or servicing / repairs - you being nice to the customer doesn't really add much to the cars !

Butter Face

30,192 posts

159 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
Otispunkmeyer said:
Efbe said:
DoubleSix said:
Really?

You don't need a business degree to appreciate that front line staff are the ones driving the the lifeblood of the company: income/sales.

A good company will always look after it's sales force, often at the expense of departments, as without sales you are what is technically known as fked.
no they aren't at all.

A sales person is not going to sell me a renault, no matter how damn good they are, because I wouldn't even walk in the door.

For me the salesperson is the least important of the whole food chain.

Marketting is probably the most important for most people.
Yes, for people on this site, we don't particularly need the salesmans help in deciding on a car. We might need them to sort a deal out, finance or whatever (oh wait... bearded directors aren't we) but to actually sell the car? No. People here would do their research and know exactly what they want. They just need the salesman to complete. He'll get the same commission of course, for less work, but for everyone one of us there'll be 10 Joe Schmoes.

Joe Schmoe on the street probably needs the salesman a lot more. To explain the trim levels, the different engines, what does that option do and should I have this option fitted? etc

A good salesman will be able to answer all those things for those not au fait with cars.


Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Monday 21st July 13:47
Oi, Spunky.

Don't you come around these parts with your logic and reasoning rofl






But seriously, Overrated? I never realised we were rated in the first place. rofl

nick s

1,368 posts

216 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
who overrates car salesman? Career success wise, I see them as about equivalent to someone who works in PC world or something? I genuinely assumed that everyone else did aswell...

DoubleSix

11,691 posts

175 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
nick s said:
who overrates car salesman? Career success wise, I see them as about equivalent to someone who works in PC world or something? I genuinely assumed that everyone else did aswell...
Classy.

Whatever your opinions perhaps you could temper them with some manners.

lamboman100

1,445 posts

120 months

Monday 21st July 2014
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Car salespeople in the UK only earn about ~£30k plus car and phone, on average.

It does not really pay that well as an industry.

okgo

37,859 posts

197 months

Monday 21st July 2014
quotequote all
MRPULLHARD said:
as already said if the service back up and / or the reliability of car is not good then the customer is not going to go back to the garage again no matter how nice the sales person is.

Mr mullen , do sales people work sundays and the other 6 days in the week ? I think not and also when there is no customer there they often just flute around looking busy !

I am sure part of the reason cars are priced high at SCOM is the preparation involved in each one - whether that is valeting or servicing / repairs - you being nice to the customer doesn't really add much to the cars !
You're not getting this.

They're not paid like you, they ONLY EARN MONEY when there are people buying cars. Of course when there is nobody there they do fk all, there isn't anything to do!

And yes, I worked 1 in 4 Sundays, and every Saturday and got Thursday off as my consolation.

And if anyone in a car dealership is not valued I can tell you, its you. The people they come in and ask for when they're looking for their next car are the sales people that made the whole process simple and slick the first time. Not you.