Ask a car salesman anything...anything at all.
Discussion
I have a relative who is now a sales manager for a relatively low volume manufacturer. He used to sell Renaults, became a manager there, but went back to sales as he earnt more.
I've spent nigh on 30 years working appalling hours in the Police. But I've also seen him put long, long days in and be under some pretty severe pressure when sales aren't going as expected.
He's very good at what he does. There's a lot of similarities with the Police in that we both have to smile and be polite to utter cretins. I'm not sure I could do it as I wouldn't be interested in all the financial training and pushing the add ons that make them commission.
For me, the thing if have difficulty with the most is that cars for him are just 'things' to sell. He had no emotional connection with then at all.
Bit of a ramble, but I appreciate the amount of work he puts in and don't think it's a job you can just turn up and 'do'
I've spent nigh on 30 years working appalling hours in the Police. But I've also seen him put long, long days in and be under some pretty severe pressure when sales aren't going as expected.
He's very good at what he does. There's a lot of similarities with the Police in that we both have to smile and be polite to utter cretins. I'm not sure I could do it as I wouldn't be interested in all the financial training and pushing the add ons that make them commission.
For me, the thing if have difficulty with the most is that cars for him are just 'things' to sell. He had no emotional connection with then at all.
Bit of a ramble, but I appreciate the amount of work he puts in and don't think it's a job you can just turn up and 'do'
POORCARDEALER said:
This smacks of “I’m better than you” by some posters on here
Nonsense
Mexman has told us that he is better than some professionals.Nonsense
He (apparently) earns more and hasn't wasted years of his life training to be a Doctor (which would make him a fool apparently).
I'm just glad the motor trade continues to employ individuals like Mexman.
I'm glad he has found his true calling
Edited by Red 4 on Monday 13th May 12:19
Cold said:
If the cars they were selling were any good they wouldn't need any skill. But it takes skill to offload a bucket of bolts to an unsuspecting customer.
Controversial.
It doesn't require any skill if the customer is unsuspecting. But that would also be unfair and immoral - unprofessional maybe.Controversial.
The skill lies in setting the expectations of the buyer of the bucket of bolts realistically, so that they understand what they are buying whilst still achieving the highest possible sale price ( taking into account age, mileage and condition ) for my employer.
Fast Bug said:
That's because you needed to speak to someone that deals with company cars. Retail guys usually aren't allowed to deal with business sales, so rightly it wrongly, the retail person sees it as a waste of their time as they can miss a customer they can actually deal and earn money from. I've always thought that retail sales people should get something for their time if a company car buyer ends up ordering a car from that dealership. Fleet guys don't usually work weekends so retail have to do the leg work for no return.
To be honest, it essentially was a retail sale, it was just one car for a small company, paid for outright. The only company part was the fact it was registered to the company. Also, they didn't seem to blink an eye when I said it was a company car, certainly didn't go and get anyone from fleet sales.I just found it really weird that so many dealers didn't really want to spend the time with me to try and find me a car, perhaps they're doing so well they don't need to? The Merc dealers were always pretty full of people to be fair
Pommy said:
Red 4 said:
Pommy said:
That's not what you said for the part above.
Your point was police, nurses, fireman etc could just rock up and be in car sales - this is categorically untrue.
Being skilled at one job doesn't make you automatically able to do another just because your job is trained in a particular field.
It isn't untrue.Your point was police, nurses, fireman etc could just rock up and be in car sales - this is categorically untrue.
Being skilled at one job doesn't make you automatically able to do another just because your job is trained in a particular field.
Police/ nurse/ fireman could move into car sales without any formal qualifications and start selling cars immediately.
Before they are let loose on the general public, police/ nurse/ fireman undergo extensive, recognised, formal training with many examinations to pass which leads to being registered/ accredited/ etc. in their field.
Therefore, without extensive training the car salesman cannot be a police officer, nurse or firefighter.
This isn't a difficult concept to grasp. Are you in car sales ?
They couldn't sell cars straight away, they might turn up and inhabit a showroom but they might not have a personality that could actually have them selling. Anyone can put on a suit, breathe and talk but doesn't mean they'll be functional at the Job
No I'm not. I couldn't do it.
So what car are you looking for?
"oh we are just looking"
ok bye. next.
Car salesman as a doctor.
Hi whats the best thing about seeing a doctor on a monday morning?
"erm I don't know but my ear is kinda sore"
Oh cool yeah looks kinda red do you like red?
"no not really I woke up and it was throbing"
ok and who is this with you is that your son/ daughter hey little guy you like all the stuff in my office
Red 4 said:
Mexman has told us that he is better than some professionals.
He (apparently) earns more and hasn't wasted years of his life training to be a Doctor (which would make him a fool apparently).
I'm just glad the motor trade continues to employ individuals like Mexman.
I'm glad he has found his true calling
Who has the misfortune of employing you then?He (apparently) earns more and hasn't wasted years of his life training to be a Doctor (which would make him a fool apparently).
I'm just glad the motor trade continues to employ individuals like Mexman.
I'm glad he has found his true calling
Edited by Red 4 on Monday 13th May 12:19
Okay.
Wife has a 1.6 none turbo Nissan Juke Tekna.
50436 miles on the clock. Full service history.
61 reg. Value ? Say £6k ?
Due to health issues she needs to swap it for an automatic.
Preferably one with an electronic handbrake.
We have seen a few potential replacements.
We don't have the budget to pay more.
Many of the potential replacements are between £4 to 5k
How likely is it that a dealer would be prepared to give cash our way in a px deal?
Wife has a 1.6 none turbo Nissan Juke Tekna.
50436 miles on the clock. Full service history.
61 reg. Value ? Say £6k ?
Due to health issues she needs to swap it for an automatic.
Preferably one with an electronic handbrake.
We have seen a few potential replacements.
We don't have the budget to pay more.
Many of the potential replacements are between £4 to 5k
How likely is it that a dealer would be prepared to give cash our way in a px deal?
Pit Pony said:
How likely is it that a dealer would be prepared to give cash our way in a px deal?
No problem at all to give you cash back if your old car is worth more than your new one. It's only like buying something for £17.99 and paying with a £20 note - you would expect some change back.
ETA - bear in mind the dealer won't be giving you retail price back for yours. You may want to use We Buy Any Car or the Autotrader valuation button to get an approximate idea of what they are likely to offer for yours.
Edited by Wooda80 on Monday 13th May 12:56
The perception of sales in the USA is that it is a profession, much less so in the UK I think. It shouldn't be compared to the role of firemen or nurses I speak as an ex fireman, trained up to trauma technician level. Nursing is very technical, and they have for some time required training to degree level. Firemen acquire NVQ qualifications before they are paid full rate and take promotion exams and assessment centres if they want to take that route.
A fireman's role is much more technical than it has ever been, as vehicles become more complex (more to learn about road traffic collisions etc). Firefighting is also more technical than most people think and you need to know quite a lot just to keep yourself and others safe. Whether it's a profession or a trade is neither here nor there.
I prefer to consider the term professional in terms of an adjective rather than a noun. Car sales people need many soft skills, including being able to read people, gauge whether they are genuine or time wasters, be good listeners, try to make sure the customer wants what they really want, learn to handle objections etc etc. Good ones should also be able to avoid the trap of going through every damn routine as every other damn salesperson in every other damn showroom. Most fail, partly I suspect because they all do similar training courses. A couple of the big car supermarket chains are not too bad, and tend to leave you alone more than others. Some showrooms are dreadful. I'm a bit of a petrol head and counting the cars I've had I gave up after 70.
So, as an ex fireman, could I sell cars ? In terms of product knowledge, probably yes, although less so for the most recent models of the last five years or so, homogeneous crap so I've had no interest.. In terms of listening to what people really want and guiding them to appropriate models, yes. In terms of reading people, I've always been in a customer facing role of some kind so, up to a point, yes, but that would likely improve a lot with experience. In terms of dealing with rude customers, no, I have no tolerance, in terms of stitching people up with expensive finance or with pushing them into buying expensive and unnecessary extras, no. In terms of repeatedly running back to my sales manager to try and agree a deal, no (nothing professional about that, a monkey could do it and it's demeaning).In terms of hitting targets every month in the knowledge that if I don't hit the mark I could be out on my ear, no. As a car nut, I have wondered at times whether I'd enjoy car sales, and the answer is, probably not. I imagine it's changed a lot over the years, with the dominance of PCP etc., and is probably a different dynamic now between buyer and seller. I worked shifts for 30 years but the hours worked by car sales people seem to be fairly brutal. I'm certain it's bloody hard work as well and I do respect those who do it, setting aside the lazy, incompetent and occasionally downright rude individuals I've met over the years (I'm in the market for a car at the moment and really like Mercedes, but I'll never set foot in a Merc showroom again, they are consistently bloody awful.
A fireman's role is much more technical than it has ever been, as vehicles become more complex (more to learn about road traffic collisions etc). Firefighting is also more technical than most people think and you need to know quite a lot just to keep yourself and others safe. Whether it's a profession or a trade is neither here nor there.
I prefer to consider the term professional in terms of an adjective rather than a noun. Car sales people need many soft skills, including being able to read people, gauge whether they are genuine or time wasters, be good listeners, try to make sure the customer wants what they really want, learn to handle objections etc etc. Good ones should also be able to avoid the trap of going through every damn routine as every other damn salesperson in every other damn showroom. Most fail, partly I suspect because they all do similar training courses. A couple of the big car supermarket chains are not too bad, and tend to leave you alone more than others. Some showrooms are dreadful. I'm a bit of a petrol head and counting the cars I've had I gave up after 70.
So, as an ex fireman, could I sell cars ? In terms of product knowledge, probably yes, although less so for the most recent models of the last five years or so, homogeneous crap so I've had no interest.. In terms of listening to what people really want and guiding them to appropriate models, yes. In terms of reading people, I've always been in a customer facing role of some kind so, up to a point, yes, but that would likely improve a lot with experience. In terms of dealing with rude customers, no, I have no tolerance, in terms of stitching people up with expensive finance or with pushing them into buying expensive and unnecessary extras, no. In terms of repeatedly running back to my sales manager to try and agree a deal, no (nothing professional about that, a monkey could do it and it's demeaning).In terms of hitting targets every month in the knowledge that if I don't hit the mark I could be out on my ear, no. As a car nut, I have wondered at times whether I'd enjoy car sales, and the answer is, probably not. I imagine it's changed a lot over the years, with the dominance of PCP etc., and is probably a different dynamic now between buyer and seller. I worked shifts for 30 years but the hours worked by car sales people seem to be fairly brutal. I'm certain it's bloody hard work as well and I do respect those who do it, setting aside the lazy, incompetent and occasionally downright rude individuals I've met over the years (I'm in the market for a car at the moment and really like Mercedes, but I'll never set foot in a Merc showroom again, they are consistently bloody awful.
POORCARDEALER said:
BMW dealership I worked for in the distant pre internet past used to run 2 courses with 10 “sales people” on them before they hit the sales floor. These weee people from all back grounds including many sales people from different spheres.
1 person per 2 courses made it to 3 months
Arnold Clark do this.1 person per 2 courses made it to 3 months
They bought a training center near Glasgow instead of paying to keep sending their staff, think it is called GTG (good training guaranteed or some bs) 15 of us on the course from all over Scotland for a week.
If you left and returned to them they made you go on the course again. Put us all (not local staff) in the holiday inn type place over the road and fed us.
Was a decent week with us all hanging out in the bar at night.
Enjoyed working for them, pay was good but the 7 day a week got to me after 6 months.
PGNSagaris said:
Mexman said:
I don't need any major qualifications to earn a very good salary
How much money do you earn?How much do you earn?
This will quickly get into dick waving territory if Mexman posts his salary (please don’t) as you will no doubt scoff at what he describes as a ‘very good salary’ and no doubt you wouldn’t get out of bed for such an amount.
Edited by valiant on Monday 13th May 15:27
Love this thread and the discussion herein, I think its deplorable that sales people, regardless of industry, are not viewed as professionals in their field.
I am in an equally detested role, I'm a recruiter, or now that I work in house have the fancy title of Senior Talent Partner, my primary role is to 'sell' my company to the passive candidates that are out there and have a myriad of choices if they are any good, but to the outside world and most here I'm probably some chav, with a shiny suit and a Del Boy swagger, guess what, I'm not, and I'm sure a large proportion of car salesman are not either, but go ahead and get your tin of stereotypical colored paint out and tar us all with the same brush, no skin of our noses as the good ones know who does a good job and quality lasts, and gets rewarded well.
So to Mexman, Butterface and the other salesmen . on this thread, rise above the knockers, dreamers and wishers and headd your head up high, I do, and I have to defend what I do every time I meet someone new ..... but here is a thing, as soon as they realise I can help, they are my best friend .... go figure .....
A question to Butterface, are there many / any used Megane RS autos out there as its on the list but they seem few and far between, I know the manual is a purer car but I have an artificial left knee so manuals are out ...
Keep up the good work gents, and Mexman, as long as what you earn makes you happy, who cares how it compares to some of the billy big balls on this thread who no doubt have to ask the wife if they are allowed out for a beer with their mates ....
I am in an equally detested role, I'm a recruiter, or now that I work in house have the fancy title of Senior Talent Partner, my primary role is to 'sell' my company to the passive candidates that are out there and have a myriad of choices if they are any good, but to the outside world and most here I'm probably some chav, with a shiny suit and a Del Boy swagger, guess what, I'm not, and I'm sure a large proportion of car salesman are not either, but go ahead and get your tin of stereotypical colored paint out and tar us all with the same brush, no skin of our noses as the good ones know who does a good job and quality lasts, and gets rewarded well.
So to Mexman, Butterface and the other salesmen . on this thread, rise above the knockers, dreamers and wishers and headd your head up high, I do, and I have to defend what I do every time I meet someone new ..... but here is a thing, as soon as they realise I can help, they are my best friend .... go figure .....
A question to Butterface, are there many / any used Megane RS autos out there as its on the list but they seem few and far between, I know the manual is a purer car but I have an artificial left knee so manuals are out ...
Keep up the good work gents, and Mexman, as long as what you earn makes you happy, who cares how it compares to some of the billy big balls on this thread who no doubt have to ask the wife if they are allowed out for a beer with their mates ....
At university a good mate and I did the same degree, it was a 'professional' degree which helped you to become a surveyor.
After we graduated jobs were a bit thin on the ground and pay was poor, I could afford to stay at home and I got a graduate surveyor job, my mate needed money for a house and was enticed by the better money on offer in vehicle sales, easily double the salary.
Since then he's gone on to do sales in vans, then cars and then vans again (MB) whilst I have qualified as a surveyor and continued with my career. We've had conversations about our career paths (usually after a number of drinks) and we've come to the conclusion that he has earned far more money than me but this has been under pressure to meet targets and from having to be in work unsocial days and with the threat that it could be an unsecure job where the chance of getting a similar one nearby are slim. He would like my job now due to the sensible nature of it and the security it provides but not when he was younger, this may also be due to the changing nature of the role as I get the impression there isn't as much money in it as there used to be.
Horses for courses as they say.
After we graduated jobs were a bit thin on the ground and pay was poor, I could afford to stay at home and I got a graduate surveyor job, my mate needed money for a house and was enticed by the better money on offer in vehicle sales, easily double the salary.
Since then he's gone on to do sales in vans, then cars and then vans again (MB) whilst I have qualified as a surveyor and continued with my career. We've had conversations about our career paths (usually after a number of drinks) and we've come to the conclusion that he has earned far more money than me but this has been under pressure to meet targets and from having to be in work unsocial days and with the threat that it could be an unsecure job where the chance of getting a similar one nearby are slim. He would like my job now due to the sensible nature of it and the security it provides but not when he was younger, this may also be due to the changing nature of the role as I get the impression there isn't as much money in it as there used to be.
Horses for courses as they say.
valiant said:
PGNSagaris said:
Mexman said:
I don't need any major qualifications to earn a very good salary
How much money do you earn?How much do you earn?
This will quickly get into dick waving territory if Mexman posts his salary (please don’t) as you will no doubt scoff at what he describes as a ‘very good salary’ and no doubt you wouldn’t get out of bed for such an amount.
Edited by valiant on Monday 13th May 15:27
Red 4 said:
Mexman has told us that he is better than some professionals.
He (apparently) earns more and hasn't wasted years of his life training to be a Doctor (which would make him a fool apparently).
I'm just glad the motor trade continues to employ individuals like Mexman.
I'm glad he has found his true calling
Jesus Christ Red 4, I have now asked you 3 times to state where I said, I am a professional (your words) with no reply or that I am 'better' than a professional.He (apparently) earns more and hasn't wasted years of his life training to be a Doctor (which would make him a fool apparently).
I'm just glad the motor trade continues to employ individuals like Mexman.
I'm glad he has found his true calling
Edited by Red 4 on Monday 13th May 12:19
I have never said, I earn more than a doctor, just that I PROBABLY earn more than SOME of those 'professions'' that you keep wobbling on about and I'm pretty sure most good car salesmen/women would agree and do earn more than your examples.
Of course, my wages will alter and differ throughout the year, but it is mostly pretty consistent, as I'm sure Butterfaces and HTP99 will be, as we are all seasoned in our jobs.
Of course I am not going to disclose my earnings on a public forum, but in my opinion, I earn very good money for the region where I reside.
No I am not super rich, and I'm sure there are plenty of folk on here who would think my annual wage was peanuts in comparison to what they earn, looking at some on the exotica that people own and drive on here.
I am content in my role, and earn good money, working for an extremely good employer, but i work hard, and am conscientious.
Last Thursday, my day off, I was in work all day, making sure that the busy weeks worth of cars i sold, were being prepared, cleaned, fuelled and generally chasing things through to make my following day with 4 handovers easier for me and the customer.
This week, my first week off since before Christmas, and I am back in work today for a few hours to do a handover and make sure that the car is looking it's best for the arrival of the customer, and things that have been promised, have been done.
So that makes me a bad employee in your world?
Despite several requests, yet again you have failed to disclose your 'profession', that is of course assuming you have one.?
Please tell me how your first day in car sales went today.?
Edited by Mexman on Monday 13th May 16:10
Edited by Mexman on Monday 13th May 16:12
Edited by Mexman on Monday 13th May 16:13
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff