Car Sales Trainee
Discussion
Happy New Year Everyone, I hope you have all had a lovely break,
As we all know its 2016 and we are all getting back to work, I am 17 years old and applying for a few car sales trainee role, I was hoping that some of you may be able to give me some advice as to what companies to apply for and also common interview questions, I have interacted with many car salesmen and saleswomen on behalf of family and friends, however I appreciate that it will be very different on the receiving end of the phone call,
Any advice will be greatly appreciated,
Thank you in advance for taking the time to respond,
As we all know its 2016 and we are all getting back to work, I am 17 years old and applying for a few car sales trainee role, I was hoping that some of you may be able to give me some advice as to what companies to apply for and also common interview questions, I have interacted with many car salesmen and saleswomen on behalf of family and friends, however I appreciate that it will be very different on the receiving end of the phone call,
Any advice will be greatly appreciated,
Thank you in advance for taking the time to respond,
The basic skill you need is salesmanship. If you can sell, you can, with suitable training, sell anything and never be out of work.
If you've got what it takes, there's no reason why you shouldn't walk into a dealership you'd like to work for and ask for the boss. You're not applying for a job as such, you're selling yourself. Never give up. For example, if they don't have any vacancies, ask when would be a good time to try again.
'A NO is just a request for more information'
If you've got what it takes, there's no reason why you shouldn't walk into a dealership you'd like to work for and ask for the boss. You're not applying for a job as such, you're selling yourself. Never give up. For example, if they don't have any vacancies, ask when would be a good time to try again.
'A NO is just a request for more information'
Ste1987 said:
At 17, I think you may struggle to get a job in car sales due to insurance. After all, you'll most likely have to drive the cars on and off the forecourt. I'm sure that's the case with us, but it might be different for other dealers
17 shouldn't be an issue apart from there's likely to be a stipulation in the insurance that you can't drive anything over 2.0 (or something similar- generally you'll find these restrictions up till the age of 25 IME). I first started in the dealership side of the motor trade a few days after my 20th birthday and do know at least one person who started at 17 or 18.I would try and pick a brand where you are genuinely excited about the product. That should come across in an interview and from my own experience of selling cars I would rank enthusiasm as the most important thing. If you have genuine enthusiasm that will come across and will help you to overcome objections. I've seen very enthusiastic sales people do very well even when their product knowledge was less than perfect and I've seen people who can reel off every technical detail of a car do poorly because they couldn't connect on a personal level. If you genuinely love your product you will soak up the product knowledge anyway.
People buy from people, it's the same whatever you're selling. If they don't like you they won't buy, however good your product is.
If you get a job be prepared to invest your time. The first few months or even a year can be tough as you have to build a client base. The old sweats who've been there a while will have repeat customers, you won't.
My experience is not in the UK but the principles are the same everywhere. Some dealerships want seasoned people, some see lack of experience as a good thing, you won't have picked up bad habits!
People buy from people, it's the same whatever you're selling. If they don't like you they won't buy, however good your product is.
If you get a job be prepared to invest your time. The first few months or even a year can be tough as you have to build a client base. The old sweats who've been there a while will have repeat customers, you won't.
My experience is not in the UK but the principles are the same everywhere. Some dealerships want seasoned people, some see lack of experience as a good thing, you won't have picked up bad habits!
I started in car sales in my late 40's having been made redundant during the financial crisis and I stayed for 3 years. I had some previous sales experience and found that the group I worked for liked people with no previous car sales experience. This is because sales in most main dealers is very process driven, in other words the way you greet and develop a customer is a predetermined sequence that you are trained to follow, with little room for deviation.
Some of the guys that I worked with had no real interest in cars, but were very good at selling them. As others have said it would be worth getting a decent CV put together and doing the rounds of the local dealers with your best bib and tucker on. Ask to speak to the sales manager or dealer principle, you may not get to see them unless you're lucky, but leave your CV and get an email address if you can. Follow up with an email a day or two later.
The turn over of sales staff in some dealerships can be huge so you have a reasonable chance of getting a call within a month or two.
Some of the guys that I worked with had no real interest in cars, but were very good at selling them. As others have said it would be worth getting a decent CV put together and doing the rounds of the local dealers with your best bib and tucker on. Ask to speak to the sales manager or dealer principle, you may not get to see them unless you're lucky, but leave your CV and get an email address if you can. Follow up with an email a day or two later.
The turn over of sales staff in some dealerships can be huge so you have a reasonable chance of getting a call within a month or two.
unrepentant said:
I would try and pick a brand where you are genuinely excited about the product. That should come across in an interview and from my own experience of selling cars I would rank enthusiasm as the most important thing. If you have genuine enthusiasm that will come across and will help you to overcome objections. I've seen very enthusiastic sales people do very well even when their product knowledge was less than perfect and I've seen people who can reel off every technical detail of a car do poorly because they couldn't connect on a personal level. If you genuinely love your product you will soak up the product knowledge anyway.
People buy from people, it's the same whatever you're selling. If they don't like you they won't buy, however good your product is.
If you get a job be prepared to invest your time. The first few months or even a year can be tough as you have to build a client base. The old sweats who've been there a while will have repeat customers, you won't.
My experience is not in the UK but the principles are the same everywhere. Some dealerships want seasoned people, some see lack of experience as a good thing, you won't have picked up bad habits!
Interesting post 'rep....People buy from people, it's the same whatever you're selling. If they don't like you they won't buy, however good your product is.
If you get a job be prepared to invest your time. The first few months or even a year can be tough as you have to build a client base. The old sweats who've been there a while will have repeat customers, you won't.
My experience is not in the UK but the principles are the same everywhere. Some dealerships want seasoned people, some see lack of experience as a good thing, you won't have picked up bad habits!
In my experience of sales, running several businesses (40 years plus)....not cars....
There are three types of customer.....
One who comes through your door knowing what they want, and have made their mind up to buy from you.......a nice easy sale, if you like..
One who comes in and needs "persuading" in a nice way, but could just as easily turn round and walk out if you rub him/her up the wrong way
The last type is one that even the world's best salesperson (hate that expression)...what's wrong with man or woman?....would not be able to crack.....in my experience not worth wasting any time over, ...yes I know the odd one might buy, but better spending time/energy on the middle one...surely only common sense.
Maybe I've been lucky, but every single salesman/woman (off memory) that has ever sold me a car or motorbike (I've had over thirty) has been 100% professional, polite and a credit to their profession.
btw, What are some examples of these "bad habits" you mentioned?
Wacky Racer said:
Maybe I've been lucky, but every single salesman/woman (off memory) that has ever sold me a car or motorbike (I've had over thirty) has been 100% professional, polite and a credit to their profession.
btw, What are some examples of these "bad habits" you mentioned?
Most car sales people that I have known have been the same Wacky.btw, What are some examples of these "bad habits" you mentioned?
Bad habits are a matter of opinion.. Everyone has their own process and it does vary quite a bit so some dealers prefer people they can train to do it their way. They consider things done differently to be bad habits. Other prefer experienced types who know their way around a car deal. The dealership I am with is unusual (for the US) in that we do everything. We negotiate the deal ourselves (no too and fro with "the desk"), there is no finance manager to be passed off to and we take you right through the whole process. At my previous dealership the process was completely different. We don't do "spot deliveries" here unless we absolutely have to, at the previous place we would do anything we could TO do a spot delivery. The dealership I was at before preferred experienced car people, my current place does not hire car people (I was an exception).
unrepentant said:
Bad habits are a matter of opinion.. Everyone has their own process and it does vary quite a bit so some dealers prefer people they can train to do it their way. They consider things done differently to be bad habits. Other prefer experienced types who know their way around a car deal. The dealership I am with is unusual (for the US) in that we do everything. We negotiate the deal ourselves (no too and fro with "the desk"), there is no finance manager to be passed off to and we take you right through the whole process. At my previous dealership the process was completely different. We don't do "spot deliveries" here unless we absolutely have to, at the previous place we would do anything we could TO do a spot delivery. The dealership I was at before preferred experienced car people, my current place does not hire car people (I was an exception).
Cheers, and a happy new year...Firstly at age 17 you are so young you can do almost anything with your life and my advice would be to work and study hard and get a profession.
Car sales is tough and often you move around lots and don't have a steady income etc. You also work weekends.
Also, to be frank, if I wanted a new car I'd go to the local dealership and buy from whoever the salesman was and/or shop around for the best deal. The salesman so skill would have nothing to do with it. In addition, some dealers are now going without sales staff and I think it's not the best career.
That being said if you go for it I'd work my socks off and work every hour I could physically do and build up a name and get into a premium brand ASAP and have the aim of working for someone like joe macari or Tom Hartley etc . If you dither in your early years you will get bogged down in going from place to place as a kind of journeyman salesman.
Car sales is tough and often you move around lots and don't have a steady income etc. You also work weekends.
Also, to be frank, if I wanted a new car I'd go to the local dealership and buy from whoever the salesman was and/or shop around for the best deal. The salesman so skill would have nothing to do with it. In addition, some dealers are now going without sales staff and I think it's not the best career.
That being said if you go for it I'd work my socks off and work every hour I could physically do and build up a name and get into a premium brand ASAP and have the aim of working for someone like joe macari or Tom Hartley etc . If you dither in your early years you will get bogged down in going from place to place as a kind of journeyman salesman.
There is some good advice on here but I will chip in with a couple of thoughts from recent experience.
My main gripe with car sales is the hard sell. Recently looking to spend a significant amount of money on a Porsche turbo I was confronted with one salesman who was insistent that his rather poor example could have been sold three times that day at the asking price - even though it had been held a week allowing someone to make up their mind. And how many Porsche turbos are sold each week? Maybe 1? In my spec and price range there were never more than a couple of dozen available across the whole country and some of those had been up for sale for three months.
I would not have bought it anyway as the stone chips made it look like it had been at the wrong end of a shooting range and the interior condition was patchy at best, except where they had covered the leather in so much gunk to make it look black and even that it came off on my hand when I rubbed the seat to check.
Tried another place where I sat with the salesman for an hour talking about my requirements and budget, drinking his tea, eating his biscuits and trying to decide whether a Maserati was pretty enough to tempt we away from the Porsche. If I do win the lottery this weekend I will be back for their 458 spyder!
Finally agreed to buy (subject to PPI) from someone who knew the car, answered all of my questions or admitted where he did not have the information, took time to talk me through all of the blemishes he had spotted, presented me with the entire file of paperwork to read though and even directed me to a decent place for cake and coffee while I tried to persuade Mrs Bills not to offer full asking price immediately (how did that happen - she has suddenly become a Porsche fan?). No hard sell at all - just knowledgeable, experienced understanding of what I was looking for, what issues I had and how to deal with them.
The critical issue is know your subject. Being able to discuss in depth any matters that might be raised by a customer is critical to having credibility. If you can answer all of the questions what reason is there not to buy? And even if you don't get a sale on that one you may well get a recommendation or other opportunity out of it.
My one concern is that a young person will be spotted as having little experience of driving and that will be an obstacle. What cars have you owned and/or driven? How can you tell whether a rattle in the engine compartment is nothing to worry about or signs of an engine about to collapse? If you are selling quality cars the buyer is likely to know more about them than you do.
If this is really what you want to do then I hope you make it since the best job in the world is one that you would pay someone else to let you do it. If cars are your passion then every day will feel like a weekend.
Best of luck.
My main gripe with car sales is the hard sell. Recently looking to spend a significant amount of money on a Porsche turbo I was confronted with one salesman who was insistent that his rather poor example could have been sold three times that day at the asking price - even though it had been held a week allowing someone to make up their mind. And how many Porsche turbos are sold each week? Maybe 1? In my spec and price range there were never more than a couple of dozen available across the whole country and some of those had been up for sale for three months.
I would not have bought it anyway as the stone chips made it look like it had been at the wrong end of a shooting range and the interior condition was patchy at best, except where they had covered the leather in so much gunk to make it look black and even that it came off on my hand when I rubbed the seat to check.
Tried another place where I sat with the salesman for an hour talking about my requirements and budget, drinking his tea, eating his biscuits and trying to decide whether a Maserati was pretty enough to tempt we away from the Porsche. If I do win the lottery this weekend I will be back for their 458 spyder!
Finally agreed to buy (subject to PPI) from someone who knew the car, answered all of my questions or admitted where he did not have the information, took time to talk me through all of the blemishes he had spotted, presented me with the entire file of paperwork to read though and even directed me to a decent place for cake and coffee while I tried to persuade Mrs Bills not to offer full asking price immediately (how did that happen - she has suddenly become a Porsche fan?). No hard sell at all - just knowledgeable, experienced understanding of what I was looking for, what issues I had and how to deal with them.
The critical issue is know your subject. Being able to discuss in depth any matters that might be raised by a customer is critical to having credibility. If you can answer all of the questions what reason is there not to buy? And even if you don't get a sale on that one you may well get a recommendation or other opportunity out of it.
My one concern is that a young person will be spotted as having little experience of driving and that will be an obstacle. What cars have you owned and/or driven? How can you tell whether a rattle in the engine compartment is nothing to worry about or signs of an engine about to collapse? If you are selling quality cars the buyer is likely to know more about them than you do.
If this is really what you want to do then I hope you make it since the best job in the world is one that you would pay someone else to let you do it. If cars are your passion then every day will feel like a weekend.
Best of luck.
Here's how not to do it:
Spend 10 minutes in the rain trying to find the car.
Let the prospect look at it (that was the only good bit).
Ignore prospect's request for a test drive but shepherd him back to office to try to sell him teflon coatings, extra insurance and make him watch a video with Mike Brewer in it.
Ask prospect to make an offer even though he asked for a test drive but instead you insisted on trying to sell him assorted b
ks he doesn't want instead.
Laugh at said offer and generally take the piss.
Refuse to negotiate.
Try to justify ticket price by reading out bullet points on screen.
Laugh at said offer and generally take the piss.
Refuse to negotiate.
Still no test drive.
Watch prospect walk out taking his £20K cash with him.
I later took this up with his boss, as he'd wasted 2 hours of his time and 6 of mine, and was delighted to find he'd got the sack.
Spend 10 minutes in the rain trying to find the car.
Let the prospect look at it (that was the only good bit).
Ignore prospect's request for a test drive but shepherd him back to office to try to sell him teflon coatings, extra insurance and make him watch a video with Mike Brewer in it.
Ask prospect to make an offer even though he asked for a test drive but instead you insisted on trying to sell him assorted b
ks he doesn't want instead.Laugh at said offer and generally take the piss.
Refuse to negotiate.
Try to justify ticket price by reading out bullet points on screen.
Laugh at said offer and generally take the piss.
Refuse to negotiate.
Still no test drive.
Watch prospect walk out taking his £20K cash with him.
I later took this up with his boss, as he'd wasted 2 hours of his time and 6 of mine, and was delighted to find he'd got the sack.
Billsnemesis said:
There is some good advice on here but I will chip in with a couple of thoughts from recent experience.
My main gripe with car sales is the hard sell. Recently looking to spend a significant amount of money on a Porsche turbo I was confronted with one salesman who was insistent that his rather poor example could have been sold three times that day at the asking price - even though it had been held a week allowing someone to make up their mind. And how many Porsche turbos are sold each week? Maybe 1? In my spec and price range there were never more than a couple of dozen available across the whole country and some of those had been up for sale for three months.
I would not have bought it anyway as the stone chips made it look like it had been at the wrong end of a shooting range and the interior condition was patchy at best, except where they had covered the leather in so much gunk to make it look black and even that it came off on my hand when I rubbed the seat to check.
Tried another place where I sat with the salesman for an hour talking about my requirements and budget, drinking his tea, eating his biscuits and trying to decide whether a Maserati was pretty enough to tempt we away from the Porsche. If I do win the lottery this weekend I will be back for their 458 spyder!
Finally agreed to buy (subject to PPI) from someone who knew the car, answered all of my questions or admitted where he did not have the information, took time to talk me through all of the blemishes he had spotted, presented me with the entire file of paperwork to read though and even directed me to a decent place for cake and coffee while I tried to persuade Mrs Bills not to offer full asking price immediately (how did that happen - she has suddenly become a Porsche fan?). No hard sell at all - just knowledgeable, experienced understanding of what I was looking for, what issues I had and how to deal with them.
The critical issue is know your subject. Being able to discuss in depth any matters that might be raised by a customer is critical to having credibility. If you can answer all of the questions what reason is there not to buy? And even if you don't get a sale on that one you may well get a recommendation or other opportunity out of it.
My one concern is that a young person will be spotted as having little experience of driving and that will be an obstacle. What cars have you owned and/or driven? How can you tell whether a rattle in the engine compartment is nothing to worry about or signs of an engine about to collapse? If you are selling quality cars the buyer is likely to know more about them than you do.
If this is really what you want to do then I hope you make it since the best job in the world is one that you would pay someone else to let you do it. If cars are your passion then every day will feel like a weekend.
Best of luck.
Used cars are a different game. I assumed that the OP was looking at main dealers. My main gripe with car sales is the hard sell. Recently looking to spend a significant amount of money on a Porsche turbo I was confronted with one salesman who was insistent that his rather poor example could have been sold three times that day at the asking price - even though it had been held a week allowing someone to make up their mind. And how many Porsche turbos are sold each week? Maybe 1? In my spec and price range there were never more than a couple of dozen available across the whole country and some of those had been up for sale for three months.
I would not have bought it anyway as the stone chips made it look like it had been at the wrong end of a shooting range and the interior condition was patchy at best, except where they had covered the leather in so much gunk to make it look black and even that it came off on my hand when I rubbed the seat to check.
Tried another place where I sat with the salesman for an hour talking about my requirements and budget, drinking his tea, eating his biscuits and trying to decide whether a Maserati was pretty enough to tempt we away from the Porsche. If I do win the lottery this weekend I will be back for their 458 spyder!
Finally agreed to buy (subject to PPI) from someone who knew the car, answered all of my questions or admitted where he did not have the information, took time to talk me through all of the blemishes he had spotted, presented me with the entire file of paperwork to read though and even directed me to a decent place for cake and coffee while I tried to persuade Mrs Bills not to offer full asking price immediately (how did that happen - she has suddenly become a Porsche fan?). No hard sell at all - just knowledgeable, experienced understanding of what I was looking for, what issues I had and how to deal with them.
The critical issue is know your subject. Being able to discuss in depth any matters that might be raised by a customer is critical to having credibility. If you can answer all of the questions what reason is there not to buy? And even if you don't get a sale on that one you may well get a recommendation or other opportunity out of it.
My one concern is that a young person will be spotted as having little experience of driving and that will be an obstacle. What cars have you owned and/or driven? How can you tell whether a rattle in the engine compartment is nothing to worry about or signs of an engine about to collapse? If you are selling quality cars the buyer is likely to know more about them than you do.
If this is really what you want to do then I hope you make it since the best job in the world is one that you would pay someone else to let you do it. If cars are your passion then every day will feel like a weekend.
Best of luck.
I was 5 years at a JLR main dealer and I was very successful selling new JLR products. Unfortunately our dealership group became obsessed with selling used cars, most of them off brand and I didn't care for that. I moved to a MB main dealer and the only used cars we sell are late, MB models with MB certification, which I much prefer.
Billsnemesis said:
There is some good advice on here but I will chip in with a couple of thoughts from recent experience...........
Best of luck.
Whilst I don't disagree with anything that you said, you must understand that selling a prestige vehicle to an enthusiast is totally different to selling a piece of white goods to Mr & Mrs Blogs. You would be surprised how many customers have no real knowledge or interest in the car they are buying, even at premium brands. Sales of anything is a numbers game, whilst you may well hack off an enthusiast who knows what he wants with "hard sell", the next five buying customers may well take all the extra's. Dealerships exist by selling lots of cars and other products and the management and manafactures spend a lot of money in developing sales process' and training staff to follow them.Best of luck.
Therefore to be fair to the salesman each dealership group has its own process that the sales team have to follow, this includes selling all the finance, paint protection, GAP, alloy and tyre cover, service plan etc etc. In fact most will earn most of their commision each month from the extra's not the actual car.
If a sales guy deviates from the set process the sales manager will chew his arse, if he does't hit his targets for finance and all the other stuff, he'll be looking for a new job very quickly. So whilst you berate the actual salesman he is only doing what he is trained to do.
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