Car Salesmen

[PrettyBoyAJ]

So I've taken up some peoples advice and will start to work at a Nissan Dealership next week. Can people who have worked at a dealership and know a little something give a playa some advice and experiences. Thanks all.

 

[BeDJ]

Selling cars is like clubbing, if you don't close the first time, you won't see them again.

 

[sageproduct]

Hey, good to see you finally found something, good luck

 

[Bible_Belt]

Cars are one of the few things I haven't sold.

Here are some links about sales in general. It is an art of persuasion that is rooted in psychology and emotions, which don't change very much. Old advice is still good advice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People
https://twitter.com/TomHopkinsSales
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Girard (Guinness record car salesman, great book)
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/50316.Zig_Ziglar

Zig Ziglar just died recently. He lived a great life. In the depression as a kid, his dad died and he supported his mother and nine sisters by selling pots and pans door to door.

Sales greats seem to be born out of determination. The Guinness record car salesman didn't start until he was 35. I worked with a record-setting insurance salesman once. It seemed like the only time he stopped working was so we could give him awards. When anyone asked him how he was always the top seller, he'd reply "I got six kids, man. I don't have any choice."

Sales is what you make of it. Good luck.

 

[Fatal Jay]

I buy a car like finding a wife

she got to be flawless outside and inside

 

[BeDJ]

I buy a car like finding a wife

she got to be flawless outside and inside

Sir, this woman has never been involved in a gangbang.

Show me the Whοrefax!

 

[Dust 2 Dust]

I've bought a few cars and I think most of them are scam artists. They'll tell you one thing on the phone or over the email, but then when you arrive at the dealership it's a completely different story.

I think it's only a matter of time before car salesman become obsolete and the majority of cars are sold online through sites like Cars Direct.

 

[ProDJ26]

This career is like all other sales careers its a numbers game. Use your self confidenxe to your advantage

 

[BeDJ]

I agree that self confidence is needed in car sales. If the customer doesn't like you he will buy the same model from another dealership in the same area. You also have to redirect the customer's thinking, what he tells you is not really what he truly wants.

The biggest difference in retail sales is that there is so much competition that minimal "value" is added to the customer aside from pricing. So, if you don't close the customer on the first go, they will be closed for a couple hundred dollars less at the next dealership. Pretty much what you are trying to prevent is them going to a different dealership. otherwise you will be waiting for the "be-back" bus. The advantage is that you are dealing directly with the decision maker and as long as you hit their hot buttons, they will buy. No need to get things signed off by CxO's, which are a real pain most of the time.

 

[PrettyBoyAJ]

Well I've done it for a week now. Hours are long but it's not like I'm working every minute so it doesn't drain too much energy from me. I sold 2 cars and made 600$ personally for one of the cars I made and got a bonus for the second one I sold (I don't know the profit so far on this one).

Money is looking great and hopefully I can sell some more this week. Best believe every time someone pulls up in the lot that I'll be outside showing them cars.

First week has been great and I love getting paid every Friday. That's the move.

 

[taiyuu_otoko]

Selling cars is like clubbing, if you don't close the first time, you won't see them again.

Not true. I sold cars for a while. Half my sales came from b-backs, people that came in, left for whatever reason, and came back later.

People who come in cold have about a 10% closing rate. People that come back have about a 50% closing rate.

My advice? Focus on the numbers. Don't get attached to any ONE customer. ALWAYS do a post "sale" breakdown to see what you could have done differently.

One thing to focus on is building real and honest rapport, take your time.

Most car salesman are so broke and desperate for a sale, and also believe "If I don't close them now I never will" they consequently push them away.

Take your time, build some honest rapport, find out why they're shopping for a new car, what kinds of things they're looking for etc, then show them what you've got and show them why what you've got matches what they're looking for.

This will also get you a lot of referrals. If you push too hard, you may get plenty of sales, but you won't get any referrals.

Most guys that had been working at my shop for more than six months were getting a majority of their sales from referrals.

Also keep in mind that the average joe citizen is terrified of walking on a car lot, for fear of being taken advantage of.

Take your time, build a relationship, find out what they want, and make it an obvious choice.

 

[backbreaker]

Not true. I sold cars for a while. Half my sales came from b-backs, people that came in, left for whatever reason, and came back later.

People who come in cold have about a 10% closing rate. People that come back have about a 50% closing rate.

My advice? Focus on the numbers. Don't get attached to any ONE customer. ALWAYS do a post "sale" breakdown to see what you could have done differently.

One thing to focus on is building real and honest rapport, take your time.

Most car salesman are so broke and desperate for a sale, and also believe "If I don't close them now I never will" they consequently push them away.

Take your time, build some honest rapport, find out why they're shopping for a new car, what kinds of things they're looking for etc, then show them what you've got and show them why what you've got matches what they're looking for.

This will also get you a lot of referrals. If you push too hard, you may get plenty of sales, but you won't get any referrals.

Most guys that had been working at my shop for more than six months were getting a majority of their sales from referrals.

Also keep in mind that the average joe citizen is terrified of walking on a car lot, for fear of being taken advantage of.

Take your time, build a relationship, find out what they want, and make it an obvious choice.

This is very true. IN reality, selling cars is like Day / real life game. You have to learn how to give your client space and not fret. You have to learn how to build a bond with a client to the point where you aren't worried about them going to a new store and even if they do, you aren't all that worried about that salesman outselling you. Alot of why i really don't give a **** about other guys talking to girls i'm talking to comes from selling cars, you have to get used to it. It is what it is. the only thing i can do is make a good enough impression to where i know he can't match it.

I had made such a good impression on a client one time i was selling him in infiniti G35 and he went to go look at a lexus at the lexus dealership and the salesman there told him something he didnt' think added up so he called me to verify it. I had impressed him so much on my demo showing him my car by my sheer knowledge of not only my car but the other cars he was looking at that he now saw me as the guy to call for car advice. I not only got the sale the dude gave me a 20 dollars chili's gift certificate lol'


the only time i would get pushy somewhat was the last 2-3 days of them onth if i had to hit a number to get a bonus. but if it's like the 14th and you just dont' know yet hey man take your time. come back this weekend we can talk about this some more let me see if i can get you some extra money for your trade in (this never fails lol by the way pretty boy AJ, you ever want to get a client back in clal them and tell them you got them more money for their trade in)

I sold 2 cars and made 600$ personally for one of the cars I made and got a bonus for the second one I sold

that's really good. but once you get really good and figure out the pricing structure that's when you start to make the big boy money. i made a little bit under 3 grand on one car deal once. ME. not the dealership. me. learn your cars that have dealer cash. learn your cars that have been on the lot for more than 1 year if there are any they always have rebates on them. spend 20-30 mintues a day studying your inventory and figuring out which cars you can put people on with ****ty credit that you don't have a lot of money in but can carry some LTV. this is how you start making big boy money.

 

[sageproduct]

the only time i would get pushy somewhat was the last 2-3 days of them onth if i had to hit a number to get a bonus.

Interesting. So a good time for me to buy a car would be the last few days of a month?

 

[backbreaker]

Interesting. So a good time for me to buy a car would be the last few days of a month?

the last DAY of the month

if you are buying a new car. if you are buying a used car it doesn't really matter

car lots have quotas and bonuses they get from manufacuters for new car sales. at the end of the day the salesman is pretty powerless over rather he can make a deal or not it's up to the people at the tower and the people at the tower are more willing to ***** a car out on the last day of the month to hit their numbers.

 

[PrettyBoyAJ]

Backbreaker, good game right there. Could you elaborate on studying the pricd structure please. Your post has been very helpful.

 

[backbreaker]

Backbreaker, good game right there. Could you elaborate on studying the pricd structure please. Your post has been very helpful.

they go out of their way to not tale salesman how much cars cost / pricing strcutres.


I will elb on this later this evening, i have to take my wife somewhere and i'm late.

 

[backbreaker]

they go out of their way to not tale salesman how much cars cost / pricing strcutres.


I will elb on this later this evening, i have to take my wife somewhere and i'm late.

okay.

at every dealership, i'm sure you've seen this by now, there is a white sheet they print out like once a week that has all the used cars on it. they do that so you can have a reference as to what's what on the lot.

There is another sheet, that they don't pass out to YOU lol, that has that sheet, except it also shows how much they own the car for.

So instead of it saying MSRP $20,995 it will say MSRP $20,995 Inv $17,447 which means there is about 3 and a half grand markup in the car.

now why is this important? this really comes into effect when you are dealing wtih people with ****ty credit. You have to learn what LTV means (loan to value). in a nutshell what it means is that a person with sihtty credit can get approved for a loan but the loan will send back the stipulations for approval. it's usuaally something like okay we will approve this guy but his payment can't be more than 125% LTV which means if the lot owns that car for 17,447 and by sheer luck that's how much the car is worth (it's never the case usually they own it for more than it's worth by a little) that means that the most that they can finance is 21,808

now comes the tricky part. the bank also says the payment can't be more than 20% of their gross income a month. roughly a 21,800 dollar car payment with 19.95% interest which is what the ****ty bank gives you interest rate wise is going to be $623.00

but let's say the guy makes $2,400 a month. I mean he has ****ty credit he's not a baller so it is what it is. that's a $480 dollar car payment

this is the problem. if you dont' know all tihs off the top of your head you might sell him on the car and then come to find out that he can't afford it without putting 4-5 grand down which he does not have. now you have to go back and sale him on a pecie of **** beucas that's all he can get approved for.


so now you got 2 choices. you can either sale him this used car, ***** it out and make no money on it.. you'd have to go lower than invoice to get the payment to 480 but you can do it. Now, if you can get a 2 grand down payment out of him you are in business. But if you can't you're ****ed.

OR.. now this is how you REALLY make money.

you can sale him on a car that you OWN for 14-15k and is MSRP for 17995.. then you come back to him and say hey man you know you got ****ty credit, the bank is going to make you put a 2 thousand down payment in with your ****ty 1k trade in you have and if you do that, i can't make any promises, if you can do that and provide proof of income, proof of residence.. i can get you in this car here. Payments is gonna be kinda high but just tough it out for 2 years, pay your notes on time, build that credit back up and refinance. they know they have ****ty credit so they will say yes

if they give you any flack tell them ****, okay i got you approved. go somewhere esle and get approved.

that's how you really really make money.

you got the 3k markup from invoice to MSRP that you didn't have to come down on at all, you got the 2k down payment. that's a 5 pound deal right there. for YOU that's 1,500.

that's how yo do it right there. in a few months you will be able to do all that off the top of your head.

lol tomorrow's car sale lesson will be something i got really good at and was my bread and butter I called the double sale.

 

[PrettyBoyAJ]

Good stuff BB.. Lets hear it.

 

[backbreaker]

Eventually you will learn that your real money comes off used car sales. Every real lick I ever hit except for one, was off a used car. By lick I mean anything over 2k for me. You aren't going to get 2-3k deals selling new cars unless you are selling high end cars and if that's the case you don't sale that many cars in general so you are banking on teh 2-3k sale.

anyway you talk to enough people there are going to be people who come to your lot and you just don't have what they want. they have their mind made up on something and they can't find it. they will buy this car at this price, but you don't have the car and you can't sale them on anything else.

Eventually i started making notes about this. I had this little hippy lesbo chick who wanted a black mazda 3 hatcback. it had to be black. it had to be used but not worn down. she coudln't find one. she cchame to the lot about once every 2 weeks, i'd try to sale her on something.. lol i'd try to hit on her but she wasnt' going she was a lesbo foreal lol, she was pretty cute. anyway, one day i was talking to this couple just shooting the **** really wasn't even trying to sale antyhing on a saturday morning. i asked the woman what she was doing, she said getting her car serviced. i asked her what she had she said she had a mazda 3 hatchback. i asked her by chance woudl it happen to be black. she said yes how did you know.

i ran back to the service bay and checked it. perstine condition, about 15k miles on it and it was 2 years old. i went up to her and i said look, you are going to buy a new car today. and i wasn't joking. i told her i had a wom an that has been looking for THIS car for 2-3 months and will pay top dollar for it, so i will give you anything you want at a big discount beucase we are giong to make our money off that sale. i told her look it's nto evena bout the money **** i will lower your payments on your next car, I just have to have that car.

i caught her off guard but she was like ****, let me see if you have antyhing i want. they feel in love with a copper mazda miata. this happened to be my best sale ever and i made 4,300 off this car deal but that part odesn't really have to do with the point i'm trying to make.. basically the car they feel in love with was a new car but it was a year old and we had like an extra 5k just to get rid of it that i never told them about.

anyway, they love the car. i tell them look this is easy, i will put you in this miata, and i will lower your payment by 10 dollars a month with no money down,. they were like **** yes.

now, this is where the salesm an part of me came out. of course i wasn't going to lower their payment that means i don't make any money. their payment was like 384 a month and i came back with 2 grand, 420 dollars a month for 60 months. that still isn't bad that was a 28k car new they were looking at and were trading out of a 20k car. i told them they can keep the 2k if we coudl stretch the payments out to 84 a month and i can get the boss to come down on thep rice a little. ended up being like 395 a month.

anyway, the real point is to say not only did i sale THEM that car. while they were in the finance room i was on the phone with the lesbo and i told her look babe get your tail down here right now and buy this car i got your car. she came and bought it in about 45 minutes.

2 car deals off one used car. i'd do that all the time. simply by making note of what people want and what you dont' have.

 

[PrettyBoyAJ]

Good stuff. Whatelse do you got.