They were unhappy not knowing what their car sales salary might be every week. They said that some weeks they would get a nice check and the next week they wouldn’t bring home much at all. They assured me that they were very good at selling cars, but they wanted a job where they knew exactly how much they were getting paid each week so they could budget their money.

A Car Sales Salary and Car Sales Success

The funny thing about those former car sales people is that the income that they showed on their credit application to buy a car was not more than or even close to that of a good car salesman. In fact it was closer to that of a mediocre car salesman. I never mentioned that to them because I didn’t want to blow a sale which I surely would have done if I gotten into that conversation. However I did wonder what kind of auto sales salary they were making when they sold cars if they took a job doing something that paid them half that of a successful car salesman.

Anyway to get back to the point, first off if you are earning a car sales salary you better quit because you being taken advantage of by the car dealership where you are working. If they are paying you a salary for selling cars you are missing out on the real money. Secondly, the true car sales professional is paid a car salesman commission which is based on their sales and profitability. (Details of a Car Salesman Commission are Here)

Now to move on to living on a car sales salary or a car salesman commission it can be a challenge if you are not selling enough cars and making enough money. It’s hard to keep your head in the game when you have money problems (like not having enough). My first few months of selling cars on 100% commission versus a fixed income job took some real getting used to, but I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Getting Used to a Car Sales Salary

Once I started catching on and selling more cars, my weekly checks started growing and not to mention the month end bonuses. I tried to maintain my thrifty ways and keep from spending those bigger and bigger commission checks. In fact I would hold some of my checks to even out those weeks that were less than I hoped. I would only cash my checks when I needed to and at one point the person that did payroll asked me to cash my checks. That was when I decided I was getting used to living on a car salesman commission and not a car sales salary or any other kind of salary.

I will admit that is really a challenge trying to get used to living on a car salesman salary, but it is only because it is such a big change to most people. Most people were raised knowing how much they were bringing home every month or week and so it is really hard to get comfortable working on commission.

Whatever it takes make the effort to adjust to the change because otherwise you could be missing out making a six figure car salesman income. I can tell you first hand that is much easier to get used to the uneven paychecks when you are earning 100K a year. So don’t be like one of those former auto sales people above that accept a job that earns them half of what a successful car salesman makes. Get your head in the game and sell some cars and before you know it you will be thinking like a veteran and would never ever consider selling cars for a car sales salary. Get paid what your are worth rather than leave to accept a job that pays the same whether you work hard or hardly work. You can be a better car salesman.

I assume you are selling cars for a living because you want the opportunity to make some real money. Don’t let getting used to how car salesman are paid get in the way of your success. Many others have done it and you can too, earn a six figure income selling cars.

Later, Fresh Up on the Lot

KB

Stop looking for an auto sales salary and make it big, read the Car Salesman Guide and make money.Similar Posts:

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The field of selling cars for a living has been dominated by men since the beginning of car sales and it’s time for a change. I know many women in the business and they make great car saleswomen, F & I Managers, Sales Managers and yes, even General Managers. Maybe it’s the stigma that goes along with being a car salesman the holds back some women from entering a car sales career or maybe it’s common misconception that men make better car sales people. Whatever it is it’s time to cast aside those old beliefs from the past and get some of you ladies to step up and start selling some cars.

You Should Be a Car Sales Woman

It is said that women are responsible for making many more car buying decisions than men, so wouldn’t it make sense to have more women selling cars. I have run into female car buyers before that only want to work with a car sales woman because they feel more comfortable talking to and dealing with another woman. Think about that for a second, if a woman has the courage to say she only wants to work with a woman car sales person there must be many more that would never say it, but would also like to be taken care of by a car saleswoman.

Why a Car Saleswoman

To be a professional car salesman or car saleswoman and make a six figure income there are many skills and talents that are needed. One of these talents is to get your car buyer to open up to you and talk. You need to find their reasons and true motivation for buying a car and you won’t be able to do that if you can’t get them to open up to you. You also need to make your customer feel comfortable making a big purchase and we all know that if they don’t feel comfortable they won’t pull the trigger. A good car saleswoman may even have advantage in this area because the car buying public does not see the woman car sales person as a threat as much as they do men. They are more prone to talk and open up to a woman than they are to a car salesman. Once you can get them to open up and start talking they will tell you how to sell them a car.

Don’t get me wrong here a good car salesman can get close to a customer, but a good car sales woman may have a slight advantage. We all know that being a successful car salesman or car saleswoman is not for everyone and it takes much more than being male or female. However, I believe that skill and experience levels being equal a female may have a slight advantage when it comes to selling cars. Don’t get mad at me guys, I am just calling it like it see it.

I always use the term car salesman throughout this blog and if you read the book about selling cars, but I want you ladies to know that you can have a great career as a car sales woman if you are willing to jump in and start selling some cars. Get the Car Saleswoman guide and car sales tips so you too can earn a six figure income selling cars too!

Later, Fresh Up on the Lot

K.B.

Sign up on the right for more car salesman tips and car saleswoman tips.

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The Car Salesman Image vs. Most Businesses

When we go to the grocery store and buy a gallon of milk we are expected to pay full price or when we pay our utility bills we are required to pay the full amount. If we started to haggle with the grocery store owner we would be thrown out of the store and if we negotiated our utility bills they would shut off our gas or electric. Doesn’t seem fair to me, but that is the way things are and we just have to deal with the fact that the car salesman image is less than desirable and not always covered in your car sales training.

Opportunity and the Car Salesman Image

But when a mooch comes in to buy a new car they want to pay less than invoice, get the rebate and the low rate financing. I guess the car business wouldn’t be the car business if customers came in and bought a car at M.S.R.P. and financed at buy rate. If that was the case the showroom would be filled with car salesmen and a car sales woman or two that were paid by the hour and there would not be any opportunity to make a six figure car salesman income. I don’t know about you, but I am not willing to settle for hourly pay just to improve the car salesman image.

That reminds me of an Old School car saying where someone asks the car salesman how they can sleep at night when the screw car buyers all day long at work, the car salesman says “I sleep just fine on my satin sheets in my king size bed in my 5 bedroom house”. That saying may feed the poor car salesman image we already have to overcome, but it make that person think.

Changing the Car Salesman Reputation and Image

Seriously though, the car salesman image may not be one that we enjoy having, but it is why we have the potential to make a very nice six figure income by selling cars for a living. The only way to improve the car salesman reputation and image is to be professional. Work with your past, current and future car buyers in a professional manner. Your past customers will send you referrals and become repeat buyers when you are a professional car salesman. Your current and future customers will buy more often and become past customers when they are treated in a professional manner. We can start changing the image of the car salesman by treating all of our customers like the car sales professional we are and increase our commissions, sales, be-backs and referrals.

Treating our customers in a professional manner may sound too simple or like a cliche’, but it really can make a difference. I have upped credit criminals in the past that I treated respectfully and professionally even though couldn’t buy a car and they sent me 3 customers. Two of those customers could buy and one couldn’t for the same reason. However, one of those two that bought, have bought 3 cars from me in the past five years and sent me several others. The ones that bought had marginal credit and signed very close to the first pencil. I don’t have to tell you that they were all very nice commissions. I was happy and I have a very good car salesman image when it comes to those customers which gets me more referrals.

The above scenario is the exception rather than the rule, but I treated them like they were my most important customers and it paid off. The best way to improve the auto salesman image and reputation is be a professional, one customer at a time. There is no question that that we will have to continue to deal with mooches, credit criminals, middle of the road customers and the ones that love us after we cleaned them out, but if we get in the habit of treating them like they own the joint you just might close a couple more deals a month and improve the car salesman image. A career in car sales is about the numbers, so put them in your favor by being a  car sales professional.

Later, Fresh Up on the Lot

K.B.

The Professional Car Salesman makes Good Money……..Read the BOOK!Similar Posts:

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I was watching a Newbie (been on the floor about 2 months) the other day trying to sell a new car. He was new to the car business, but he was following all the steps to the sale exactly as he was trained to do. He did a great walk around, a test drive and a service walk and then he sat his customer down at his desk. Everything that I had seen so far looked like it was going to be a deal and he would make a fair car salesman commission.

Car Salesman Commission and the Newbie

I kept watching and tried to get close enough to hear what was going on, but not to close. The Newbie went through the Four Square and the normal objections, got an offer and took it to the desk. I went into the Sales Office and listened to him try to sell the desk on his customer’s offer. The Desk Manager called him a “Weak Stick” told him to pull up his pants, penciled him back and told him to get a bump of he was going to be splitting his car salesman commission.

Get a Better Car Salesman Commission

So the Newbie goes back and starts grinding his customer for a bump while I listen close by. He starts out strong and in what seems like less than 5 minutes he gets a $25.00 bump in payment. From everything I know and have seen so far, he has a deal with the $25.00 bump. He stops at the $25.00 bump and heads back for the Sales Office. He is proud of his payment bump and tries to sell the desk that his customer won’t bump anymore. The Desk Manager is working several deals so he says “Write it Up”. The Newbie get a big smile on his face starts doing paperwork while thinking about his sales commission from the car sale.

Let’s fast forward to the Newbie’s customer coming out of the F&I Office. The Newbie does a spot delivery and the customer thanks the Newbie and drives away happy. I then go it to the F&I Office and find out that the Finance Manager bumped the Newbie’s customer almost $45.00 a month. He sold him an extended warranty, tire warranty, and got him on rate. The Finance Manager picked up a nice car sales commission and the Newbie end up with a few bucks over a Mini.

Opportunity for More Car Salesman Commission

I asked the Sales Manager why he took that deal and he said he had several deals working and he wanted to boost the newbies confidence and teach him a lesson. He asked me to show the Newbie where he went wrong and how much more car salesman commission he could have made.

The above example is not a common one, but it illustrates a good point. The Newbie got a bump pretty easy which tells a Car Sales Professional that there is more to be had. But the Newbie got a $25 bump, got excited and believed his customer. Then the Finance Manager got almost $45.00 a month more. Granted the Finance manager did a great job, but if the Newbie stuck in there a while longer and  worked his customer he probably could of got at least half of that $45.00 a month a better car salesman commission.

I am good friends with our Finance Managers, but when we are talking about putting money in my pocket it’s all business and friends don’t enter the picture when it comes to my car salesman income. The job of the Finance Manager is to get more AFTER I get all I can. I come first when it comes to money and my car sales commission.

It’s Your Car Sales Commission

So remember as a car salesman tip, when you are working a deal, what you don’t get the Finance Manager WILL get. So hang in there and get the extra. To put a different way; if your car sales commission is 30% and you get an extra $100.00 on the deal, you put an extra $30.00 in YOUR pocket. Now think if you got an extra $500 on the front end of the deal, that’s $150 for maybe an extra 15 or 20 minutes of work. So are you giving away your car salesman job commission? When you get a little extra on most of your deals that can add up to quite a bit of money over a year to increase your car salesman income. Remember the Finance Manager comes AFTER you, so where you rather put that sales commission, if your pocket of the Finance Manager’s pocket.

For the details of a Car Salesman Commission

Later, Fresh Up on the Lot
K.B.

You Can Make Six Figures a Year Selling Cars…..Get the Car Salesman Guide and Sell More Cars!Similar Posts:

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Selling Cars and Closing Ratio

Some say the industry average is 17% and others say about 20%. However when you talk about the average closing rate of selling cars for a car salesman you are also including the “Newbie”, “Green Pea” and the 3 or 4 cars a month car salesman. That is unacceptable for a car salesman that is going to make a six figure income. Your closing rate needs to be closer to 35% and sometimes it will be much higher.

Now don’t take this the wrong way, we can all have days where our closing rate is 0%. Take a look at your closing rate for the whole month or two months combined to get a more realistic picture. I have had months where my closing rate was around 60%, but that was because I was delivering cars and didn’t have much time to take fresh ups even though I wanted to sell more cars.

Know Your Numbers When Selling Cars

If you are going to continue selling cars for a living you need to know your numbers. The car dealership where you sell cars may already track your closing ratio and numbers. Maybe your sick of hearing about the closing ratio and number of Ups taken, but you really need to know your numbers. Track your own numbers for selling cars so you can focus and improve on the areas you need to address. Remember, selling cars is like having a business of your own.

It’s hard to track your progress if you are not tracking your numbers. Closing ratio is only one statistic. Another number to track that helped me tremendously was the average front end gross per car sold. Again this is not a number that means too much unless you look at it on a monthly basis. I closely tracked my front end gross for each sold car and focused on increasing that number. I would think about that number every time I was going in for the close and talk a little more or work a little harder to get that extra hundred or a couple of hundred dollars. I knew that each hundred dollars I could get from the car buyer, I could put $25.00 into my pocket. It was great motivator and really helped bring up my average front end gross and that increased my car salesman income.

Selling Cars and Self Improvement

Selling cars and being a top car salesman takes some self improvement. You need to know where you are before you can decide where you are going to go. Track all your numbers, focus on the areas you need to improve. Set and achieve goals to improve your car selling skills. The difference between the top car sales people and the 3 or 4 cars a month car salesmen is minor. The real difference when selling cars is a couple extra steps, a few extra words, a little extra effort and a commitment to become a top salesman so you can earn a six figure income. Make use of this car salesman tip because all the sales people are there the same amount of time each month so make the best use of your time and you will know how to be a good car salesman.

Later, Fresh Up on the Lot
K.B.

Remember to add your Name and Email on the upper right!

Make the numbers count…Make Six Figures …Get The Car Salesman Guide Book!Similar Posts:

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Anyone Can Learn How To Be a Good Car Salesman

Just about anyone with a pulse can learn how to be a car salesman or car sales woman (just kidding), but sometimes it seems like that is the only requirement. I have seen so many new sales people go through training and then hit the sales floor only to have them quit in the first thirty days. The ones that last longer than thirty days rarely make it ninety days. The ones that do last are people that have sold cars before or had some type of sales experience in a closely related field. Don’t get me wrong there is that one newbie every once in a while that catches on and becomes a car salesman that never had any sales experience.

Do You Really Want to Be a Car Salesman

It’s true that a career in car sales is not a physically demanding job. You can earn a six figure income, dress in nice clothes, talk to different kinds of people and never break a sweat. Sounds like a dream job, right? You may want to know how to become a car salesman, but that is not enough. As I mentioned earlier, almost anyone can become a car salesman. If you are going to make a living selling cars you need to be a successful car salesman that has a goal of being a great car salesman.

Requirements to Be a Good Car Salesman

To become a good car salesman you need to have a mental toughness because selling cars is mentally and emotionally challenging. You need thick skin and the ability to control your thoughts, words and emotions.  You need to be able to carefully choose and use your words, expressions and gestures to support the sales process and be able to change and adapt to the different customers and situations.

You will be put together, tested and tried on by customers and sales managers that will at times have you wanting to knock them out, cuss them out, throw them out or walk out yourself. Your ability to control yourself can make a huge difference in you car salesman commission and car salesman income. If you are currently a car salesman you know exactly what I am talking about. One of the sayings that I try to remember is: “Don’t get mad, get even by selling them a car”. Then I put on my game face and do my best to sell them a car and make a nice big front end gross. It doesn’t always work, but it does more times than it doesn’t. Sometimes we just have to suck it up to sell a car.

Do You Still Want to Know How to Be a Good Car Salesman

If you still want to become a car salesman pick-up the classifieds and look under the help wanted section. Check the automotive section and I am sure you will find a handful of car dealers that are looking for car salesmen. The turnover in the car business is quite brisk so I am sure will find some dealers that are looking to add a car salesman or two. If you have the desire and the mental fortitude to become a car salesman then start talking to some car dealers and begin your car sales training because you can be a better car salesman.

I think a career in car sales is great opportunity for those that can cut the mustard. Where else can you laugh and have fun doing your job yet still have the potential to make a six figure income. All jobs have their ups and downs, but car sales can be a great career choice if you have what it takes to become a successful car salesman.

Later, Fresh Up On the Lot

K.B.

P.S.
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The Average Car Salesman Questions

You hear or see questions all the time asking how much does the average car salesman job earn or how many cars does the average car salesman sell. The average new or used car salesman doesn’t sell any cars or earn anything. There is no such thing as an average car salesman in the car business. I have seen car sales people earn less that $18,000 a year and others that earn a very nice six figure income. These same people may sell 3 or 4 cars a month while others may have sold 30 cars a month. Selling cars for a living is not a job that can be averaged out in order to make outsiders understand the car business because there is nothing average about a car sales career.

The Average Car Salesman is Never Average

A career in car sales is not one where “most” people can be successful. The good car salesman that sells car for a living is the farthest thing from the average car salesman. In fact a successful car salesman’s success is dependent on their ability to connect and build a bond quickly with a very wide range of personalities. They can read their customer and adapt in seconds. They can read body language, they have the skills of a lie detector and they can change anything they need to change to build rapport with a potential car buyer.

The good car salesman might be compared to a chameleon for their ability to change and adapt to the situation at hand. Now I ask you, do you call that an average car salesman?

The Average Car Salesman Breakdown

When it comes to the breakdown of the “average car salesman” (being sarcastic) you have the following;

Newbies, Green Peas and Weak Sticks: They sell anywhere from 3 to 6 cars a month. The Newbies and Green Peas are understandable, buy if you are selling 3 to 6 cars a month for any length of time it is time to look for a new profession. Either they can’t close a door behind them or they just don’t care. Either way they are wasting “Fresh Ups”, time to move on.

The next group is hard to put a label on because is consists of a wide range of sales people (maybe, average car salesmen-being sarcastic again). The car sales people in this group range from 6 to 12 cars a month depending on their efforts, motivation, personal work ethic and ability to connect with different personality types. They might earn $25,000 a year up to $75,000 a year. They could be a the best car salesman at their dealership if they would make the effort and hone their skills.

The last group has been called many different names. Some call them veterans (but they may have been selling cars for a living for less than a year). Some people call them closers, top sales people, sharks, and a whole host of other names. They are the Top Sales People. They are selling cars consistently, month in and month out. They may sell anywhere from 16 to 30 cars a month and the are making a six figure income. Very often this group of car salesmen and car sales women sell 20% of a car dealers total volume. They close deals, sell extras, get referrals, make more gross and deliver lots of cars. They know how to connect with customers, sell cars and make a nice car salesman commission.

Now, back to the issue at hand. Can you tell me which one is the average? That’s right, there is no such thing as an average car salesman. Only successful ones and ones that are becoming the best car salesman at their dealership, the rest need to go.

Later, Fresh Up on the Lot
K.B.

Don’t be an average car salesman, be the Best Car Salesman and Make a Six Figure Income Selling Cars…GET THE BOOK!

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