One of the common questions I get from car salesmen is about how many car salesmen on the showroom floor do we need. If you are fairly new to the business you are trying to soak it all in by observing everything. Then after you’ve been on the job for a while you see a couple salespeople quit and leave the dealership. Then you start thinking, great if there were less car salesmen on the floor you could sell more cars. However that is about the time that management hires more salespeople. That’s when you scratch your head and wonder why they are hiring so many new people. Only two sales people left the dealership, but they hired four people. How many car salesmen do we need on the showroom floor?
That’s a good question that most everybody has asked at one time or another. Obviously different dealerships have slightly different philosophies and ideas of the optimum number of salespeople. A very common number is an average of 10 salespeople for every 100 cars sold per month and some dealers like about 12 per 100 car sales. Obviously you will have some salespeople that sell 20 cars a month and others might sell 6 or 7. But those selling 6 or 7 cars a month either need to get their sh*t together or find another career. The simple fact is that the car business will starve out those that need to change careers and reward those that are willing to do the work.
When a dealership has busy times where there are more customers than salespeople its time for more staff. People will not wait for a car salesman like they do when they go to the deli or the bakery. Car shoppers will not take a number and wait for a person they don’t really want to see in the first place. They will leave and go somewhere else. These are lost sales or at least potentially lost sales and this is unacceptable in the car business. Did the dealership lose a sale? How much potential income was lost? Was it $100, $1000 or $5000. Nobody knows, but that was enough to know that its time to add more car salesmen on the floor.
Look at it from a dealership management point of view. If your car salesmen work on a commission basis it requires a very small investment to add salespeople. Other business will have to pay a fixed salary and benefits to new employees they hire, but the car salesman doesn’t get paid until they sell a car. Therefore dealership management says lets add several new salespeople. Based on past experience you should hire twice the number you need because its rare to have all your newly hired sales people stay for the long haul. Sad to say, but the turnover rate for car salesmen is higher than most positions so we adjust accordingly.
Your Part of How Many Car Salesmen on the Floor
The professional car salesman does not care how many sales people are on the showroom floor. These pros will continue to sell cars month in and month out. They will make money, receive bonuses and earn commissions. The old saying of “The Cream Rises to the Top” applies when we are talking about selling cars for a living. If you are concerned about the dealership hiring new salespeople stop worrying and remember that is doesn’t matter because there is always room at the top. Plus things have a way of balancing out, salespeople leave and salespeople come, but it always works out for the professionals. Follow up with your customers, keep prospecting, get referrals and build your list of customers and they will provide you with a six-figure car salesman income for years to come no matter how many car salesmen are on the floor.
Later, Fresh Up on the Lot
KB
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