Job offer at Toyota Dealership

my degree is not in law it is a BA in criminal justice, we just had to have an internship to graduate and i did mine here, unfortunately there is no room to keep me on more than what im doing now which pardon my french is just "bitch" work, filling fridges coffee and what not.

i just got a call from the sales manager officially offering me the job
while i was on the phone i asked him about if it was a strictly commission based sales job and he said they have 3 different pay plans( im assuming one is strictly commission based the other is a mixture of comm. and salary and one is completely salary)?
he wants me to come in Thursday to talk it over and run numbers and what not with him and the owner

 

Sounds good! Go for it Nick.

 

thanks! im excited to start a new chapter in my life, i appreciate all of the kind words and advice fellow TW members

 

I would shy away from Salary. They will push the pain in the ass sales jobs your way, and you will work UNGODLY hours.

 

good luck w/ the interview!

 

thanks everyone! so i should def shy away from the salary and mabey try and do the combination of both?

 

It depends on how well you think you can motivate and work yourself. If you work at a fast pace, and can keep on your toes all the time, I would suggest requesting a minimum starting pay for 3 months, with commission bonuses available. This will get you 3 months of a solid paycheck, while still allowing you to make more money if you have great sales. Then negotiate from there after the 90 days.

 

ok cause in the first interview he mentioned something about a probationary period for the first 90 days, and having to take a product knowledge test after that( which i have no problem doing because i research things to death)
i kind of got the idea from him that the first 90 days will be a salary pay while im training then move on from there

i gguess ill find out tomorrow when we meet

 

I can't imagine the product knowledge test is anything hard since the salespeople I talk to never know anything. Lol

 

yea i know what you mean but i dont plan on being one of those salesmen.
when i do something i do it with all i got and i plan on knowing the product line very well

 

You typically will get straight salary for the first month to maybe 90 days, since there is no way you can start making commission in your first few weeks on the job. After this probation/training period you should be able to change to commission or a combo of salary/commission. Combo is probably the best option to make sure you at least get something to pay the bills.
Good experienced salesmen do better on straight commission, but it takes a while to get there.

Regardless, Good luck, and enjoy this new endevour.

 

thank you all very much for all of the kind words, it means a lot! i appreciate all of the advice and what nots

any more advice for a beginner salesman would be appreciated!

 

you should listen to this episode of "this american life"

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/at-the-car-lot/

they spent the entire show at a dealership trying to make their end of the month sales quota, talking to the staff, the managers. Fascinating stuff

 

Be honest. Don't be pushy, but be available with info when the client needs it. Be honest.

My best experience was when salesmen gave me options to save money, for example, wanted to add upgrade floor mats, and he said "no, don't buy from our parts department, get better but less expensive mats online from Husky" or something like that. That way the customer knows you are not just pushing products and add-ons to make more commission.
Read the clients so you know how to respond to them, everyone is different. Be honest.

Oh, and lastly, be honest.

 

you all are awesome!!!
i def plan on being honest because thats how i would want to be treated
i love toyota and always have so this should be fun and a great learning experience

my start a my life as a car salesman thread haha

 

Good luck.

The biggest complaint I got from my employer when I sold Toyotas was that I was too technical. Sales was not about product knowledge, it was about the client. I did okay and always netted way more than my draw but, the hours required were outrageous. It had it's good parts don't get me wrong. Being a new employee and not having a decent client base my employer required me to cold call the "ups" that walked & go through old sales and make new contact with clients who had purchased in the past. I hated what I considered the "cold calls".

 

thanks for the info joe,

what would you say your usual work schedule would be?
did you work monday-saturday bell to bell or did you have set days

 

Hey bud good luck. Sux that the only job your way is a freakin sales job dude. It will be great life experience for you though. Me personally, I would rather staple my head to the carpet than sell something but if I had too, sell something that is, It would be Toyota. That's like fish in a barrel dude. Good luck and congrats on the job bro!!

 

thanks man not much going on around in the job market here at the moment.
fiance is just starting doctorate in psychology so she'll be making the big bucks so i go where she goes lol

 

The state I lived in at the time did not allow car sales on Sunday so we were always off Sunday.

I was one of four new sales people starting on the same day. We were required to work 5 or more days a week and NEVER had two days in a row off. So with Sunday off by regulation we were not allowed to take off Saturday or Monday. Typically I was off Tuesday & Sunday. We were generally required to start when the dealer opened at 9am and stay until closing (8pm unless Friday or Saturday). The dealership did not have the same closing time each day. On Friday we closed at 6pm and Saturday at 5pm. Unless we had a pending sale then you stayed until the customer was either declined, delivered or spotted. Sometime 4 hours past closing.

The highest average earnings for sales people were either used cars or F&I. Some new car sales people were making six figures but they rarely took an up off the lot. For the most part their sales were from repeat customers.

Commission varies by the dealership, sales volume & model sold. At the time ours was 20% of gross for the first 10 units each month, then 25% and so on. Toyota does offer certain pay perks on certain products. The Tacoma often paid 50% of gross plus a fixed bonus on each Tacoma unit sold.

If you or the dealership was having a slow month employees were expected to work all open hours every day.

We were paid a draw each week of something close to minimum wage and that amount was backed out of your earned commission each month. The commission was paid once per month. If your commissions were not at least or in excess of your draw you were terminated.

Additionally, it wasn't my crowd. Too many drunks, dope heads & scum bags for my liking. It became difficult for me to take orders from a sales manager who did coke and seemed bi-polar, especially when her demands were questionable.

A few of us also had some very odd customers. The dealership ended up calling the police for a few of us that had customers that either threatened us or in my case took an unusual interest in us. I carried a pistol after a customer who wasn't even mine decided it'd be cool to follow me home, call me at work all the time & sit in the lot for hours and watch me. He would follow me to lunch. He wasn't just gay, he was obsessed. You'll deal with all sorts of people and often it's confrontational or just fucking weird.

I really wish you luck. I'm sure not all dealerships operate the way this dealership did/does. Its owners were kids that had inherited it from their father and it was their personal piggy bank and party place.