Feeling Discouraged

[u/iTz_F8TAL1TY]

I started in car sales about 5 months ago, with that being said the title says it all. I’m honestly not discouraged in the sales I’m doing I think it’s all the other factors I cannot control. I come from a background of food sales and wanted to give car sales a shot.

I work for a Nissan dealership that just isn’t that busy. Probably averages like 35 units per month which arguably is terrible given what I’ve seen some other dealerships do.

I’ll start with the commission structure which I’ve learned now with some research really isn’t great at all. So it’s a base scaling salary plus commissions. So it scales on the average unit sales over a 3 month span. The bottom tier is $600/week plus 6% on backend gross with the highest being $1,000/week plus 10%. Flats on new are $100 and Used were also $100 but recently they changed them to $50.

Money isn’t everything to me but I also need to make a living. I’d definitely take a lower paying job to not have the stress and headaches of a lot of things. But with the way this commission structure is setup I’ve basically accepted the fact that most sales I do I essentially just get the flat or maybe a touch more. Working a deal with a customer for days on end to then sell a $50k vehicle and maybe get the flat and after tax like $60 bucks just doesn’t seem worth it.

I recently got a new Sales Manager a few weeks ago after a huge shift within the dealership between people leaving and or transferring. I don’t really get along with my Sales Manager, we butt heads constantly and I just get nothing but an attitude from them. I want to learn and get better and I just don’t get that from them. They do whatever they need to make a deal happen even if that means instead of teaching just outright taking over and making a deal happen. I got horrible training to begin with, couldn’t even get into my CRM for the first month I was here and same with NCAR so I basically just sat at a desk and was told I couldn’t sell because I had to do all my training beforehand which I didn’t have access to for the first like 4-5 weeks.

I feel like I’m just ranting at this point and I’m sorry but the last thing being, with our used cars it’s the most miserable process ever. They get put online most times before we even get the vehicle sometimes Atleast a week or so before we get it. Tracking down vehicles and then having the vehicle needing a UCI before it goes out I’ve lost tons of deals because of it, people don’t want to wait. Or people want a vehicle from another one of our locations but they are essentially asking a customer to commit to the vehicle sight unseen before they’d allow us to go get the vehicle for them to test drive, another solid way to lose sales.

Anywho I’m at a loss. I’m not sure if this is just how car sales is in general or maybe I’m just at a bad dealership. I enjoy learning and I actually like talking with customers despite some of them being painfully miserable. But between a slow dealership, the commission structure, a sales manager I don’t mesh with, and then all the other headaches, I feel discouraged and making me wonder if it’s just not for me or it’s just this store.

[u/asmashingbore]

You need to ditch that dealership like yesterday. Slower than Hell and a shit pay plan.

You are at a bad dealership. You can only succeed at a dealership where there isn't constant friction between employees and management.

Look for the larger dealerships in your area and start reaching out.

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Thanks for posting, /u/iTz_F8TAL1TY! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of anything.

I started in car sales about 5 months ago, with that being said the title says it all. I’m honestly not discouraged in the sales I’m doing I think it’s all the other factors I cannot control. I come from a background of food sales and wanted to give car sales a shot.

I work for a Nissan dealership that just isn’t that busy. Probably averages like 35 units per month which arguably is terrible given what I’ve seen some other dealerships do.

I’ll start with the commission structure which I’ve learned now with some research really isn’t great at all. So it’s a base scaling salary plus commissions. So it scales on the average unit sales over a 3 month span. The bottom tier is $600/week plus 6% on backend gross with the highest being $1,000/week plus 10%. Flats on new are $100 and Used were also $100 but recently they changed them to $50.

Money isn’t everything to me but I also need to make a living. I’d definitely take a lower paying job to not have the stress and headaches of a lot of things. But with the way this commission structure is setup I’ve basically accepted the fact that most sales I do I essentially just get the flat or maybe a touch more. Working a deal with a customer for days on end to then sell a $50k vehicle and maybe get the flat and after tax like $60 bucks just doesn’t seem worth it.

I recently got a new Sales Manager a few weeks ago after a huge shift within the dealership between people leaving and or transferring. I don’t really get along with my Sales Manager, we butt heads constantly and I just get nothing but an attitude from them. I want to learn and get better and I just don’t get that from them. They do whatever they need to make a deal happen even if that means instead of teaching just outright taking over and making a deal happen. I got horrible training to begin with, couldn’t even get into my CRM for the first month I was here and same with NCAR so I basically just sat at a desk and was told I couldn’t sell because I had to do all my training beforehand which I didn’t have access to for the first like 4-5 weeks.

I feel like I’m just ranting at this point and I’m sorry but the last thing being, with our used cars it’s the most miserable process ever. They get put online most times before we even get the vehicle sometimes Atleast a week or so before we get it. Tracking down vehicles and then having the vehicle needing a UCI before it goes out I’ve lost tons of deals because of it, people don’t want to wait. Or people want a vehicle from another one of our locations but they are essentially asking a customer to commit to the vehicle sight unseen before they’d allow us to go get the vehicle for them to test drive, another solid way to lose sales.

Anywho I’m at a loss. I’m not sure if this is just how car sales is in general or maybe I’m just at a bad dealership. I enjoy learning and I actually like talking with customers despite some of them being painfully miserable. But between a slow dealership, the commission structure, a sales manager I don’t mesh with, and then all the other headaches, I feel discouraged and making me wonder if it’s just not for me or it’s just this store.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/RexRaider]

Find another store. If things are as bad there as they are where you're at, the problem is probably you.

[u/Leading_Promotion123 → u/RexRaider]

35 units for the entire store is outrageous.

I know sales people who do more than that individually per month.

Imagine having an entire dealership only averaging like 1.5 deals per working day.

I don’t even understand how you keep the lights on selling 1 car per day as a dealership.

[u/asmashingbore → u/Leading_Promotion123]

^^^ This. I personally had 32.5 units last month. A store doing 35 a month is insanity.

[u/iTz_F8TAL1TY → u/RexRaider]

Huh? I guess if that’s what you think.

Considering our Sales Manager has worked for three of our other dealerships and has transitioned out because of having a reputation for having a horrible attitude I guess that’s a me problem?

I’m all for owning up to my own bullshit but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that when I started there was 5 of us, 3 of us being salesmen and then an assistant manager and sales manager to then having one sales person canned for having poor sales then one being transferred. Shortly after Sales Manager puts in his notice then with the rumor of the this person becoming the sales manager the assistant asked to transfer because of their reputation.

They’ve gotten into it with basically everyone in the 3 weeks they’ve had the position including the techs in the back, the office and service advisors. I’ve heard everyone literally complain about them. Can they produce numbers sure but at what cost? I’d much rather have a cohesive team than someone in a role that can produce a bit more but everyone in the building cannot stand them.

[u/DallasCowboyOwner → u/iTz_F8TAL1TY]

I think he meant to say the problem isnt you. Your dealership is BIG ass bro. Top salesmen at my spot sold like 42 units last month and we live in a town of 95k people. Your dealership is terrible