Cars sales is a high risk, high reward career path. Without adequate car sales training, you’ll miss out on the incredible potential this career path has.

Car Sales Training

Note on pay estimates: All numbers are based on working in a major metropolitan area. If you are in a small or medium-sized town, the numbers are generally scaled with the cost of living.

I’ve spent the last six years perfecting a process that works. This car sales training will help you get going. This article is an overview and background of getting started in the car business.

Being a car salesperson involves guiding customers through the buying process. You need to be educated on the product that you sell and (more importantly) you need to know how to optimize the process of the sale.

I learned the “steps to a sale” in a few minutes on my first day. We will cover that in another post. For now, let’s review why car sales might be a job worth pursuing.

The content on this site is going to focus on getting you a job and making you successful. If you follow the steps, take it day by day, you should be able to make a lot of money.

According to the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), there are over 1.1 million employees at new car dealerships. With an average income of $53k~ per year at new car dealerships, car sales can be very profitable.

As a side note, the “average” car salesperson? Pretty much the laziest person you’ve ever met. You will beat the average with the training on this site in the first few months (basically as soon as you learn the product that you are selling).

The income is undoubtedly dependent on the area. In major metros, several salespeople make $100k their first year. I was one of those people! See why I’m passionate? There is money to be made!

More Cars Are Being Sold Than Ever

Many dealerships have the management staff that started in the same dealerships they manage. The industry is growing, so why don’t you hear more good things?

Public perception of the car sales industry is still very negative. According to a 2015 survey done by Autotrader, only 17 of 4,002 people surveyed liked the car sales process as it stands right now.

Now, while I don’t generally trust voluntary online surveys, this one is pretty damning!

So this is an industry in which you can make a lot of money and move up quickly, but with a public perception that is overall negative. When the public has a negative impression of the car sales industry, people avoid it. This ends up being a good thing. Mostly, the less sexy the job description, the more you have to pay the employees to work there.

Key Roles

Floor Sales

The entry-level position in which you “cut your teeth.”

Floor salespeople work on the “sales floor” and take care of mostly walk-in customers. You should expect to make $50k-$100k your first year if you follow the training and work at a decent dealer. I made $108k my first year in a major metro doing floor sales, but I worked my absolute tail off.

The car business has a growth structure built into it. “The floor” feeds directly into upper positions, and many of the corporate heads got their start at the bottom of the ladder.

Floor salespeople are some of the hardest workers at the dealership. It’s where you are going to hone your skills, alternating between succeeding and failing. Pair your day to day life with the car sales training on this site, and you will set yourself up for success.

Floor sales are also unofficially the proving grounds for management and upper positions at the dealership. After a year or two working on the floor, you will be making good money but will be lusting after the better jobs.

Top performers that maintain strong relationships with their managers are going to be in an excellent position to move up.

Your first jump will probably land you in Internet Sales.

Internet Sales

You now handle internet traffic. The higher volume of customers that are typically harder to negotiate with successfully.

Internet sales are when your income tends to accelerate in your car sales career. Depending on the set up at your dealership, there are typically one to four internet salespeople.

When I transitioned to internet sales, my annual income grew from $108k to $158k.

 

Handling internet traffic is very different from handling floor traffic, although there is some overlap. Instead of standing on the sales floor waiting for a good “up” (fresh customer), you will be sitting at a desk responding to online inquiries and sending out quotes.

Your job in internet sales becomes less product-focused, as your customers are typically better versed in what they are inquiring about. Often, you will be handling customers that test drove at a different dealership and are now shopping for the best price.

Your job is going to be getting those customers into the store to buy, while not losing too much profit for the sales department. Margins are lower, customers are flakier, and the competition is fierce.

There is so much money to be made in internet sales that many people stay in this position for their entire career. There are salespeople in internet roles that make $300-400k/year. They have assistants that do all their test drives and handle mostly their own repeat business.

If one is successful in the internet department and grow sick of the car sales process, they often try and move to become a finance manager.

Finance Manager

You guide customers through the DMV process at the end of the sale and sell aftermarket products.

The finance department is a crucial profit center at the dealership. You will be selling intangible products such as warranties, maintenance packages, and loans. These are high-profit products (typically 20-30% at least) that are often more challenging to sell than the car itself.

Finance managers deal with an incredible volume of customers when compared to a floor or internet salesperson. Every single person that buys a car at a dealership will meet with the finance manager. On a busy Saturday, you may work with 10-15 customers in 10-12 hours.

Finance managers don’t have the stress of deals hanging over their head when they go home. The deals they do are always 20-40 minutes, and some come to them with products already pre-sold by the sales manager that negotiated the deal.

The work is hard, but the payoff is there. Finance managers typically make 8-15% of the profit of their products, which nets them anywhere from $120k-$250k/year.

If you work at a large dealership, you may be able to have some weekends off, which is a huge bonus in this industry.

Finance managers are responsible for all the DMV paperwork, rebate paperwork, and loans paperwork being done correctly. This part is stressful, and have a keen eye for details will save you massive headaches.

After a successful run as an internet manager or finance manager, you may be tapped to become a sales manager.

Sales Manager

Recruit, train, and manage a successful team of salespeople. Maintain their morale, protect dealership profits, handle angry customers, and settle disputes.

Sales managers (of which there are a few tiers at larger dealerships) are responsible for the sales department as a whole. They are the leaders of the salespeople, accountable for the work getting done and the employees being happy.

Some sales managers can be responsible for the training and managing of the BDC. The BDC is the “business development center” also known as a call center.

Transitioning from an individual contributor role to a sales manager role comes more naturally for some than others. The hours are long (you leave the dealership last when the very last deal is done) and the work involves having incredible patience.

You will have every angry customer at your desk, and you hear every salesperson commission dispute. Not only that, the GM of the store is going to hold you personally responsible for the gross profit and sales volume of the store.

Sales Manager income is very variable depending on what dealership you work at. Some GMs set up very aggressive pay plans, which in major metros can range from ~$120k-$300k per year. Some dealerships value the role less and pay between ~$100k-$180k/year.

Sales managers have the title and prestige of being one of the leading managers of their business. The promising ones are sent to training to teach them the accounting skills necessary to run a store of their own. If they do make it to the GM role, they will earn anywhere from $200k-$700k per year.

Being a sales manager is a goal for many salespeople.

Building Towards Success: The Need for Car Sales Training

Even the information listed above takes a while to learn when you are a new salesperson at a dealership. Over the last seven years in this business, I have watched the success and failure of people in each of the roles.

Customers realize that information is key to getting a good deal on a new car purchase. You need to have information on how car dealerships work. That’s what this car sales training is going to do!

I’ve watched the best floor salespeople get looked over for promotions simply because they didn’t understand what to ask for. I’ve seen finance managers cycle out of fantastic jobs because they didn’t foresee the stresses of the job.

More than anything, I’ve seen many fresh car salespeople give up because of lack of training and guidance. They give up after six months of never having seen any success, writing off the entire career path.

Car sales, specifically new car dealership sales, is a terrific way to make money without any vast prerequisites. No college degree needed, no wealthy friend referrals. This site will guide you through how to get a job, excel at that job, and move up.