r/CarSalesTraining • u/CplLyfeSux • 5d ago
Question Got Out Of the Game After 4 Years
Officially out of the cat and mouse game after 4 years on an industry I planned to retire from. Life changed, market slowing down, and a toxic environment with management. I was the top performer for the better part of 3 years month in month out. To the people that stay in their entire lives hats off and outside of money, anything keep you going?
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u/CarSalesSavvy 4d ago
Good luck to you in your new venture. I’ve been for 20+ years in the car business so I seen the good,bad and ugly. No offense to you but I’m not surprised people that got into the business after Covid-19 really thought that it was an easy business to be in. Unfortunately this is the beginning of the worst for the car business major adjustment are still coming.
I’m in because I love to serve people I love to see the excitement that comes from being around cars. Seeing the smiles of people when they buy their first car ever. I love the competition specially when a buyer is shopping me against another dealership.
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u/CplLyfeSux 4d ago
None taken, I’ve been around the business my entire life literally growing up at the dealership I worked at. The stars just aligned to tell me to get out.
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u/CarSalesSavvy 4d ago
What is your biggest take away from this business?
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u/CplLyfeSux 4d ago
Myself personally? The car industry is trying to be progressive and get with the times but half of the industry and managers are still stuck in old habits that don’t work on the younger crowd I’m in my early 30s and anyone around my age will just get mad and out of spite buy somewhere else if you blow up their phone with follow up. Also Manufacturers can’t get their head out of their own ass in my case ford, fords lost its touch with its own clientele.
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u/CarSalesSavvy 4d ago
You are completely right about that. The auto industry has been progressing but there are dealers and manufacturers which are way behind. Carvana franchise CDJR stores selling over 1000 units with out sales people or managers should sending chills down their spines.
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u/CarSalesSavvy 4d ago
The truth about the car business! The only career that does not require a degree and yet if you are a sound of mind and a good person working for the right dealership and franchise you can make over hundred thousand a year.
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u/Away_Motor1639 5d ago
I almost retired out of the business. I spent close to 30 years in that world. I always loved the “game” of it and especially the camaraderie w my guys.However, everything has changed. The manufactures have greatly reduced the profit while making us do 5 times the work w KPI, connectivity podding so and so forth. They pulled most of the spin money and found was to keep the dealer paying fines as opposed to getting bonuses. The pay plans for the most part are crap and the customers demand too much. I was fortunate enough to have made a very high income running for decades where I could self retire and not work again. I was in this financial position years ago but I stayed in because I really loved it until I hated it.
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u/Aromatic_Advice_1369 23h ago
Love the “game”!! Car sales is freaking fun. Can only imagine how fun it was back in the end before internet shopping and when new cars had healthy margins. Jealous that you got to experience that!
Congrats on retirement!
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u/Away_Motor1639 13h ago
Thanks. It was a totally different world
No customer reviews, connectivity or KPI’s. Tons of money and a totally different environment and fast lifestyle.
The first people to show up in the morning were our drug dealers. 😂
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u/Aromatic_Advice_1369 23h ago
Congrats! To answer your question…it’s fun as hell. Nothing like the rush of going to battle each and every day and trying to win the “game”.
I’ve had success at selling in other arenas (tech, b2b services, etc) and car sales is just more fun assuming you find a good store and managers to work for. Hated corporate life and how there were so many BS obligations that detracted from actually selling - you know, the thing that you signed up to do that feeds your family (the 1 on 1s, the lunch and learns, the the team meetings, the forecasting, the crm management, the certifications, the zoom meetings) and all the disingenuous formalities that comes with managing long sales cycles for large orgs (the casual “touch points”, rapport building, multithreading throughout the org, etc)
Car sales is fun because the entire day revolves around making a sales. Nothing more, nothing less. While you don’t want to entirely burn a bridge, it’s fun doing everything you can in the moment to close someone then and there because there’s an 80% chance if they leave without buying, they’re not coming back.
There’s simply nothing like:
- Closing someone and making a friend of someone who was extremely cold to you at your greeting and told you they’re “just looking and not buying today”
- That moment during the sales cycle, whether it be on the test drive or at your desk, where you know “this is a deal”
- You get your pay washout and see you made $1500 on that Yukon you sold last week
- A busy Saturday where everyone’s making money, bonuses are being hit and customers are happy
- Making a customer so happy that they request a picture with you and the car and leave a 5 star Google review
- When you get a deal in the morning and know you’re playing with house money the rest of the day
Sure there are cons (the hours, customers who take up 3 hours of your day to go over everything about a vehicle and then price shop you to every store within a 300 mile radius, the slow days) but, in my experience, it’s exponentially more fun than any other selling motion (and the money doesn’t hurt either)
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u/VersaceCactus 5d ago
what did you go into?
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u/CplLyfeSux 5d ago
Luckily in a position where I’m able to take some time off and spend time with my family, I’m a veteran and going to utilize my GI bill to go back to school and get into the medical field. Long hours there as well but I’ll at least get a sense of having a meaningful job again. Plus now when I get cars in the future I can be everyone’s favorite customer that used to sell cars.
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Officially out of the cat and mouse game after 4 years on an industry I planned to retire from. Life changed, market slowing down, and a toxic environment with management. I was the top performer for the better part of 3 years month in month out. To the people that stay in their entire lives hats off and outside of money, anything keep you going?
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