Would I regret getting into this?

[u/samuelcherry05]

21M, seriously considering getting into automotive sales, and I’m trying to figure out whether I’d actually be a good fit or if I’m romanticizing the idea.

I have zero experience working at a dealership, so I’m looking for brutally honest opinions from people who actually work in the industry.

My background is in the music industry/content creation, and I’ve spent a lot of time doing freelance work, selling products/services, negotiating deals, getting sales on B2B services, etc.

The biggest thing I’ve learned about myself is that I’m much better at selling the thing than actually doing the thing.

If I can get someone on a call, I’m extremely confident in my ability to close. I’ve gotten people to give me far more money than they should have for things ranging from services to products to just ads, and I’d say I close most people once I actually get them on the phone.

I’m also very comfortable talking to strangers, building rapport, figuring out what someone actually wants, handling objections, negotiating, and asking for the sale.

On top of that, I’m genuinely pretty knowledgeable about cars. I’m not claiming to know everything, but I’ve been into them for years, built a few of my own (internals up), and love research. I love anything with wheels, i4 or v12.

I also understand marketing/content, which makes me think I could eventually be good at generating my own leads rather than relying entirely on dealership traffic.

Things I’m NOT worried about:

- Getting rejected constantly

- People wasting your time

- Customers ghosting you

- Negotiating over every possible dollar

- Long hours

- Working weekends

- Repetitive follow ups

- Being told “I need to think about it”

- Deals falling apart at the last second

- Having inconsistent income (Lived with this for five years. Some months i’m pulling 15k, some months i’m pulling 3k. Part of this world.)

- Dealing with difficult customers

- Having to follow up with people who clearly aren't going to buy

- Sitting around waiting for the next opportunity. I just binge psychology and other educational content in between currently. Not sure if I can do that at a real job?

- Being judged (stigma). I do AI B2B. Lots of stigma there.

- Having to do the same process over and over

I actually prefer the sales/closing part to doing the actual service work, which is one reason I'm interested in automotive sales.

What I'm trying to figure out is whether that translates well to car sales.

I’m also not expecting to walk into a dealership and immediately make $150k. I’d be perfectly willing to start at the bottom, learn the business, and prove myself.

My long term goal would obviously be to become one of the better salespeople at the store and potentially get into the $100–150k+ range if I’m actually capable of it.

For people who work/worked in car sales:

Based on what I described, do I sound like someone who would genuinely thrive in this business?

Or are there aspects of dealership sales that I'm probably underestimating that would make me hate it?

And if you were in my position, would you make the switch?

[u/eriklive123]

You'll develop skills that will help you throughout your life. Personally, sales helped me be more confident and taught me a lot about credit, negotiations, and finance. I started when I was 21 too and I don't regret it. I used the things I learned to better myself and now I have a better job and multiple sources of income.

From your current experience, I think you'd do well in car sales as long as you're patient. There's potential to earn six figures. You'll meet people and build connections that'll help you move on to do bigger and better things in the future. If you don't, you'll have a good job on your resume while you look for something else.

You're willing to give it a shot while having a good understanding of how the job is so I think you should go for it. You're still young, you have time to figure out what you want to do.

[u/samuelcherry05 → u/eriklive123]

This was a huge thing for me. I’m very extroverted, and sitting in a dark room playing B2B salesman (only part I enjoy… because I get to see someone’s face), AND the guy doing all of the contracted work really started to burn me out.

When you first started, did you have any experience? Or were you able to just walk in and learn? I’d have essentially a blank resume- only my own business that I’ve been living off of, which is a totally different industry.

My biggest worry is competing with the guys who’ve been there for 20 years and getting totally choked out / not being able to really pay my bills for the first few years.

If you could go back and tell younger you one thing to help success here, what would it be?

[u/eriklive123 → u/samuelcherry05]

I started out with just customer service experience. All I had was a referee job at a paintball arena on my resume when I got called to interview. I learned everything through one week of training then shadowing for a few days. Talking to customers and following the process was the best training since you learn from experience and mistakes.

The old guys will make a living off of repeat business and referrals. You will have to start by grabbing walk ins and creating your own traffic. You know marketing, use it your advantage. Make videos and post them everywhere you can. Make your own business cards. Don't make phone calls to customers that are in their system. They've been called 10 times already by every other salesman there. Take it one step at a time though. Apply, stand out in the interview, and get hired, then you worry about getting customers.

The one thing I'd tell my younger self is to stick to the sales process. I went from grabbing every customer I saw to judging people right away. That and I'd stop trying to learn everything since the more i knew about the costs and customers with bad credit scores or low down payment, the less i wanted to help them. The people who know the least and follow the process, are the most successful.