You want to be a what?

If you go in to the car business you will alot make money.
I've got a great personality I would be a good car salesman.
That's easy my son could sell cars.
My friend told me I would be a good car salesman.
I just lost my real job, I guess I'll sell cars until things pick up.

I could go on and on about why people start selling cars. I got into the business after September 11th. A good friend told me if I wanted to get rich without a lot of training, I should try the car business. So I applied at a local dealership, got hired on the spot and made $700.00 for my first sale.

Let me share with you a typical day in the life of a car salesman. You start work by 8am after working the night before until 8pm. You are tired and hoping for a sale as you head off to the morning meeting. You don't have a car sold from the day before so you have to tell your sales manager "good morning," which means you suck . Back to your office where you hope and pray that you have a voice mail from that guy that said he would be in today to buy that SUV you showed him the othr night. You check your voice mail and nothing. You pick up the phone and dial his number and you get his answering machine telling you that he and his wife have left for a two week vacation. Now you have nothing working for today.So it is out to the "Point' where you wait for a fresh UP. And you spot the salesman you thought was your good friend talking to a customer you had a few days ago. He swears to you that the customer never asked for you. You know this is a lie because the customer just waved to you and shouted "I asked for you but he told me you were off today."

Pissed off because you now realize you can't trust anyone you spot your first UP of the day... IT'S SHOW TIME: Welcome to XXX Motors, you say with a big smile and the first words you hear from your new customer is "I am just looking." Now almost every customer says this, it is what they call a reflex objection. Some people are really just looking while others just say it because they have been told that the car salesman is their enemy. The less they think they say to him the better it is, I mean they really didn't come there to buy a car even though that is why they came on the lot in the first place. But your guy is nice and is honestly just looking. He tells you he has no idea what he wants but he keeps asking for prices on certain models. You ask him to follow you inside so you can get him the information he needs, and in a rude tone he tells you he has to leave, you try to get his number but he asks for your card (the kiss of death), and he gets in his car and leaves. Customers think a car saleman is just some form of the process of having to buy a car. They never stop to think that we are just trying to make a living and feed our families, and that a little kindness goes a long way no matter what side of the fence you are on. A customer may have read an article or book on how to buy a car and they are told not to tell the salesman a thing for fear of being ripped off--this really makes no logical sense.

You look at your watch it is almost 3pm, and your shift is over in two hours. You race back to the Point to catch another UP but you really have lost your mojo and can't wait until 5pm.

Finally the day is over, and you head home. You just spent 9 hours at the dealership: and you go over the day in your head; your so called good friend stoled a customer from you; you talked to one guy that ran you around and had no intention of buying a car; and your appointment that you thought was a sure thing went on vacation for two weeks. Great... You just worked 9 hours for free.

It's Saturday let's make some deals

Saturday use to be the day to make car deals. Things have changed. I've just spent almost four hours standing on the point without a customer coming on the lot.(The point is where a car salesman stands waiting for a customer).

To be good at standing on the point you need to stay in this one small confined area watching and waiting for the next customer. Take your eyes off the lot for a minute and you risk being"skated" by one of your fellow salesmen. If you need to use the bathrooom or get a drink well you can't. It is an unwritten law the moment you leave the point someone will drive in and the other guy (that has been waiting for you to get a customer), will skate you and sell them. I've had this happen a few times. I have been on the point for three hours with no break; when I decide to go get a glass of water. I leave the point for two minutes a customer will drive in at that moment and the next guy in line will skate you, he makes the sale and pockets a few hundred dollars and when I come back out I realize I just got skated and have wasted three hours of my time. I don't think I can think of another line of work where you have to be fearful of the guy working next to you. I guess you can figure out what is meant by the term "skate." That's right, it is when one of your fellow salesmen steals a customer from you--(he skates right pass you to grab the customer). Some guys don't mind being labeled a skater, but it is not a term I want associated with my name. Everybody in the car business hates a skater. And sooner or later he will get skated too . What a great feeling it is to skate the skater. Boy this is some way to make a living.

The beginning

After much though about doing this I have decided to jump in. I am a car saleman. I know that title sometimes makes people cringe. That is why I decided to go ahead with this idea. I want to explain what it is like from where I sit.

The car business has so many characters from the cusotmers,to management the guys in finance and the other people I work with. I often wonder why some Hollywood writer has not created a sitcom.

I am not going to tell you the inner secrets of car buying or how to get the lower interest rate; just about all the funny weird things that go on in a car dealership on a daily basis.
I hope you enjoy it and maybe get a little insight.