Karl Beckham

Want to Learn How to Sell Cars Professionally



Posted: Thursday, September 09, 2010

by Karl Beckham
Car Sales Professional

If you ever thought about selling cars for a living you might want to know a little more about the profession before you make a life changing decision to become a professional car salesman. The image that the public holds of the car salesman is not very accurate or appealing, but like everything else things change. The car salesman of yesterday is a thing of the past and in order to be successful at selling cars for a living you need to be a professional, but they can also earn over 100K a year. The top auto sales person today works hard and treats their customers in a professional manner. Using tricks, lies and scams to sell a car doesn't cut it today. So if are still interested in how to sell cars professionally continue reading and you can become a car sales professional.

You should know that the way a professional car salesman gets compensated is commission. Your pay for selling cars is based on the profitability of the vehicles you sell. Depending on the dealership where you sell cars you may earn somewhere between 20% and 35% of the profit of the car sold. To give you a bigger picture of how it is to sell cars professionally, the average salesman might sell 8 to 12 cars a month and earn 50K a year and a top car salesman will average 20 cars a month and earn 100K a year. However if you don't sell any cars you don't get paid no matter how many hours you may have spent at the dealership. That fact alone keeps many potentially successful sales candidates from entering the professional car sales industry. Most people want to be paid a fixed amount every week or month and miss out of the incredible income potential of a professional car salesman.

Qualifications to Sell Cars Professionally

Before you jump in with both feet there are a few skills or qualities you must possess to become a car salesman. These traits are not out of the ordinary or unusual, in fact most people have these qualities. First and foremost is the ability to communicate with people through speech and the written word. You also need knowledge of basic math, a driver's license and the ability to pass a drug test. Now the most important qualifications of how to sell cars professionally are not the traits that everyone will possess. You must have a good attitude, be enthusiastic, be a good listener and most importantly you must want to make money, not average money, but big money. If you can fill all those qualifications we can move forward.

The Doing Part of How to Sell Cars Professionally

Ok, you should have a good idea of what is involved in becoming a professional auto salesman so now it is time to get started. You need to target a few car dealers and submit an application for employment; most auto dealers are always looking for sales people. Then fill out an application at multiple dealers and wait for an interview.

You will need to go through their interview process, but if you possess the skills I mentioned above you won't have any problem. They are looking a person that is genuine and connect with people, enthusiasm and positive attitude. The business of selling cars for a living is not like any other sales job so they person that interviews you will understand, they are just looking for the qualities I mentioned earlier. Your appearance will be important during your interview so make sure you dress appropriately and professionally. You are going to be working with potential car buyers so make sure you look and act like a professional car sales person.

Once you get hired by a dealership to sell cars professionally you will begin your car salesman training before you will start working with car buyers. This training may be anywhere from a one or two day class up to a weeklong class. Regardless of how long your training takes this where you will get to the nuts and bolts of how to sell cars professionally. Make sure you show up on time and pay close attention because this will be the foundation to your success as a car sales professional.

I can't guarantee you will succeed a professional car sales person, but I can tell you that selling cars for a living is an incredible opportunity. You need to take it seriously because the career of a car sales professional can be very lucrative and a lot of fun. So now that you know how to sell cars professionally it's time to get going. I will be waiting for you to join us as an auto sales professional.

This article was written by Karl Beckham. Karl has been in the business of selling cars for many years and helps create car sales professionals, he is a car sales trainer and is sharing his expertise at his blog Car Sales Professional.com.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Shane
 116 days 17 hours ago.
Good article. I am preparing to begin my search for a dealer that will give me the opportunity to prove myself. I have no professional experience. What should I look for in a good dealership?
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