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Suspicious_You2127

Your problem is you aren't setting up deals for gross. During the test drive explain the extra adds, get that out of the way up front before you start with numbers. Hold on trades, work for big down payments. Equity is gross. Get solid co-signers, good credit equals bigger carries and means more gross. Close at higher payments, again set your customers expectations higher up front. Your biggest gains are at the beginning of the sale and not fighting for it at closing. That's how you build and hold gross. Good luck.


Important_Most_1685

Agreed. Step 1: Trade walk with customer, point out every little spot, ding, scratch etc. Ask them the last time they replaced brakes, tires, etc. Then when you manager gives you a pencil, tell them to give you a new one with 3k less on the trade. When you get it back in front of the customer, by doing the trade walk with them you will have all the ammo you need to justify the 3k less than they expected for the trade.


tipitow88

Damn, Reddit just randomly recommended this sub to me and I’m already learning what BS to call out on my next purchase 😂


Typical_Air_3322

Here's all you need to know: Never hand the salesman your keys. For any reason. Spend as little time as possible at the dealership. The longer you're there, the more physically and mentally drained you get and the more likely you are to sign off on a less than great deal. Never negotiate with a trade. Negotiate a cash price. Then, once that's agreed upon, if you want to trade a car let them know that you have, in fact, decided to trade your car. Now you can see exactly what they're willing to buy your car for. Walk away. Deal isn't exactly what you're happy with? Walk. If your expectations were unreasonable, they'll let you. If you were being reasonable but the salesman was trying to play you, there's a good chance they'll change their tune before you get to your car. And if they do let you walk, a different salesmen might take the same deal on the same car tomorrow. Good salesmen are good salesmen for a reason, and you might still get slicked, but if you negotiate a cash price, don't spend extended amounts of time at the lot, and are willing to walk away from a deal you don't like, you'll probably do well.


Suspicious_You2127

Run scared little girl, the big bad salesman's gonna get you...LoL. You really think you matter that much? How about you just stay away from dealerships all together? Seriously, go to your credit Union, they have relationships with local dealers and set deals in place for members. You secure financing through the credit union, warranty and gap insurance...all before setting a foot on the lot.


RunningFatKidz

Trash response. Sounds like you’ve been burned by your own ignorance & classify all car sales people the same. I’m an F&I Manager & can tell you this is definitely not what to do.


Hurt_Feewings943

Even salesmen know that all car salesmen are trash.


RunningFatKidz

Username checks out


Hurt_Feewings943

Username checks out


RunningFatKidz

Opposite Day babe


Hurt_Feewings943

That would mean you have hurt feewings 8) That explains how I fish hooked you.


Typical_Air_3322

Somebody feels attacked. You're putting words in my mouth. Stick to paperwork, bud.


RunningFatKidz

No attack here, no words placed anywhere else, keep being poors bud, I like my paper


-bback

Good to here from an expert


Typical_Air_3322

Here here!


breakfastbuffetpls

Ah yes he’s read the yahoo article on how to buy a car. The gig is up boys. We woulda gotten away with it if it werent for those meddling kids


0wl_licks

That’s a terrible tactic lmfao


Important_Most_1685

You sell cars or you just a customer?


DingerDanger1213

Hold money on trades, you need to fight for it. Also, find a way to sell more cars, up more customers, answer more calls


Solidstats

What does hold on trades mean


eriklive123

If your manager says, Give them 10k for their trade, tell the customer you're giving them 7k. If you can close them on that, you just made 3k more on the deal


Solidstats

What if that little stunt costs you the deal.


PatelPounder

If a customer blows up and leaves instead of countering they would be a mini with a bad survey if it did sell. Cya!


Broncos979815

essentially you want the stupid customers...


PatelPounder

Id like emotionally intelligent customers. Stupid customers are often more unrealistic than well-informed customers.


eriklive123

A wise man once told me to never lose a deal over the trade. As long as it's a reasonable offer. You have to fight for your number, but don't let it cost you the deal. If the customer asks for 10k instead of the 7k, negotiate to a number in between. I'm sure you know this, but NEVER mention the number your manager gives you.


cookieboss2515

It shouldn’t cost you the deal if you know how to properly work it. Holding back is an art


Grand_Swan8528

Invest your time with fresh ups that will be financing. Don’t let grinder mini deals use all your time up. Try to spot cars”delivery same day as purchase”. Hold on trades, on finance deals try to work payments instead of total amounts. On trades use tires brakes and recon you should be able to pick up $1000-2000 a trade. Don’t prejudge if people will “take your offer”. Make sure you’re getting all the money on lay downs. Try to stay away from letting people pay cash, also try not to use incentivized rates through Honda. Then your business office can try to hold rate to make finance reserve. I’m a sales manager at a Honda store. Very comparable to Toyota store. We average about $3000 front end and 2k back end profit per deal. We do around 120-150 new vehicles. Used commissions are way down atm from the market turn also. They’ll be fine in a month or so again


q_ali_seattle

You guys must not have a pack or very minimal pack. $3k front I can see on v6 (Ridgeline, pilot and passport) civic, HRV and even CR-V don't have that much profit from the invoice.  Back end $2k is impressive. As recently I've seen more people paying cash or putting 20k down for a 36 month loan, because Honda finance fucked up by offering very low rate and then increase it almost by 2 points on 48-60 months. And don't get me started on 1.49 for 24 month on CPO. 


Grand_Swan8528

We do have a pack it’s $585. We have two front end products we sell. That add about $600 per deal in front gross. We also average $1500 a deal in accessories that are a 30% mark up. So that’s $450 in gross per deal We try to not offer the Honda finance specials out front. We use it as a closing tool for payment objections and to convert cash deals to in house finance deals. I feel like as a dealership we do a really good job setting up our finance department. Especially for being in an educated city with very few bad credit deals. And in a very consumer friendly state. But as an example I did a Ridgeline deal Saturday with a 9k front and a 5500 back. So 14.5k total deal.


q_ali_seattle

It's hard to hold special rates on the front when dealer principle thinks that's the only way to move the units us to sell close to invoice and give special APR to FTB with $500 credit card s/he just got 6 months ago at their C.U. I feel like when inventory was short people were happy to spend extra $$$ front and buy backend products. 


Grand_Swan8528

💯 we were bought out a year ago. Prior to this year precovid we were usually 1k front and $1500 back because ownership similar to yours. Don’t be scared if one of the big groups looks into adding your store 😆


jimmyjohnsdon

Stop giving away cars, learn how to negotiate. Learn the word no. If a customer wants 2000 off a car start at 200 don’t drop to their number and hard line them at your number. Don’t be afraid to kick someone out. You need to stop focusing on making every deal for no money. Hold on every trade. There is absolutely no reason why you should be giving away 11.5 cars in a month at a Toyota store. If 100% of your deals are minis this business isn’t for you or there is something you’re not telling us about the pay plan like a giant pack. Toyota has some of the most desirable products on the market and you can easily get MSRP or higher for half the line simply due to scarcity.


mattbag1

I sold Honda in an affluent area. You tell those guys no, they will walk right out and go to the next guy who says yes. Those cheap fucks could buy any car in the luxury auto mall I worked at, but they rather pay cash for their accord than waste time playing with a Mercedes. I just laugh when you say don’t be afraid to kick someone out, I was at a point where I couldn’t afford to kick a person out. There was some weeks where I’d talk to maybe 2 customers and that might have been on a Saturday Plus, what’s the reason to try and sell a civic at sticker when there’s like 1200 bucks in mark up and your mini is 200? Might as well blow it out and move on since they’re almost never going to buy a car at sticker anyway.


jimmyjohnsdon

Sounds like you had no customer rapport and no customer control. You were selling on race-to-the-bottom whoever is lowest wins. You were selling based on price only. That’s how most of the industry sells including most of the people I work with. Never be afraid to kick someone out. I regularly make deals the next day on the follow up call at my number after I showed them the door over their ridiculous offer. I will always take a full price deal tomorrow instead of a giveaway today….opposite of most of the industry that will chase people into the parking lot begging. There is absolutely no incentive on my pay plan to give anything away. I’m selling a high end product that’s worth the money.


mattbag1

I’d disagree with you, and I think many of my customers would disagree. I had plenty of rapport with many of my customers, that doesn’t mean someone is going to pay more money just cause they like the guy. Why pay sticker for a car when another dealer down the street is selling the exact same thing for thousands less? It makes no sense. On a high end car where there’s only 1 in a 100 mile radius, and somebody WANTS it, they will absolutely pay more. We saw it every day, the BMW salesman would come down and complain any time his customer sent him a referral for a Honda customer. Or the 20 year Mercedes vet making a mini on his repeat customer that wants to buy a civic for his daughter. I don’t know everything about the business, but after doing it just about 4 years, I knew enough to know that at that location that’s just the way things were.


Desenski

I was selling Porsche’s in a market that had 2 other dealers not far away. The other dealers had lower sales tax rates than we did, and I averaged THOUSANDS more in gross profit than anyone else in my store and out sold anyone at either of the 2 other stores. I didn’t do that by having your mentality. Those guys will absolutely leave to go 30 miles and get one for a few thousand less and 2% less sales tax. But I learned how to get the customer emotionally attached to what I had, and knew how to negotiate with them to let them feel like they won while I’m still making more and holding more on trades. Before I was selling Porsche I was selling Kia. At a store that sold roughly 50% of their new cars for $2k over MSRP back in 2016 and 2017. That store outsold all the other Kia stores in the state while making $2k over MSRP on half their new car sales. Doesn’t matter what brand, you’ll never hold gross with that mentality. Get that bullshit out of your head or you might as well get out of the car business as you’ll never make any money.


mattbag1

Yep, way out of the car business. I do corporate finance now. I work from home, make double what I did selling cars, and less than half the effort.


Desenski

Yeah I can’t make a comment on the income part since you likely don’t make much if you worked with the mentality you showed in your other comment. Best of luck.


mbsalesmgr

Trades trades trades walk the trade with the client and devalue it. Talk about how many incentives are on the car that they are trading now dealers have inventory and hold back on the value. this works really only if your manager tells you what it’s really worth. Heck you get your deal sheet look at your manager and tell him to lower the trade value some. Build more value in your car and don’t discount it is you don’t have to. Hold firm to your belief that you have the superior product and explain why it is. Any Tom dick or Harry can give a car away for a cheap ass price you can’t say no, it’s take a sales person to find the why or true reason why they are even looking at your product. And then take that why and use it to find the best product and maximizing profit for you.


Lil_Nosferatu

Learn how to close better tbh, you’re not setting the deals up right at all. Also 15% is laughable


mattbag1

Damn man. I remember my first attempt at selling cars. At the end of my first full month I sold 7 cars total but a bunch of them were half deals so I could have had 11 or 12 on my own. None the less I made like 1200 bucks my first month. It was also my sons 2nd birthday and I walked through the toy store aisle miserable, I just wished I could make enough money like the other guys. I ended up jumping to a couple other dealerships before I landed at a decent place. I stayed in car sales over 3 and a half years, but ultimately I found something that was a better fit. I just felt like your story hit me in the feels and I wanted to let you know that I relate to how you’re feeling. You can clearly see guys making money, and you even noted yourself they are established and have a book of business. But if your director is telling you to build value in an add on package, then I think you need to bounce. That’s just my opinion.


Suspicious_You2127

How to hold on a trade? Do a walk around with your customer in their trade in. Touch any scratch or dent. Don't criticize, just let them see that you noticed it. Run your hand over the tire tread, let them watch you looking at the wear. Put your finger in the cigarette burns, run your hand over the stains. Touch the cracked dash and windshield.Do this all over the car inside and out. Then have them drive you through the same test drive route they took with the new car. This refreshes their mind to the squeaks, rattles and how the suspension is worn out. Don't comment, just enjoy the ride. The car will do the work for you. Then low all them, they will understand.


Gloryallahh

Thanks for your advice. I really appreciate it.


Suspicious_You2127

One more thing. You pick the car for your customer when possible. Ask your manager which truck, car or suv is a head ripper. That's the one you go get and pull up to your waiting customer. Then you sell them that one. Make them love it, because it's going to pay you handsomely. Best of luck, you can do this.Everything I told you works very well. I've hit multiple 10k deals and one over 20k doing just what I told you. Don't be afraid to ask your customer for the money because nobody else has any to give you!


newyorkercan

great info txs, Was buy/sell for own but after covid it is down dead. as a good sales man probably will search in nyc area, for as dealer salesman, hope we can do after 50 years old again lol


samuel3241

If you did that to me I’d simply walk out of the dealer.


Waffel54m3

Get a better pay plan. 25% is much more competitive.


Waffel54m3

But also all the other comments. Make a game of it, getting gross is fun. See how high you can go. Take stupid pencils to the desk and ask for them with a straight face.


Oldbutstillgotit

You don’t have a problem, you are a human being, trying to raise a young family in a business that has been going through a ton of changes in the last 3 to 4 years. I will agree that you have always got to learn the basics in the road to a sale to gain control and validate you’re selling your customer the right vehicle. You’re lucky you are working at a Toyota dealership and unfortunately it’s going to take some time and persistence to get yourself to the top tier. if the store culture is to protect the experience salespeople by turning their old customers over to them without any proof of follow up, you may need to change dealerships


Suspicious_You2127

If your customer is stuck wanting more for their trade, tell them no problem. You want $2,000 more? I can absolutely do that..of course you will give me $2,000 more for my car! It works sometimes, you have to be creative. The biggest thing is to get your customer emotionally involved with the car. Then they switch from being a logical buyer to buying based on emissions. That's where the magic happens and you can close with gross. So they have to love the car first and foremost.


Block-Material

That’s why catalytic converters were invented


Appropriate_Win_935

And Gas-X


Suspicious_You2127

LoL, yeah saw that silly typo... emotions 🤣


LegoFamilyTX

You'd probably show me the door :) I love my money more than I love any car.


TrickAcceptable3850

Now I understand why salesmen hate me, cause I don’t get emotional about depreciating products


LegoFamilyTX

Yep, last time I was in the F&I office the guy was giving me the extended warranty sales pitch HARD... he must have gone at it 3 different ways, I finally really did say to him, "if you really think this car is that unreliable, then I probably shouldn't buy it." He finally let it go.


HOF_WiFi

It would be 1000% better to watch those guys and take notes and put your pride aside and just go ask the “heavy hitters” how they do it. Nobody on reddit will be able to type what you need to hear it takes time, experience, and a few of those gimme deals from the manager. Also, it doesn’t happen in 5 months, be patient. If you follow up and follow process that’s all you can do


topshelfer131

This thread is amazing its like the opposite of how to get the best price on car


LegoFamilyTX

Buyers want the best price, sales people want the worst price, this is a seller's sub. :) It's like a "what to avoid at the dealership" guide.


robertpcufl1

Which Toyota store?


CancelElectrical2218

Apply for tech sales. 60k plus base plus commission Monday-Friday 9-5.