The Money Mustache Community

Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: Reynolds531 on January 23, 2019, 06:28:29 PM

Title: Advice for new commission sales role
Post by: Reynolds531 on January 23, 2019, 06:28:29 PM

So I've gone over to the dark side. I've accepted a role at a car dealer as a service advisor. Low base salary plus 3-6% commission.

Any advice from anyone who's worked on commission?

Title: Re: Advice for new commission sales role
Post by: TexasRunner on January 23, 2019, 06:46:14 PM

6 Months EM Fund.  Minimum.

And don't be sleazy, it'll pay off in the long run.  I've seen that to be true time and time again.

Title: Re: Advice for new commission sales role
Post by: okits on January 23, 2019, 08:39:17 PM

Repeat and referral customers are gold.  Work to build good relationships with the kind of customers you want.  Observe customer retention practices from other industries and adopt the useful ones.

Title: Re: Advice for new commission sales role
Post by: Kl285528 on January 24, 2019, 09:07:12 AM

Nothing dark side about sales. Any job can be done properly, or not. Sales at its best should be about helping people make good decisions. It is up to the sales person to do that honestly. Hopefully you are not incentivized to do anything differently.

Title: Re: Advice for new commission sales role
Post by: mjones1234 on January 25, 2019, 11:07:49 AM

I am currently working straight commission in an industry I retired early from. This position allows me to work from home with no management oversight and a 10% commission. I realized I should not have returned to an industry I had become burned out with. I just don't have the fire in me to drum up sales like I used to. Don't get me wrong, I'm in a great business with a well established company.
Selling is just not for me any longer.

Friends of my daughters make decent money selling cars but never have good things to say about their daily routine. If you are passionate about selling cars, I would definitely make sure I was selling vehicles that were appealing to me. For example, I think Toyota trucks are the best ones on the planet. I've owned many makes, but always had the best experience with Toyota. I could talk someone's ear off about the positive benefits of owning one. But, I couldn't stand the weekend work that's required in selling automobiles.

Good luck.

Title: Re: Advice for new commission sales role
Post by: socaso on January 25, 2019, 04:52:38 PM

Treat jobs of all dollar amounts the same. You never know when someone with a tiny little $50 sale will come back for a lot more or refer you to someone who needs more. Always treat them as though they are your best customer.

Title: Re: Advice for new commission sales role
Post by: Reynolds531 on January 25, 2019, 05:15:08 PM

Thanks guys. It's going good so far. I'm probably doing $2-4k gross a day. There's zero training but I'm enjoying it.