Selling BMWs. Yes, no, and why.
 

I'm set for the final interview tomorrow. Let's hear it.

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Good luck! I'm often disappointed at BMW dealerships because the sales staff only knows sales, and doesn't care to take any interest beyond that. The more brand enthusiasts working at dealerships, the better.

paging southpaw

If they ask you why you want to work for them just say you want to make a lot of money, you will be hired on the spot. All they care about is your sale ability and not your technical knowledge unfortunately.

Most of the stories I've heard from guys who have had sales positions at dealerships end with them saying it sucks and was nothing like they expected.

I have a buddy whose family owns a BMW dealership, so he has it made and grabbed the finance manager position at an early age. I suspect if you don't have nepotism working for you, it would suck.

How much you're going to enjoy it is directly proportional to how well you move product.

A journalist for car and driver faked as a person wanting to sell cars and documented his experiences. This was his conclusion. Just tell them you want to make money.

Edit: may have been gizmodo

No nepotism, high chances of going from sales to management possibly quickly. I'd much rather have a steady income in a management position than risk not moving product.

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Interview is at 4:00 p.m. Gotta hear some arguments before then.

I've always had a thing helping people find the car they want, but considering BMW sales have been ever-increasing, I feel like there's some major potential for some decent money out there. That and the lot DOES sell used cars...

Arguments for what? Whether or not you should do it?

My brother's been doing it for the past four years and he's enjoying it. He does pretty well and there seems to be some decent perks. He's won an ipad and a trip to Rome so far. Floats between Mini and BMW and considering moving to Land Rover once the dealer gets built. Given that it's a sales position you'll enjoy the job if you're good at selling a product. I've seen people go a month without selling a single car so I imagine that can be pretty stressful when you're on commission.

Give up a M-F / 9-5 job downtown for a 12 hour per day, 6 day a week sales gig at a car dealership that's 10 miles from the nearest anything?

No.

Some people have the skils for it. Others do not which leads to extremely high turnover at any dealer. I went into audi recently and the guy who was taking care of me was on the 'geek squad' until a month prior. Doubt he will make it very long and very surpised how unskilled these monkeys really are.

How do you figure you have a high chance of doing this if you haven't sold a single car?

Sounds like the dealer is already feeding you BS just to have a warm body out there to sell cars. Just my $.02


Edit: And the second reason for "no"......you have to deal with the public. That would be my worst nightmare. No thanks.

SPD, what do you do now? Are you unemployed?

Lair... we'll talk at lunch. :)

I'm a safety director for a mechanical contractor. I'm being paid 50% of the average salary in someone of my position (I've discussed this countless times with my employer; "It's not in the best interest of the company right now" is the response I get), the entire plumbing department wants me fired because I wrote up one of their guys FOUR YEARS AGO, and the project managers shove faults of their own on me (failure of communication seems to happen a lot when it comes to safety-related things). I've inquired about employment with general contractors in a safety position, but none of them seem to be hiring right now.

The people I work with make it unbearable and the lack of pay makes it difficult to deal with.

I don't fault you for looking elsewhere, but I'd be wary of someone feeding you a line of BS about quickly moving to management. Worst case is that you get hired, try it, and dislike it. You would probably have a sense if this is a line of work you enjoy or if this was a dealer specific issue and can get a new job with that in mind.

Good luck on the interview!

You drive a BMW. That means you make $600,000 a year and date supermodels without pointy elbows or hairy arms. Need I say more?