Work on Commission…?

Why wouldn’t everyone on commission do something every month to improve?

A lot of people in dead end jobs figure “What’s the point – no matter how hard I work or improve, I won’t earn more money.” For a lot, that’s very true.

I’ve worked with other people in many ‘dead end’ jobs and I’m lucky that I was brought up to either do my best no matter what job I had, or don’t take the job at all.

When I was in high school, I worked nights & weekends shoveling cow poop out of railroad cars, pumping gas, or plowing fields and did my best in the Army, too.

Selling cars seemed different, though.

In my first 5 years, we weren’t taught how to sell – by example, we were taught to do all the wrong things. Doing a ‘good job’ there meant putting in tough hours.

I only sold 8ish a month but I was #1 half the time, so I believed I was doing a good job, in what seemed to be a ‘dead end’ job.

You’ve heard the rest of my story of what it took for me to learn, develop my skills, practice, and create the sales process we teach today that got me from 8 to the 30s, so let’s fast forward to one of my classes.

There were supposed to be 10 salespeople from one dealership for that sales workshop, but only 9 showed up.

When I asked ‘where’s the other guy?’ a salesperson from his store said ‘Oh – he couldn’t be here – he sells about 50 cars a month and had 5 or 6 deliveries today.’

I asked how he sold more and they said…

“He only works with repeat customers and referrals most of the time.”

I asked the rest in that group how they were doing and most were 8 to 12 a month. So I asked if they’d tried to build their business to sell more units, too.

There were back & forth glances and a lot of mumbling – but nobody said ‘because we don’t want to go to the trouble’.

I didn’t pick on those 9, it was a discussion with everyone there and they all knew the benefits, yet most weren’t doing the work.

Why wouldn’t everyone on commission develop a permanent income stream with their best customers instead of suffering?

Spending 8+ hours a day to sell just 8 instead of using 3 or 4 hours of downtime most everyone has to develop a customer base to deliver 20, 30 or 50 to easy customers in the future doesn’t make sense.

> I’ve met a lot of 40s & 50s & 2 in the 100+ group, and worked with a 50 & 65 who never took ‘ups’, and most put in less hours than 12 car guys. They live off of appointments. Success isn’t about being a super closer.

> I know tons of salespeople who make over $100,000 selling cars who build their business and are not especially strong closers.

> I don’t know many closers who rely on leads and walk-ins who don’t build their business who make over $100K. Why? When traffic doesn’t show, they sell zero.

30 is very realistic – it’s just math.

‘Repeats’ close at 75%+ because they like and trust you. To sell 30, you need 40 appointments

that show. Working 25 days a month, you’ll need 2 (1.6) appointments a day. Or plan on 3 a day, if it’s a combo of repeat & referrals scheduled in that day.

Sales & life are way more rewarding when you stop explaining why you can’t do things & focus on how you can.

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Sell more cars with Joe Verde’s sales book, “Earn Over $100,000 Selling Cars – Every Year” for a free PDF or to order a soft cover book.