Car Sales - Job Change - Advice needed

[dark0821]

Hey Revscene, not sure if this is the right section, but I guess it gets the most traffic. Its gonna be a long read

Anyhow, I am thinking of taking a leap of faith and go into car sales at an openroad dealership. As the interview date creeps closer, I am starting to get cold feet, so I just want your thoughts.

Some background info:
Currently:
- been working as sales at a signage and graphics place for full 9 years (started july 2013)
- 9 to 5 job with weekends and holidays off
- full benefits (extended health + dental for the whole fam)
- making about 60 to 70k a year
- paid 4 weeks vacation a year
- very stable, and performance wise, doing good, can probably retire on it as I have retained enough clients to reoccuring work orders to safely breeze pass sales targets


Obligations:
- 20+ yrs left on my mortgage
- sole income earner in the fam
- daughter + son starting grade 5 and grade 2 in Sept
- as you can see, broke ass and cant afford shit
- maybe wife can go back to the work force once kids get older, but I have 0 help from both sides of grand parents on this front. So she wont make enough to cover the costs of both kids in child care. Hence the need to wait till both kids can stay home legally by themselves.

Reasons for the leap/ what I think car sales will be like?
- let's face it, I dont dream about signage and graphics, it was a stable job with a stable income, came at the right time as I took on a mortgage and starting a family.
- Wifey says I come home grumpy more and more often, and she can see that I dont enjoy it
- limited growth as it is a small team, basically 6 man operation including owner, and sales are done by me + owner only, 4 guys are design/production/installation. Not really anywhere for me to "go", and not like a larger "firm" if there is a type of thing for signage is gonna be much better? I dont see a way up unless I open up my own shop?
- car sales will probably mean trying to be at the dealer 24/7, losing all holidays
- losing all benefits of extended health + dental?
- most likely taking a pay cut at the beginning (especially with the current car inventories), but potential to make more?
- more growth opportunity, can try to make it to the top sales position like TOFU, or go up from sales to financial advisor/manager eventually?

Anyways, the reason why I even got the interview is through recommendation of a friend, or else I doubt I will get the chance as I have 0 car sales experience. All my knowledge comes from youtube videos from the past week.

I am in my mid-30s, I believe making a change now is still somewhat viable, no one wants to train up a noob when they are in their mid 40s.

So here we are, thoughts/suggestions/insights/reason for/against?

Sorry for the long post, thanks guys.

[Badhobz]

Heres my take:

As the sole breadwinner you need stability. It doesn't matter what you do for a job, as long as you can provide for the family and ensure your kids and wife has a roof over their heads. Almost everyone's job is unfulfilling to a certain extent and i think your wife is just being considerate of your feelings (while also acknowledging your stress).

You could branch out and try something new, but i really dont know a lot of "happy" car salesmen either. The payouts per car are miniscule nowadays (my LC 500 sales guy got a whopping 600 dollars for that deal).

May i suggest trying something thats unionized or find a trade that youre interested in? If you had a red seal heavy duty mechanic certificate there are 30+ 200k+ a year job waiting for you at the waterfront. I know schooling might be out of the picture but might be something to consider.

Either way, with that much burden, and so many people counting on you, i would say the safest course is the right course.

[Gerbs]

You're super young but unless you have maybe 1 years of savings, I don't think you can handle the risk of a commission job. If you do I'd totally give it a try. You can grow your career at the dealerships and the salesman in the top 40% percentile should be around $60 - 80K/year? With the upper 10% making $120K+ ?

My friend is a sales manager and he showed me his direct deposit was close to $25K/month. I think the top-end will be worth it, since it'll give you some upwards trajectory to work towards. He's almost 30 and was selling cars since he was 19. The finance managers in there are also making $150 - 250K.

On the other note, I'm genuinely curious how are you surviving with 2 kids and a stay at home wife. Most of my friend circle are 1.5x+ that on a single income and are contemplating not having kids lol. I think maybe because we are stuck on $2,500 - 3,000 payments on a 1BR condo.

Do you wanna make more money or do you wanna find fulfillment? Because if you have to funds and time to transition careers. I think going back to a trade or something stable like accounting might be worth it. Quick 5 year route to $100K, and the late game can be $200K+

[The Producer]

this is going to sting a bit - please don't take it personally. I'm saying this because you have actively asked for career advice.

you're in a bit of a mid career crisis.

Originally Posted by dark0821

- Wifey says I come home grumpy more and more often, and she can see that I dont enjoy it

this is something you can actively change without jeopardizing your ability to take care of your family. Your obligation to do that easily exceeds your requirement to have a good time at your job.

Mix things up at your current employer. See if you can spend a day down in production and get your hands dirty once in awhile. Can you go out on some installs? that's a fun day.

I'm sort of in the same industry. All of my angst and frustration comes from my interactions on the sales and business side. When I can spend I day using my hands and getting back on the tools I remember what a great job it is that I have.

We all wish we could just do something we love - and I'm sure driving cool cars around and making deals is sweet. I'll bet the meetings, and the quotas and the low man on the pole extra hours and junk work suck tho. There's no way I'd start from the bottom again unless I was financially independent.

[dark0821]

Removed.

[Matsuda]

I get where you are coming from. But your family needs financial stability. I think as also a father, it'd be hard to switch careers and kind of start over. Especially in something like car sales. As Producer said, trying different roles at work can help alleviate some of the stress and boredom of your day to day.

Trying a new career and taking a financial income hit will be hard and stressful especially if you are going to be losing your benefits for you and your family. Also you'll be working weekends most likely. Sure there may be room to grow in sales but can you survive financially and mentally till you get to that point where you are comfortable enough?

[Traum]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

As the sole breadwinner you need stability. It doesn't matter what you do for a job, as long as you can provide for the family and ensure your kids and wife has a roof over their heads. Almost everyone's job is unfulfilling to a certain extent and i think your wife is just being considerate of your feelings (while also acknowledging your stress).

I completely agree with Badhobz's take on your financial needs and situation. Esp when we are supposedly headed towards a potential recession, having a stable job that pays the bill is rather important.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't consider jumping ship, since the labour market is pretty hot these days, with a lot of places looking for capable people. So you should definitely keep exploring available options.

Another potential route is to look for a side hustle. By this, I don't mean just taking on any available 2nd job to help pay the bills. You'd want to look into something that you enjoy doing, and see whether you can turn that into a side hustle that can generate some supplemental income. If it works out, that could potentially help you financially as well as make you happier.

I suppose this is a bit of a rarer case, but I actually know someone who started a side hustle based on a hobby that he enjoys. Then over the course of a few years, because he was doing an excellent job in that side hustle, he actually made the plunge and quit his old job to focus entirely on his side hustle as his only job. Needless to say, he is having the time of his life now.

[jcmaz]

I worked at a dealership for 3 years and not going to lie all 3 years were miserable. You will probably receive some sort of sales training in a boardroom with other green sales guys. Most will wash out after 3 months.

ABC - Always be closing! You have to close that deal even though buddy guy has 10k negative equity or you hosed him on the trade in. ABC!!!!

Cold calling - Hi, this is so and so from Insert Dealer Name. We'd like to buy you car so when can you come in for an appointment Or we have a sales event in 2 weeks and we'd LOVE you to come by , enjoy some snacks, and check out the new cars. Which day works best for ya? - now imagine being given a list early in the day and all you do is call call call.

Looks at the sales board, only two deliveries this month. How to feed the family???? Commission sucks unless you are savage in sales. You'll be working easily 50+ hours and no weekends off. Imagine being on your phone during your kid's recital to send details to clients so you can get an appointment.

They taught us the 30% rule. 30% of the calls you make will probably turn into appointments. 30% appointments turn into deals. (Even that seems high thinking about it now). My ratio was like 10-12%???

Most sales that I know worked HARD to become SM and they took years to get there. And sorry to burst you bubble but everyone wants to be a finance manager. That's one of the $$$ positions since most don't know you can still haggle for stuff in there.

If you really want to know what it is like, go apply for a PT lot attendant position and actually see what the guys do. If you like it, then make the jump. If not, then consider something else.

As for me, I decided family and waifu was more important and switched to a trades job instead. First year is hard financially but I broke even in my second year with all the over time we have at work.

[jaretron]

Yeah, I don't agree with anyone's recommendations here. Fear and comfort will hold you back, stepping out of your comfort zone is where you will find real growth and happiness.
You have 9 years sales experience with the same company, that says a lot, mostly that you are loyal and good at what you do.
I would take the interview, but don't lock yourself into the idea of working in car sales. Every company I've worked at has a sales department and there are tons of opportunities for you. One of my good friends made $90,000 a year selling janitorial supplies, not so glamourous but that lead him into other opportunities.
You deserve to be happy, and that's going to be a greater gift to your family then being miserable and left wondering what else could have been out there.

[JDMDreams]

Any more insights on what kinda trade? But yes I wouldn't recommend it either. Especially at this time, we are in a recession. Don't let the gov lie to you. We just haven't seen the pain from the interest rate hikes, housing down turn, markets of bad earnings. Cars are discretionary goods, you don't NEED a brand new car, and what are you gonna eat when the dealer has nothing to sell. Car bubble, house bubble has burst already, prices will continue to fall as the gov is adamant on raising the rates. Just ask realtors and mortgage brokers how they are doing.

And this is best case soft landing scenario. If shit hits the fan, more Coronas, monkey pox, WW3, or China lock down. Things will get even worse.

How much savings do you have? What if it tanks another 30% are you able to ride that out. Or your wife easily find a job? Amazon, Uber? Those probably will all pay better than a commission entry sales job at this point. And I agree with what the others have said sales commission job = no life, no work no food, I think that will strain your family relationship even more.

[TypeRNammer]

I have to agree with Badhobz

Jumping into a unionized or trades job will offer stability compared to car sales where you will take a pay cut and possible benefits and vacation cuts too.

Myself personally I took a job as a transit operator at Translink. This was the decision I took as it offered stability and help keeps a roof and food on the table for my family.

The job isn't pleasant as it is Seniority based, and it takes a couple of years to get to top wage at $36.71 an hour. And if you're at the bottom, you have to bid on crappy shifts on a seasonal basis.

But you are guaranteed your hours of 37.5 a week, part of a union, pension, medical and dental. 3 weeks paid vacation with the option of banking your stats for an additional 2 weeks, and banking over time upwards of 2 weeks.

Considering that I'm under the Translink umbrella, tons of room to grow and move around with a fallback plan if things don't work out.

[inv4zn]

I know some car salesguys, and even when they make $80K+ they are miserable.

You're tied to work because the longer you work (ie. texting with potential clients off hours, etc.) the better your chance for a sale, and like someone said, there is a bit of a personal aspect to it. You have to bite your tongue when the 25 year old with $20k negative equity is rolling that into a new BMW, and you have to tell families their financing was denied. And if you end up working for a shitty dealership you have to sell your own soul.

Is there any way to make your current work more interesting for you? Talk to your boss, after 9 years of solid work you should have a pretty good relationship with him/her, just be honest. If I were your boss I'd do what I can to try and keep you on board.

Also...shit, I'd give up having grandparents coming to babysit for $250K...lucky bastard.

[punkwax]

Not unique to cars but many products have long lead times these days so I’d suggest finding out if commissions are paid when the deal is signed or when the product is actually delivered/paid in full. I’d assume the latter based on people being able to cancel deposits etc.

If you sell 10 cars in your first month but won’t get commissions for several months, possibly 1 or 2 years and perhaps even longer can your family afford to survive on base salary alone? Maybe that’s the bigger question. If you’re banking on commissions to help pay the bills I’d suggest commissioned sales isn’t the right move at this moment in time.

It’s a very real problem in today’s world for commissioned salespeople. If you decide to pursue it further, don’t be afraid to ask if they can make you whole on the commission side for the first year since the situation is outside of your control. Or at least see if they have a plan in place to help out with new hires.

Pretty sure using the word commission 6 times in one post is a new RS record

[RiceIntegraRS]

I just skimmed thru some of the responses but what does ur wife do when ur kids are at school from 8am-3pm? If your looking to make life abit easier at minimum she would have to goto work. I have 2 kids that arent even in school yet. My wife will have to goto work once shes off mat leave and we have to pay for childcare for both of them. We will work out the dropoff and pickup situations like we did for our first.

At the moment im the sole earner of the family and its pretty tough to have alil extra at the end of the month. She has to work period. I was kinda in a similar situation as u trying to looking for a higher paying job but having it not work out was not an option for me.

edit* Im actually pretty mindblown that u been able to make it work being the sole provider, making "only" 60-70k a year with 2 kids. Dont hear stories like this no more, especially in Vancouver.

[68style]

Yah wtf wife thinks she can be a stay at home mom unless her hubby is a lawyer or doctor these days in Van? That's the craziest part of this whole post to me is that she doesn't contribute at all.

I don't think car sales is a fun job even if you love cars... in fact it would likely kill your love for cars... sucks to be competing with your coworkers constantly and having to pretend to be buddies but really being a lone wolf looking for your meal.

[g-velocity]

I have been in sales for over 15 years with 8 years in car sales.
Sometimes I do training with rookies as well and I have something to share.
There are some true and false information that people are providing.
Not all sales person are crooks.
You may come across more crooked sales people in domestic (especially because that's their culture) or low end brands.
Most luxury brand clients are not going to be stupid enough to let you roll $20g negative equity unless they see the value of it no matter how hard you tried.
They are very sensitive to numbers and that's why they are financially healthy for a luxury vehicle.
There are lots of good honest people in the industry.

Nice thing about commission sales is there are unlimited possibilities if you are good at it.
Down side is the key word, "Good at it".
There are sales people working 6 days a week pin to pin but making minimum wage and people making over $150g annually in the same dealership.
Jumping on every possibly prospects does not guarantee a good income.
Again, have to be good at it.
An average sales person (not miserable and not sales super star) would make approx. $60g~80g annually and a good superstar would make a healthy 6 figures but not necessary have to people off the cliff.

Another down side is stress and time.
People will not just come in and buy from you like some people thought.
Customers will go shop for the best price and even you gave him your best price they might still not budge.
Sometimes people would just walk in and buy but that's once in a blue moon.
I have probably sold over 1500 cars since my career but there are no more than 10 people that bought like that.
Time off are equal to nothing once you are in car sales.
People don't care if it's your day off if they want to come in at that time.
You might able to work around it but you will think that might jeopardize the possible deal.

So if you are looking to enter the industry you have to ask yourself few questions:
Are you talkative?
Are you ready for unstable income?
Can you improvise and a fast thinker?
Are you willing to sacrifice your free time?
Are you able to take the stress when you don't make the sale?
And if you are bilingual or even trilingual that would helps a lot.

Now why am I doing it for so many years?
I make a very good pay cheque.
I enjoy doing it and i like the challenge.
I can talk to people with similar interest and many of them turned into actual friends.
And I make a very good pay cheque.

There are always people asking me if they should enter the business and I always said "car sales job is not for everyone".

That's just my 2 cents.

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by 68style

Yah wtf wife thinks she can be a stay at home mom unless her hubby is a lawyer or doctor these days in Van? That's the craziest part of this whole post to me is that she doesn't contribute at all.

Woah who said his wife is contributing nothing? Being a stay home mom is NOT an easy job (unless she just sits on her ass all day watching tv or going shopping). Maybe OP’s wife preps meals and does cooking, wash dishes, buy groceries, taking care of the kids, laundry, take kids to appointments, etc.

These are some of the things my wife does - she quit her job after our second child turned 4 (he’s 8 now) because the grandparents were getting old and they had to direct their energy to other younger grandkids that needed their attention. During Covid, not once did I have to stress about school closures because my wife could be with the kids. Or any time a kid is feeling unwell, no problem. Another benefit is that she gets to watch our kids grow up, something that can be very difficult to experience if both parents are too busy working.

I’m very fortunate to be ok financially (not a lawyer or doctor) to be the sole income earner. But that means “big” trips only once every few years, driving 15+ year old cars, no fancy restaurants, etc. Got into the real estate market many years ago before thing got out of hand.

Being a stay home mom is a thankless job and by far more difficult than my paid job.

[insomniac]

Not a car sales but after reading your comment about your significant other commenting on mood upon coming home I have been in a similar situation.

Been a sales for 8 years now and been working in luxury sales for 5~ years now. Conversion rate for any product over 4 figures will be very low as the commitment level will be high with competition all over the city as well. Not only do you have to deal with customers but you may also find yourself competing with coworkers for walk ins and management with sales targets.


CX jobs are one of the most mentally exhausting jobs as you have to be on your best behavior. You have to be able to be compassionate, calm and have a lot of patience and that doesn't come overnight; you don't just sell the product you will have to sell yourself too. Having pressure from your family and sales pressure on top of that wont be easy. Not being able to understand how to deal with that pressure and stress may cause more problems for you after work with the family.

Not against you switching jobs to a sales role but just wanted to give you a heads up on the mentally tolling aspects of being a sales.

With all that being said, its a long road to success as strategies come with experience and time. I love being a sales as its a different scenario every time and the reward gives a high that's unmatched.

[TOS'd]

Is realtor as bad/good of an idea as car sales?

[Badhobz]

^not in this current recession. Maybe last year or the year before it was pretty dang lucrative.

[RiceIntegraRS]

Originally Posted by Gumby

Woah who said his wife is contributing nothing? Being a stay home mom is NOT an easy job (unless she just sits on her ass all day watching tv or going shopping). Maybe OP’s wife preps meals and does cooking, wash dishes, buy groceries, taking care of the kids, laundry, take kids to appointments, etc.

I originally brought it up cause ive done the stay at home parent thing for a year. When my son was only a 1 year old. It wasnt easy but everything u mentioned was done by me b4 my wife got home from work and it wasnt as hard people might think. Now OPs kids are in elementary for 7+ hrs that why i asked what does the OPs wife do?

To each to there own but ive noticed in my circle of friends, the familes with sole earners and with stay at home moms are way more stressed out. Dads are burnt the fuck out trying to provide for the family dont even get time to spend with their kids(how many times have we heard this story?) My wifes mat leave money ran out so i have to stay at work longer to make more money, thats less time i get to spend with my kids.

While familes where both parents work, both parents share household responsibilies seem to be more happy. Having the wife work is also a huge benefit to her aswell as she gets to be out and conversating be social with adults rather than be at home all day. Again its up to the family but id rather have more money coming in, more money in the bank, have the financial security that money brings than have a 3 course meal after i get home from work, or have a completely spotless house. IMO sharing the workload at home and financially is the way to go.

[trollface]

"I have a huge help from both sides of grandparents, they each chipped in 250K, so I had a 500K downpayment."

Holy shit lol.

[meme405]

Originally Posted by TypeRNammer

Jumping into a unionized or trades job will offer stability compared to car sales where you will take a pay cut and possible benefits and vacation cuts too.

Woah woah woah.

Jumping into trades, yeah sure. That's an excellent idea. I'll always stand by that decision.

But you dont have to use that dirty "U" word.

I like how everyone uses the term union and stable as if one leads to the other as a given. It's junk, anyone can have stable employment, you just have to not be an idiot, and work while you are at work.

Not saying there isn't unstable work out there, if you take a seasonal job like being a lifty at cypress, then of course its going to be unstable, but if you take a normal job like sales, or trades you dont need a union for stability, you just need to not be a crappy worker.

Anyway, unless I missed something nowhere does OP state he wants to get into trades.

IMO now is not the time to make changes, I would wait to see what happens to our economy, we have already seen a huge slowdown, it could start to get better by next year, or things could stay depressed for awhile longer. Either way I think the next year will be a bad time in car sales as people's financials really take a hit.

[!Aznboi128]

Here's my take, as a father I can relate to your vision. Coming home unhappy sucks, I did that for a few years and decided to do something else but back then I had less to worry about.

Does it have to be trades/car sales? Is there something else that would give you back your joy?

IMO, having that 9-5 Monday to Friday just makes thing easier. With your kids going to school the weekends are the times you're going to spend the most with them. For anything in sales, weekends are your money makers so if you want to do well there you're not going to be home on the weekends. I switched to a 9-5 just so I can spend more time with my family and I think that's one of the biggest factors. The second would be the extended benefits, dental work, short term disability etc all of that is huge. You never know when you'll need it but when you do everything is expensive.

I know it's hard to balance work, life and where you're happiest but as a father we all make sacrifices for the family.

[68style]

Originally Posted by Gumby

Woah who said his wife is contributing nothing? Being a stay home mom is NOT an easy job (unless she just sits on her ass all day watching tv or going shopping). Maybe OP’s wife preps meals and does cooking, wash dishes, buy groceries, taking care of the kids, laundry, take kids to appointments, etc.
.

Sorry I didn't mean to say she was literally doing nothing, I'm well aware of how had it is to be a mom... my sister is a single mom to 2...

I meant nothing in the financial sense of the word. That is an extremely rare situation in the lower mainland now... I grew up in a house where only my dad worked and that was the norm back then, but now it is definitely the exception.

I will say a key thing for both people working is assistance from grandparents or family... because if the wife or husband doesn't make more after taxes than daycare costs, there's not nearly as much point (unless they see themselves climbing the ladder in fairly short order). My parents pick my sister's kids up from school almost every day and keep them until she's off work and now in the summer if they're not in some kind of camp they're at my parents. I see that it's very hard on my parents too, they're pretty old -- my mom is getting close to 80 now and thankfully physically speaking she's still buzzing around walking everywhere. Lots of people are not so fortunate at that age.

On topic I think OP should only make a change if he can't make some of the things The Producer said work (asking if he can try some different duties at his small signage company)... or is there any chance of going to a big company involving signage like Pattison? They have an entire sign/advertising division I think... which is also kind of (at least by company name) linked to dealerships and car sales in fact I think they operate out of the same office (Jim Pattison Lease in Burnaby). I hope you can find what makes you happy... I definitely know the feeling of being unhappy about your job and I don't even have kids, but I also have a pretty narrow and specialized skillset, so finding anything else is very tough for me... but I feel that if you are in sales with your experience, you have a lot of opportunities in a variety of fields -- usually places hire salespeople based more on their ability to sell than their knowledge of an industry... that can be learned rather quickly most places.