The toughest time for a car salesman is the first year. With no customer base to work with and no experience in the industry it is very difficult to make enough money to pay the bills. But salesmen make it through this difficult transition all the time. It is not easy, but you can survive as a rookie car salesman.
Send a letter to everyone you know. Write an announcement letter and send it out to your friends, family, acquaintances and anyone else you can think of. The most important thing you can do to survive as a rookie car salesman is to get your name out there.
Know the products. People want a car salesman who gives them confidence in their purchase. If you cannot answer basic questions about the cars you are selling, no one feels good about buying a car from you. If you want to survive as a rookie car salesman, you must become competent with the cars you are selling very quickly.
Learn the process. The list of steps to making a sale are being shoved down your throat by your manager. You do not need to list the process out verbatim to be successful, but you better know the key checkpoints along the way to making a sale. If you try to constantly jump forward in the sales process, you will have a difficult time surviving as a rookie car salesman.
Pick up as may tricks of the trade as possible. Find a salesman you trust and believe to be good at what he does and learn his strategies and tactics. You do not need to be in the business for years to be able to sell cars, but you do need to know how to respond in different situations and to various objections. Once you learn to overcome basic objections you can be well on your way to surviving as a rookie car salesman.
Take all the ups you can track down. Ultimately, selling cars is a numbers game. The typical closing ratio is around 20 percent. It is highly unlikely a new salesman can reach that level right off the bat, so you need to work with as many customers as you can to increase the likelihood of closing a sale.
Save all the money you can. If you want to survive as a rookie car salesman, you cannot squander any money you make. Money will be tight and even if you have a couple of good months in the car business, a bad one is always around the corner.
