If you’re the type of person who enjoys meeting people from different walks of life, you have good communication skills, you exude confidence, and you’re driven and well-motivated – these are all really marketable qualities to have – you’d be a pretty good candidate for an Automotive Sales Consultant position. Having a passion for automobiles is a definite plus and, since you’ll be part of a sales force, you also need the ability to provide solutions for the problems and concerns raised by a customer. In other words, you’re serving as the frontline of the business. Most people are cautious when making a major purchase, and your success as an automotive sales consultant depends on your ability to persuade or influence the customer’s decision. Your job is to turn that “no,” “not today,” or “I’ll get back to you,” into a resounding “yes!” Being a successful automotive sales consultant is a combination of well-developed skills and knowledge which you can get from our quality on-demand training.
Automotive sales consultants are employed by car sales companies and auto dealers who provide training to develop their salesmanship and give them additional product knowledge. Product knowledge training is mandatory and most employers require their automotive sales consultants to be product-certified first before they’re allowed to sell a single car. Product-related training sessions are lengthy but informative, and they serve as the backbone of a sales consultant. It’s vital for a salesperson to know what they’re selling and to be ready with answers to anything that a customer might ask. Educational videos and product demonstrations – all aspects of the product – are all part of the training from warranties, parts, and services to licensing.
Automotive sales consultants also need salesmanship training to develop not just the selling skills of the consultant, but the ability to overcome specific sales objections as well. Salesmanship training will also teach you how to properly profile a customer… not in the invasive TSA way, but to lessen (if not eliminate) the chances of a customer raising a sales objection. Part of that includes recognizing and identifying verbal and nonverbal cues that help a consultant know what approach to take with a particular type of customer. Salesmanship training provides guides to easily and quickly achieve sales quotas to maximize earning potential. Most of the time, employers require their new sales consultants to buddy up with a senior consultant. A new consultant would observe how a senior consultant does the job from doing paperwork to making sales presentations to a customer.
The title itself gives a hint about an automotive sales consultant’s job description: you sell new and used cars to customers. You’re responsible for inspecting, preparing, and presenting a vehicle along with arranging for a test drive once the customer is interested. In addition to providing advice and answering sales and product-related questions, bargaining over the final price is also typical to the car sales process. A sales consultant needs to have the ability to come up with an ideal figure that a customer would consider, and when the client has decided to purchase the vehicle, it’s the consultant who prepares and completes all the necessary documents.
Half of automotive sales consultants work involves completing necessary paperwork. Whenever a client visits an auto dealer, the automotive sales consultant fills out an info worksheet listing all the customer’s necessary details – name, contact number, physical address, trade-in information, and the desired vehicle. If the customer wants to test drive, the consultant secures a copy of their driver’s license. All necessary financing applications should be completely filled out and signed by the customer, and then validated by the sales consultant.
Automotive sales consultants are not limited to just selling cars. They can also work for dealerships that specialize in parts, farm machinery and heavy equipment, marine vehicles, or bicycle and motorcycles.
Like doctors, automotive sales consultants have their own specializations. For example, some consultants specialize in just new vehicles while others deal exclusively in the used car market. Some do luxury and sports vehicles, and some dealerships even employ consultants who only make transactions via phone or internet. In that case, customers get the information through vehicle photos and descriptions posted on the dealer’s website.
Though the commission is very, very appealing, being on a sales force requires long hours of work, and there are times where you got to work on evenings and weekends. It’s a necessity that an automotive sales consultant is available the moment a customer is ready to view or purchase a vehicle.
