ITT: I'm an Internet sales consultant for a high volume Hyundai and Toyota dealership, ask me anything

On a regular basis, I deal with dumb shit, but I've been at this job long enough not to let any of it bother me too badly. Honestly, the worst burden I bear is that an Internet department, or as it is known in the industry, a BDC (business development center), is beholden to incredibly stringent processes. Small red tape slip ups can get your ass reamed. This wouldn't be so bad if the actual sales consultants gave two shits about the processes they are assigned (which they don't), or if the managers would hold them accountable in a similar manner (which they don't).

I mean, we don't get many automotive enthusiasts coming in, looking for cars. I get some inquiries on the Genesis Coupe, but I've actually never gotten one on the Toyota 86.

Outside of sport[y] car realm, however, when we think about the average car consumer, over 90% have already done substantial research online before they ever reach out to a dealership. So consumers are becoming more and more educated about the products, which has forced dealerships to adapt accordingly. Prices are easier to get online (generally), every dealership has a website, there are hundreds of reputable third party sites to use as a car shopping medium, etc.

I tend to block them out once I leave the dealership. Leave your IRL troubles at home once you get to work, and once you leave work, leave your work problems there.

Having said that, one of the more interesting customer stories is one where my coworker called someone for two years until they finally bought a car

>Coworker has been working for years for Hyundai
>let's call him John
>John gets a lead and calls, makes an appointment
>appointment doesn't show
>he calls, schedules another appointment
>doesn't show again
>customer then ghosts him for a couple of months until she picks up and says she needs more time
>this process actually happens for about two years

How much profit is made on the sale of a new car? Seems dealerships are able to spend a lot of money enticing customers

>make a trip dedicated to hating a brand nobody is forcing you to buy
>calling others brain damaged

Its mainly this board honestly I see a lot of people driving hyundais theyre doing what the japs did to overtake the market and its working.

>she never says she's not in the market, she just tells John to call in a month or two
>she finally sets another appointment and comes into the dealership
>buys a car and has her mom buy a car
>tells John to keep calling her, he leaves funny voicemails and she wants to hear back from him every so often to touch base

That sounds like a lot of gibberish to me, regarding quotes and make them sign. Our process is, indeed, somewhat high pressure, but part of what makes me effective is that if I know a customer needs a particular personality, I'll have them meet with a particular consultant when they come in to make sure they feel at ease.

We have a good amount of customers leave because of the experience, but there's always two sides to the story. Generally, anyway; sometimes, customers take something about the process the wrong way, sometimes, a manager is trying to get them to purchase a car that day and they get a little too zealous. Stuff happens.

Success percentage isn't a thing. But as far as I remember, my last month's appointment show ratio was about 70% overall, 60% for Internet customers, which is the industry benchmark. I created somewhere around 150 appointments, and I'm expected to make 110. So I'm successful in what I do and how I do it. But I've also done it for years, so

That's dissipating quite quickly, it's really this board that tends to shitpost about them. In all fairness, their products before 2011 were pretty crap, but they're put a lot of R&D into their manufacturing facilities. They make their own high strength steel, for example, and all cars come with a 7 year corrosion warranty because previously, their cars rusted quite easily.

Leasing. Cheaper monthly payments and you get to go into a new vehicle at the end of your lease. 3 year commitment as opposed to 5 opr more if you finance. Lots of reasons to do it.

>Why do Americans in Veeky Forums have such a low opinion of Hyundai?
Fixed that for you. Answer: Weeb anime-watching elitists and the "Antigook car poster" tripfag that regularly turns his trip on and off.

Looking forward to N Performance and the business it will bring?

Sonata is a D segment vehicle, Civic is a C segment vehicle. They don't really compare the same way.

That being said, it's my day off so don't take my word for this, but IIRC, the Sonata SEL has over $3k in rebates and 0.0% up to 60 months, so financially, it may be advantageous.

That being said, the Elantra competes with the Civic. I think the Civic is a much better car but the Elantra is much easier to get more value. It depends on what you want in your car. The Value Edition Elantra comes with a sunroof, blind spot detection, LED DRLs, rearview camera, heated seats, and a bunch of other stuff for $20k MSRP, probably closer to $17.5k after rebates.

That absolutely depends on the dealership. Sometimes, there's literally no room and it's advertised in a weird way. Dealerships' pre-owned departments are starting to structure online prices as finance prices not because they receive kickbacks from the banks but because they can add in the fine print that a down payment of thousands of dollars is necessary to meet this finance price. In other words, if you wanted that price, you'd have to pay the down payment in the ad, any dealer fees, tax, and DMV fees up front.

You may wonder why anyone would price their car in such a smily way, but let me just say that that advertised price is often under the amount the dealership put into the car. It allows us to advertise it at a low enough price that more leads will come from that car and of those leads, more appointments and more foot traffic. I wholeheartedly disagree with the approach, but it's not my say.

Dicks out for Harambe

I been seeing Hyundai has been stepping up their games the past few years. You get way more features than competitors at a cheaper price.

Do you think Hyundai cars are reliable as Toyota/Honda/Nissan when they hit the 80K Miles?

Every deal is different, and it's not really a cut and dry thing, as dealerships that sell new vehicles receive bonuses from the OEM both for each new car sold and for hitting volume goals. This can often mean they get tens of thousands of dollars a month in advertising money to get more customers to sell more cars to get more ad money. That's why big dealerships tend to only get bigger.Every deal is different, and it's not really a cut and dry thing, as dealerships that sell new vehicles receive bonuses from the OEM both for each new car sold and for hitting volume goals. This can often mean they get tens of thousands of dollars a month in advertising money to get more customers to sell more cars to get more ad money. That's why big dealerships tend to only get bigger.

That being said, there is what's referred to a front end and a back end. Front end gross profit is everything the dealership earns when you shake hands with the customer, and back end is anything Finance picks up after the sale (payment plans, extended warranties, maintenance plans, upping the finance percentage, etc.). Most dealerships are finding it very, very hard to earn what they once did on the front end, so they now tend to take deals they wouldn't have before just so they can work the back end harder and more often. The total gross tends to come out the same.

Last month, my Hunydai store had an average per-copy gross profit of about $4k, $3k of which came from the back end. My Toyota store was about $2k a copy, not sure of the breakdown between front and back.

yeah I'm seeing those rebates which is why I'm comparing them though I know they're not same in class

fuck me for being a soiboy econo/familybox-shopping New Englander but given frequent advice to step up a class instead of higher trim lower class cars that sonata is tempting. plus better warranty

It's personally exciting, but not even the staff in my department fully understands what it is, and when I talk about it, they basically shrug and say that like any niche market product, it's not really going to sell in high volume. And they're right. BMW's M division, at this point, has such intrinsic value to the brand that they would never get rid of it or downplay it's import. But I don't even need to know the numbers to know they don't sell many M3s or M4s; they sell way more 330i xDrives. Customers understand the value of buying into a brand's heritage, but they rarely want to pay for it.

As much of a cop out as it is, time will tell. I'm not a huge fan of the direction they've taken; they seem to have cared less about innovating and seem to be "catching up" more. MAzda beat them to figuring out HCCI, which Hyundai was trying to work out, and even though Hyundai makes smaller turbo four cyls paired with DCTs, they've stopped trying to be an industry leader, and that's showing up in global sales. My dealership is doing well, but they fit in more than they lead now, and that's disappointing.

But I'm also the wrong consumer for a Hyundai, so my personal opinion about the brand means less than the average Joe's.

Elantra has similar rebates this month. I have no idea what Honda has for the Civic, but the Elantra/Elantra GT have about $2,800 in retail bonus cash. Elantra Sport/Elantra GT have the sporty goods, check those ones out.

Also, if you care about driving, the Sonata Eco is better than the SEL and a grand cheaper.

so your a BDC? not really a sales consultant per say?

I'm not a sales rep at all. I was and I could be if I wanted, but working 70 hours a week, getting admonished daily by management, being skated by other reps, and being yelled at daily by customers doesn't appeal to my sense of sanity. I much prefer BDC work.

I put Internet sales consultant as a way to make it easier to understand what I do, not many people know what a BDC is. To be fait, many dealerships have their BDC reps crade-to-grave leads, so they're actual Internet sales representatives.

oh ok, Fairly new sales consultant here but im walking the lot for all my customers for the most part, a few internet leads and phone ups pan out but not usually

Thanks for this. Went to local Toyoda dealer a couple days ago and looked at new Tundras. Salesman told me they don't mark down the trucks mych from MSRP, said I could maybe haggle down 2 possibly 3k. Chevy dealer would take 7k off if you just ask.
Should I try a different dealership?

They really were unparalleled garbage for years

Keep in mind that you need to approach each customer differently. An Internet customer might already have some pricing, know what they want in the car or even have a stock number picked out, etc. Make sure to check the worknotes in the CRM before advancing too far with the customer; any decent BDC rep will put detailed notes as to what they're looking to accomplish, as well as any perceived hot buttons.

As silly as it might seem, on slow days, you have to hit the phones as much as BDC reps. Lease and sometimes retail retention 6 months or less from date or maturity are rarely every fully maximized, so there's great opportunities there. Hit them with positive equity in their vehicle and bring them in; they already have rapport with the dealership and product, they're the easiest customers to sell.

Any internet leads i receive from the CRM never have notes from a BDC, i assume i am making first contact with them always

See, it's a tricky thing. (S)he's not wrong; the Tundra doesn't have many incentives, and the problem is that the business doesn't work as it once did. Invoice pricing is realistically only a couple hundred under MSRP, any other subsidization is based on manufacturer's incentives and rebates, which are model specific. Toyota has very strong brand value, so they don't have to provide many rebates, many models don't have any at all (for the most part, looking at you, 86, I think there's like $1k RBC and that's it, that's why sales are slow).

By all means, go to another dealership and see if they can beat the price on the same model and trim level. Any dealership can knock $250-500 off a written offer to sell you, but you're probably not going to be able to match the Chevy offer, they have different incentives.

But take a step back for a moment; it doesn't matter how little you pay for a vehicle if you don't like it. Perhaps another product cheaper, but did the sales consultant make you an offer on the truck that met your budget on a vehicle that you like and fits your needs? Realistically, that's their job. Whether or not you are willing to compromise on what you want because other things are cheaper, that's up to you.

...my question, then, is as a fairly new sales consultant, why are you calling Internet leads at all? Does the management team want you to do this?

At my place, if a lead comes in, it's called within basically 5 minutes. We have an escalation email sent if it's unresulted within 15 minutes, and the BDC manager gets it and will get pissed, so I result my leads within a minute and call them within 2, nine times out of ten. Copious notes are left because if they come in, I only get paid if the customer sells, so I need to prep the sales team as much as I can so they know what we spoke about.

Sounds like your BDC needs to get on their shit. If a consultant called me lead, I'd go straight to my manager to ask them how they got the info because if I don't establish contact with the customer and they come in and sell, I don't get paid, so come hell or high water, I'm making notes of contact.

yes we are encouraged to make first contact i wish it was like you are saying that would make my job so much easier, i work at a fairly low volume store and am sure we are lower priority than some others in the network

OK so the guy was being pretty level with me.
I am not extremely picky but wanted a new double cab, 5.7l, 4x4 with parking sensors and blind spot monitoring. It was like 39 and he said they could do 37k. I don't care about saving a few hundred dollars by going the next town over.

I have a 2011 Tundra and a new GMC 2500, I like both but want to replace the Tundra (getting a little beat up). I like both but the Tundra is far more handsome imo in double cab, but also costs way more.

My genuine condolences. It gets better; BDCs are supposed to drive in approximately 1/3rd of the business in a dealership , and within the next 5-10 years, estimates range from 1/2 to 2/3rds BDC. It's all going online, and consumers are more inclined to do everything online so they can come into the store, pick up their car, and leave. It'll be a much simpler process and will in all likelyhood increase overall sales, but the BDC will be more important than ever. Unfortunate.

Do you guys use script at least? Alan Ram?

yes

Yeah, they're not screwing you over. Maybe they have a bit left in their deal, but not so much that it's close the cap appreciably.

Did you go at the end of the month? As trite as you might think it is, dealerships go crazy at the end of the month and will lose money on deals just to make them. Happens time and time again at my place, they sell shit for me at the beginning of the month and suddenly, at the end, I'm flush with sales and I'm like, why the fuck couldn't they just sell more customers at the beginning so they don't freak everyone out with "we need sales before the EOTM" so they pay people at the end of the day. But not my call.

The real money is the service department

Alright, at least you have scripts. If you follow the process, just maximize every opportunity you get and it'll work out.

the koreans make fucking trash that literally cannot compete with Japs, US, or euroes.

Now they just hire Germans from Audi and BMW to design their cars.

Consultants here make much more than Service advisers do, but Service does make a lot of money. I don't know if I'd agree that they make more money, but I haven't seen many Service department figures, so I couldn't honestly say.

I have seen sales figures, however, and my Hyundai store puts a little less than $1 million in sales in the book per month, and Toyota is about $750k.

I do that for nissan. Almost sold a GEE TEE ARE once. Fucking exchange student just went to the dealership instead of calling me back.

I'm not really a huge carfag but I have one just as my street/commuter car.

Yup. Call your 1st day leads 2x a day, send multiple e-mails, whatever you need to do to establish contact.

Is it so hard to send back an e-mail, "I'm coming today at x:xx, see you then?" Like, it means a world of difference and, shit, it means the dealership pays the BDC rep. If consumers are so big on making sure the dealership doesn't earn money or whatever, make sure the BDC rep gets paid lmao

Still better than Nissan and Mitsubishit. And all Japanese cars are piss ugly (excluding Mazda). It would actually be better for Honda and Toyota to start copying German car designs.

They just dont like us phone monkeys.

I wish I could work a dealership but Im a baby faced boy, and that honestly affects people willingness to buy. I could probably hook a milf up with a Sentra or a dude bro with a 370, but the average Joe, hell no. Who wants to talk to a 16 year old lookin ass kid.

Not talking about what the associates make.

A lot of the newer consultants at my dealership are young. If you aspire to that sort of thing, keep at BDC to learn the ropes then move to either a BDC manager or sales consultant in a couple of years. You'll do alright.

Ok, so what are you talking about when you refer to "real money" Because I spoke of both what consultants and advisers make, and then went on to extrapolate what the sales department made overall. Are you talking management on either side? Ownership? What?

Sales managers make much more than service managers do where I work. A sales manager will earn somewhere around $150k, a GSM closer to $300k and the GM probably makes around $400k+. Service doesn't touch that.

Do you actually handle the customers or hand them off to other people?

Hand them off. I do, however, work on site; off site BDCs are a thing, if not very popular for a multitude of reasons. I'll establish contact via phone, e-mail, or text, and when they stop in, if they ask for me, they get either me or my manager and we greet them and hand them off to a consultant we believe would be a good fit. Ideally, anyway; business gets quite muddled on busy days, so sometimes I never meet them at all. Still get paid on it if they sell, of course.

Can anyone just walk in and apply for that kind of job? Ive thought about doing internet sales but never looked into it. I looked through the thread but didnt see if you said how much that kind of job pays. You get paid by the hour and/or get a comission if the car sells?

>A sales manager will earn somewhere around $150k, a GSM closer to $300k and the GM probably makes around $400k+
Are you 100%, absolutely sure about this? Because whenever I bought my Hyundai shit box, all the managers were retarded and they didn't seem very wealthy.

And I really hate dealerships and the other elk that works in them. I seriously, seriously do hate all of you.

And I also low ball your fucking shit faggot cars on your shitty dealer websites too. So whenever you meet one of these faggots in live chat or call me after I request more info about a car, don't be surprised when I offer $3k for a car you got listed for $8k. Make it work or don't take any of my business you fucking crypto jews

Unless he's talking in pesos those numbers are complete retardation. I also worked at a Toyota dealership that was clearing about 1mil/month, GM might make $125k tops including bonuses, a few sales managers or even salesman might make $100k on a good year, same with techs and service writers (but a service writer would really have to be ruthless and a tech would have to be getting fed/or it's a year with some really juicy recalls/some other circumstance). This is in California as well where pay is of course higher than almost all of the US. ALL the money in a franchise dealership is going right up top to the ownership group. They might toss a few peanuts to a GM or SM time to time but never anywhere close to making $150k.

Thanks. Because I highly doubt the retards at my local Hyundai dealer are making four hundred thousand fucking dollars

Anyone can, but you really need some type of call center or auto industry experience to stand out. We get a ton of applications but only a few qualified candidates, which is why we actually have really low turnover rates, at least compared to sales consultants.

I'm both paid hourly and I get a flat commission if a client purchases a vehicle on which I have contact within 30 days.

Whether or not the gig is for you, that's up to you. Median nationally, it's about $35k, but I earn about double that. Market competitive, this job is somewhere around $40-50k where I live.

I'm 100% sure of this. I'm sorry you feel that way, even if I'm not sure why and you haven't explained it, but, as I originally said, my stores are high volume, so let's explain why I said what I said.

Sales manager pay plans generally are mainly comprised of a percentage of gross profit. As I understand, our sales managers earn 1.5% of gross profit, my GSM around 2.5%. So let's take last month as an example:

$750,000 x 1.5% = $11,250/mo.
$11,250/mo. x 12 mo. = $135,000/yr

Last month was a short month, so this is super conservative. You also have demo allowances, volume incentives, management spiffs, etc. That's how a manager clears $150k. GSM, if we're at $900k gross every month, which is what we average, and he's at 2.5%, that's $270k plus the aforementioned bonuses.

Each pay plan is different. I'm sorry yours funnels towards the top; in my eyes, that's what packs are for.

That's ok, if I have someone who's unrealistic and only interested in seeing if their offer was accepted, I'll thank them for their time and not call them again. It's not about "making it work;" why would I sell you a pre-owned car, for which I have no incentive to sell if it doesn't make money, and sell it for much less than I owe on it? Like, that's common sense. Go to Craigslist if you want to peddle in '96 Maximas.

> I'm sorry you feel that way
I don't feel any way. It's actual experience, and common sense that allows me to know that an unskilled job like general manager at a franchise dealership is NEVER going to make anywhere in the same solar system of $400k a year.

>my stores are high volume
$1mil/month is not particularly high volume

>As I understand
You clearly are not understanding something. Your shitty Hyundai dealership doesn't just happen to pay it's employees triple what everyone else pays

>I'm sorry yours funnels towards the top
1. I don't work at a franchise dealership
2. ALL pay funnels towards the top at franchise dealerships. Investment groups don't own dealerships because they just love giving GMs money and are so passionate about selling some brands cars. Use your brain.

But it doesn't drive as good as the Japanese makes.
Feature-rich? Yes.
Reliable? It's no Toyota.

>I don't feel any way

That part wasn't to you. And you're arguing "common sense" versus a pay plan brief that I explained, not sure why you wouldn't take it at face value since literally every dealership/auto group has a different pay plan, not unreasonable to believe mine is different than yours for management.

>not high volume

In my market when there are about 5 competing dealerships for both brands in a 20 mile radius, our numbers are high volume. It's also a fallacy to take a gross profit number and equate it to volume. One doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the other.

>not understanding

I'm not going to argue what my managers earn. It's what they earn. Consultants earn $100k+ if they sell 16/mo. or more by virtue of spin/CSI bonuses, spiffs, commission, flats, demo allowance, etc. But I really don't care enough to go more than three posts about this, it is what it is.

>use brane

That's why I spoke of packs. My group isn't owner by an investment group, so that's probably the difference. We have owner/partners of the group. Directly under them are the GMs.

Glad we could clear that up.

>It's also a fallacy to take a gross profit number and equate it to volume
That's completely ridiculous. Cars, ESPECIALLY shitboxes like Hyundais, being sold at a franchise, have a more or less fixed profit margin. Could you squeeze more profit out of the same volume? Sure. But you just said most of the employees are getting paid 3-5x the average salaries listed on actually believable sites like Glassdoor, then say you have really tight local competition? Doesn't add up. Sounds like they are trying to fool you into thinking there is a future in being a lifer in a franchise dealership. 0% chance your managers are making even half of what you think they are.

Lifer? I am not a consultant, nor do I aspire to be one. No one is trying to convince me of anything. I just know the pay plans. Do you not receive remuneration from the OEM for selling a new car? That makes a huge difference.

But there is no fixed profit margin in any brand besides Tesla, I have no idea why you'd say that.

And where are you getting 3-5x the glassdoor salaries? If I said a consultant earns 100k, you're telling me glassdoor says 20-33k? Last I checked, it says 50k, which is the national average for a consultant. We earn more.

I mention competition in reference to the fact that while for Toyota/Hyundai, 250 new 100 used may not seem high volume globally or anything, if it is top 10 in the region in Toyota, that's a good argument for the "high volume" description. They're still earning what they're earning.

Are you trolling me? You're just trying to trip me up when I am being candid.

>Last month was a short month, so this is super conservative. You also have demo allowances, volume incentives, management spiffs, etc. That's how a manager clears $150k. GSM, if we're at $900k gross every month, which is what we average, and he's at 2.5%, that's $270k plus the aforementioned bonuses.
You sound like you're trying push a pyramid scheme on an unsuspecting idiot.

I'm not, my consultants work a minimum of 60 hour a week and it's incredibly high stress. Not recommended.

I had several coworkers who quit their regular retail job to go work at different dealerships because they fell for the "big money" scheme. One of them had a sales position that was commission only (don't know if that's typical) and made $300 in an entire month because no one was buying.

It doesn't help that we live in a small city that recently boomed population-wise, but for the worst. There are about 40-50 dealerships within a 50 mile radius, and that's a low estimate. The migrants to this area are all either college kids with zero desire to buy during their 4 years here, or old hippies that will ride out their old Subaru Outback until the wheels fall off. Then there's people like me, who have lived here forever but can't afford a car note because full coverage insurance + monthly car payment would be as much as my rent on my apartment.