DealersEdge Professional Forums

We are thinking about hiring an outside
salesperson for wholesale. Does anyone have
any unique pay plans for this position?

Also, is the salesperson out most of
the time or do they spend certain hours at
the dealership?

Joe Reid

joe r

After a couple of years working in jobber stores as a teenager, a Parts Manager at a local Metro area Nissan dealer gave me the opportunity to start my career in the world of car dealers.

As explained by my boss, my responsibility was to spend my time on the road contacting managers and owners of Body Shops, Repair Garages, Service Stations and anyone else who could possible use Nissan parts. With no experience in sales I expressed my concern about getting involved in a job I wasnt sure I could do. My boss advised me that my only job would be to get the prospective accounts to call the dealer once, it was then his job to make sure his employees did a good enough job to keep the wholesale account calling back.

To insure I was focused on my job I had the following pay plan. (Keep in mind that I was 18 and this was 15 years ago.) I was required to make a minimum of 12 contacts a day. I received all the gas I could use. (Driving my own car) I was paid a salary of $250.00 per week and $20.00 for each new account that called our store. My boss thought that I should be able to make $15,000/yr. Since I was only going to take this job for the summer before college I figured I would give it a shot. As it turned out, by the end of the summer I was tracking over $20,000/yr. and having a blast. My career had begun.

In retrospect, with all the money made off my new accounts I should of negotiated a better pay plan, but what do expect from a nave kid with no real knowledge of the car business. Now, after 15 years of experience in the industry and currently as a consultant spending time in dealers around the country, I have learned a few things. My first mentor in the industry had a good idea. He had 3 outgoing kids on the road full time and business was booming. Generally, in the wholesale business we work with a relatively small margin and too often the "outside" salesperson spends too much time inside and is paid too much of the slim margins we make. The points I am trying to make are:

1. Why hire an outside salesperson unless they are on the road.
2. You dont always have to go out and spend a fortune on the most experienced and knowledgeable person.
3. You can make creative pay plans to obtain results you want.

Good luck,
David S

thanks for the input, David.