Latest Car Dealership Interview Preparation Guide

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I am constantly motivated by the challenge of the sale. The success of landing a new client is a thrill, and building a well-thought out pitch that will explain the product is very satisfying.

If you're not reading the latest industry books, listening to sales podcasts, or following the hottest blogs, how are you keeping your skills sharp? Always come armed with a few ways you're learning about and bettering your craft.

When it comes to discussing your sales performance -- go hard on the numbers. Have them ready and explain how you achieved them. Did you exceed your quota three quarters in a row last year? By how much? And how did you do it?

If you can't explain how or why you succeeded in your role, it doesn't really matter what you achieved.

This demonstrates your level of preparation and level of interest. Start by reading the organization's website and the Wikipedia entry if applicable, then search the company name on Google to read what others are saying about them.

Concisely summarize what you learned about the organization’s solutions, who they serve, who they compete with, and what industry analysts, employees, and other interested parties say about them. Finally, repeat these steps with the company’s top three competitors.

Similarly, don't just tell interviewers you closed the biggest deal in company history. Tell them how much bigger that deal was, how much time it took to close, and why it was worth it for your company and your quota.

Every salesperson has that one sale that took a year to close, went through 37 levels of bureaucracy, or required them to win over a whole team that wanted a different product. Tell that story -- and get specific. Talk about how much time you devoted to the sale and how you justified that time.

You want to demonstrate how you thought strategically about your time and your company's resources -- not how much time you wasted closing a small deal. So, make sure that deal had a big payout.

Core sales skills remain the same regardless of industry or company. This job interview question seeks to uncover the maturity and suitability of your sales process. With this in mind, talk very specifically about how you execute your sales role from start to finish.

Address planning, preparation, targeting, engaging, discovering needs, providing solutions, resolving objections, and gaining agreement. Lay out how you tackle each of these tasks step by step.

Yes, I have always met or exceeded my sales goals over my ten-year career in the business. For example, last year I led my team to exceed our sales projections by 25% — and this was during a very difficult market when most of the other teams in our division came up short of goal.

Here’s your opportunity to make a big impression. Take it.

People remember richly detailed stories of success. When fleshing out your crowning achievement, talk about the time, the specific situation or problem, the people involved, the steps you took to achieve the end result, and what happened afterwards. Everyone loves a good sales story, so the more you can amp up the drama, the better.

Application process, basically, they want to know a little bit about your background, about your sales experience. Like me, I was in retail before I went there. My retail experience, I want to do something that was dealing with a bigger amount of money where I could make more money. Someone talked to me about the car business. I actually went and filled out the application. The process wasn’t hard. The interview was kind of hard because you talked to a couple of different management levels. The last manager you talk to is the general manager. He makes the decision right then whether he want to hire you or not.

Demonstrating a healthy understanding of their business and industry shows you've done your homework.

Your interviewers don't expect you to have followed every move they've made over the past five years, but learning about their largest competitors, what sets them apart in the market, and the accolades they've received will impress them and will distinguish you from other candidates.

☛ Why do you want to be an auto salesperson?
☛ Did you play sports or compete on any team in high school or college?
☛ What is your approach to handling customer objections?
☛ What do you feel has been your greatest accomplishment in life thus far?
☛ What are your biggest weaknesses on the job—and what steps have you taken to address them?
☛ Sell me something.
☛ Do you have experience using an automotive CRM? If so, how have you used the features to your advantage?
☛ What motivates you to make a sale?
☛ What are three adjectives a former manager would use to describe you?
☛ What are your favorite questions to ask prospects?
☛ How do you keep up with industry trends?
☛ What are your long-term career goals?
☛ What do you find most rewarding about working in sales?
☛ How comfortable are you with cold-calling?
☛ How would you describe your sales technique?

☛ Why do you want to sell cars?
☛ Why did you apply to our dealership?
☛ Why did you leave your last job?
☛ Do you consider yourself a people person?
☛ Do you think you could be a successful car salesman or woman?
☛ How do you feel about the amount of work hours in the car business?
☛ Do you know a lot about (brand they sell) cars?
☛ Do you have any hobbies?
☛ Do you think you would be good at selling?
☛ Have you ever worked on commission?
☛ Would you rather sell new cars or used cars?
☛ Do you get along with people?
☛ Are you a goal-oriented person?
☛ What did you like about your last job?
☛ What did you dislike about your last job?
☛ What would your coworkers at your last job say about you?
☛ Do you mind working a few extra hours from time to time?
☛ Where would you like to see yourself in five years, ten years?
☛ What motivates you?

☛ What country are you from originally?
☛ Do you have children? Or are you planning to?
☛ This job requires long hours, as well as nights and weekends—do you have reliable childcare arrangements?
☛ How old are you?
☛ (Speaking to a woman) Our sales team is 100% male right now. How do you feel about working with all men?
☛ How many sick days did you take last year?
☛ How tall are you?
☛ How much do you weigh?

☛ What qualities does a successful salesperson at your company possess?
☛ What direction do you see this company taking in the next five years?
☛ What is the quota for this position?
☛ What percentage of employees meet their quota?
☛ What percentage of employees exceed their quota?
☛ Is there a lot of travel associated with this position?
☛ How is the commission structured in this position?
☛ Do many people achieve bonuses for high levels of sales?
☛ How much flexibility does the salesperson have in negotiating price with the customer?
☛ What do you see as the most difficult challenges for the sales team at this company?
☛ How many people are on your sales staff?
☛ How do you motivate your sales staff?
☛ What does a typical work day/week look like at this company?

☛ How many cars do you sell a month on average?
☛ Do you like selling cars?
☛ How do you feel about working on commission?
☛ Do you prefer to sell new or used?
☛ How many hours did you work a week at the last dealer?
☛ What was you closing percentage?
☛ Do you set monthly sales goals?
☛ Do you achieve your monthly goals?
☛ How did you get along with your sales managers?
☛ What kind of bonus did you get on a regular basis?
☛ How did you get along with the other sales people?
☛ How often do you sell repeat customers?
☛ How often do you get referral customers?
☛ Which parts of the sales process do you like the best?
☛ Have you thought about getting out of the car business?
☛ Have you sales gone up or down in the last couple years?
☛ Have your grosses gone up or down in the last couple years?
☛ What is your average gross?
☛ How often does a sales manager close behind you?
☛ How many ups do you usually get a month?
☛ My favorite interview question: Why should I hire you for my sales team?

Salespeople are passionate people. It's a high-stress job and employers want to know you have self-awareness and the ability to work as part of a team.

Be honest with this answer, and give specific examples like, "In my last role, I worked closely with a BDR with a very different communication style than my own. We clashed early on because I'm an external thought processor and he was an internal processor. We were able to work together to find a way to communicate -- but we would probably still say I'm a little loud and impulsive."

At Toyota, learn about the product. Learn about the product. If you’re going in and you know about the product, you will get some … you will open some eyes. You go in and you tell them you already know about the Toyota product, you like the Toyota product. You can’t sell nothing that you don’t like. I think that’s one of the biggest things.

To succeed in sales, you must be able to persevere in the face of rejection. Even the best salesperson hears a lot of no’s. In some sales jobs, you’ll be hung up on and even cursed out by potential customers.

The interviewer will want to know that you’ll be able to put yourself out there again and again. This is especially true for those in the early days of a sales career without a long track record of sales success.

Avoid answering in a way that might make them think you’re too sensitive for sales, but be honest. Who likes rejection? Nobody! And saying it doesn’t bother you can come across as disingenuous and rehearsed.

Now's not the time to drag out the old, "I'm a perfectionist and it frustrated a prospect once," narrative. Dig deep and show your interviewers you have healthy self-awareness and the ability to learn and proactively move on from your mistakes.

Talk about a time you lost a client because you were so focused on closing a bigger fish, and mention how you've taken those lessons and avoided making the same mistake again.

We touched on this above, but it bears repeating. Take time to really think through this question, and deliver an answer that goes beyond, "You have such a great culture," or "I think it will be a really great fit."

Discuss why their product/service resonates with you, what it is about their business model that speaks to a specific skill you've honed, or how you think their sales team can help you grow in a certain area.

Salespeople need to be able to deal with failure by critically analyzing failed attempts and learning from them. Knowing how you handle failure is as important as understanding how you succeed, and in fact, the two are interdependent.

Be honest here, and clearly spell out one of your failures. Start with the goal you were pursuing, and then elaborate on why it was important to you, what did you do to achieve it, why you failed, who was involved, what you learned, and what you would have done differently. Far from damaging your reputation, the hiring manager will appreciate your candor.

Sometimes it’s very hectic. Sometimes is was more call center type work where we were calling customers on the phone. Most of the time, you have certain weekends where people come in, we have big sales. You have a crown and you don’t have enough sales person. Most of the time, they’re handing the people that’s on the lot, you know. Again, I’ll try to work one customer as quick but proficient as possible. Get the deal done and then go to the next one.

That’s right, you may very well be challenged to show off your sales skills on the spot in the interview.

It’s an age-old sales interview trick, and the interviewer is likely hoping that the question will catch you off guard. Your response will show your capacity for thinking on your feet and prove your dexterity at selling anything

Good tricks to answering this question: Don’t sell the pen, sell the post-sale benefits, and don’t simply list the attributes, find out what the potential buyer is looking for.

The possible answers could be long ones, and you should be asking questions to ascertain what the buyer wants. If they say they want long ink-life, point out that the pen is guaranteed to last 3 years, and so forth. You’re not just selling the pen, you’re making it clear that the product is a necessity in the buyer’s life.

I’ve always admired your company’s reputation for customer service and I know that’s a big part of why your clients buy from you. I have a lot of experience selling to your key demographic and I know how to sell the overall product experience — including the customer service component. Let me tell you about a sales campaign I came up with last year that centered on the benefits of customer service….