Car salesman assessment day..

skunkwerx

Any car salesmen about? 

I've had a telephone interview and made it through to the next stage which is an assessment day with what sounds like up to 100 other people. 

I've had similar experiences before but they were not car sales related. 

The actual job listing and also the telephone interviewer said no previous car sales experience is necessary. So thats one plus side. 

Apart from the location of the place (a holiday in some 65 miles away), and a start time, I've not been given any info about what might actually happen on the day. 

I imagine a briefing about the company, introducing ourselves to the assessors, roleplays probably.. maybe a one on one interview or something. 

Any ideas or info? 

I have 2 weeks to prepare.. 
I'll do some company research and product research as I have little idea about Toyotas currently. Probably write up some responses to typical interview questions too. 

Its with Steven Eagell (Toyota). 

mike_l

If there is a group, expect to see tea/coffee breaks, this is where the interviewers watch and see how you react/interact with the others in the group.
Also expect a telephone/face-face talk with a customer (role play shite) to assess you in those situations.


I had a day like that when I applied to BMW, also expect to pick the colour which most applicable to you - black is not an option - the one I did was Yellow, Blue, Green, Red (I'm fucked if I can remember the psychology behind the colours or what they represented.


And expect some one (or 2 or 3) to one time.


If you do get the job (good luck with that) do remember, to stand out to your colleagues Don't be the salesman who will go running to parts/service 5 minutes before the car(s) are due to go out with a list of the accessories the customer asked for and you forgot to order or saying it needs *insert job needed doing 2 weeks ago* now. (trust me, I've worked with plenty of salesmen like that)

Sporky

If they ask what animal you'd like to be, say "human being". It'll throw them.

Also an appropriate answer for any weird question such as the above is "What are you hoping to learn from my answer?"

57Deluxe

Steven Segal Toyota!

skunkwerx

Thanks all. I had a Mercedes interview a couple years ago for a Van talent sales thing but that was a series of 3 one on one interviews. 

Cool, i'll bear that in mind then about the tea breaks.. they did mention those in the little info they did give me about the day.

Said there is a buffet lunch.. which, I wont be able to eat, one because I'm a coeliac and two I'll be on a special diet that day for a hospital test the next day.. hope they don't hold my lack of food consumption against me! 

I'll do some product research, however I imagine they will equally look at customer skills etc too like y'all said! 

Fretwired

skunkwerx said:

Thanks all. I had a Mercedes interview a couple years ago for a Van talent sales thing but that was a series of 3 one on one interviews. 

Cool, i'll bear that in mind then about the tea breaks.. they did mention those in the little info they did give me about the day.

Said there is a buffet lunch.. which, I wont be able to eat, one because I'm a coeliac and two I'll be on a special diet that day for a hospital test the next day.. hope they don't hold my lack of food consumption against me! 

I'll do some product research, however I imagine they will equally look at customer skills etc too like y'all said! 

Don't worry too much about too much product knowledge. They will be looking for soft skills - how you interact with people, putting them at ease, asking open questions whilst not being overtly pushy and most importantly listening. Be confident, but not arrogant, have a firm handshake and make eye contact when speaking.

Think about the sort of questions you may be asked "why do you want to sell cars?" ... "what could you bring to XX dealership?" .. "what skills do you think are important in a top sales rep?" ... "Can you handle sales targets and pressure?" ...

Is there a Toyota dealer nearby? Might be worth popping in and road testing a sales person .. pretend you want to buy a car .. :-)

Sporky

Firm vertical handshake. If you shake hands with your hand not vertical you're telling people you're a cock.

skunkwerx

There is a very local Toyota dealership.. the one I'd be working in if successful! 

Most of the sales/people skills I should have down. Believe it or not with Hmv for the past 9 years, we used to have a hell of a lot of interesting training. I was one of few who seemed to pay attention to it haha!

ennspek

If you've got the sales skills etc the rest could be anything really. Some companies do very odd things, it ultimately depends on you fitting the profile they are looking for.
In case they use competency based interviews it would be worth thinking of some answers to those sort of questions.

ennspek

Found this. I have no idea how accurate or up to date it is though so handle with care!
https://www.mockquestions.com/company/Toyota/

ennspek

Also might be worth reading up on Lean methodology. It's not really sales but they pretty much invented it.

I shall shut up now, best of luck!

Rox

skunkwerx said:

Thanks all. I had a Mercedes interview a couple years ago for a Van talent sales thing but that was a series of 3 one on one interviews. 

Cool, i'll bear that in mind then about the tea breaks.. they did mention those in the little info they did give me about the day.

Said there is a buffet lunch.. which, I wont be able to eat, one because I'm a coeliac and two I'll be on a special diet that day for a hospital test the next day.. hope they don't hold my lack of food consumption against me! 

I'll do some product research, however I imagine they will equally look at customer skills etc too like y'all said! 

If they ask, "Why aren't you eating?" just answer:

"The only thing I'm hungry for is success.  I'm a sales tiger prowling for fresh meat.  This is the commission jungle and I'm the Alpha dog.  The top banana in the pack.  The master of mixed up metaphors.  I can smell success in my sweat and I don't know the meaning of the word failure.  I honestly don't, I have a terrible word thingy.  I'm a leader, even when I'm following.  They don't even know I'm in charge - I'm that good.

Let these other combatants fill their bellies with the poor quality buffet on offer.  And while my competition are feeling stodgy and slowed down by the food in their bellies, stopping to take toilet breaks, I'm a lean mean selling machine ready to devour all and lay waste to all sales targets put before me."

"Excuse me?"

"Actually I'm fasting.  I belong to a very rare religious order which would look great on any diversity targets."

mike_l

^^He's looking for employment, not being confined to a mental assessment unit.

PolarityMan

Just lie your ass off and you should be fine 

skunkwerx

mike_l said:

^^He's looking for employment, not being confined to a mental assessment unit.

Haha I'll take whichever one comes up first these days! 

Sporky

Also throw in that one from the Apprentice (IIRC) - "Don't tell me the sky's the limit - there are footprints on the moon!"

jonnyburgo

Just bullshit them, let them think they are getting more for their money. And of course these skills are totally transferable to car sales.

PolarityMan

If any of the questions are too hard you can just tell them you have to ask the manager so you can stall for more time.

skunkwerx

ennspek said:

Found this. I have no idea how accurate or up to date it is though so handle with care!
https://www.mockquestions.com/company/Toyota/

Thanks for that dude. 

A lot of those seem like good questions for me to write up some responses to. I'm sure it will atleast be some solid groundwork anyway!

DanR

Why do you want to sell cars?

TTony

skunkwerx said:

ennspek said:

Found this. I have no idea how accurate or up to date it is though so handle with care!
https://www.mockquestions.com/company/Toyota/

Thanks for that dude. 

A lot of those seem like good questions for me to write up some responses to. I'm sure it will atleast be some solid groundwork anyway!

@skunkwerx @ennspek - that's not a real site.  Enter *any* company name (even one that doesn't exist) and you'll get a list of similar questions back.

Or it might just inidicate how unimaginative HR departments are




Whatever - be yourself at the interview.  If you try to be someone else, and they give the job to you expecting someone else, it'll be unhappy for all and won't last very long.