An Automotive Sales Professional, or Auto Sales Representative, is responsible for selling cars, trucks and vans for personal and commercial use. Their duties include meeting with customers to discuss their needs, promoting sales offers at their dealership and participating in test drives with interested customers.

Duties and responsibilities

Automotive Sales Professionals are responsible for making customers feel welcome and supported through the car-purchasing process. The responsibilities of a car salesperson will vary depending on the size of their dealership, but usually include the following tasks:

• Greet customers arriving at the dealership
• Showcase the dealership’s vehicles and explain their features and warranties to customers
• Answer customer questions about cars, financing and purchase process
• Accompany customers on test drives, collecting licenses and documentation beforehand per best practices
• Negotiate car prices and trade-in values for customers’ vehicles
• Coordinate with the finance department to determine each customer’s financing and ownership options
• Contact past customers to ensure they are satisfied with their vehicles

Skills and qualifications

An Automotive Sales Professional uses a variety of soft skills and industry knowledge to provide the most rewarding customer service experience they can. Common skills and qualifications for an Automotive Sales Professional include:

• Exceptional customer service skills, including interpersonal communication and rapport building
• In-depth knowledge of the dealership’s vehicles, finance options and sales process
• Intuition to anticipate which cars will appeal to different customers
• Active listening to best determine a customer’s wants and needs
• Persuasiveness to convince customers to make a purchase
• Confidence to create a positive impression on customers
• Negotiation skills to offer deals that satisfy customers while ensuring profit for the dealership
• Organization and time management to handle many different customers, including past customers, at once
• Teamwork and collaboration skills to coordinate sales with the financing department and/or other Salespeople
• A welcoming and friendly demeanor
• Knowledge and passion for vehicles