The problem is any commission. Money is NOT a motivator, no matter what people say/think. In practice, it makes no difference. However, it IS a massive DE-motivator. Why? Well, if you earn too little, you spend all of your time worrying about money and resenting the small cheque. If you earn enough, you are satisfied and just do your job.
Commission is the only motivator in auto sales. Pay ppl a base and commission and they sit on their *ss all day. Fail to show up on deliveries. Never work more than 40 hours per week. Don't follow up and pester customers. Gawk on facebook and cartalkacanada. 
Why? Well, if you earn too little, you spend all of your time worrying about money and resenting the small cheque.
Earn to little and you're butt is out the door in 2 months.
Car sales is not for everyone: if you take 2 days off, it's never consecutive. Saturday is a mandatory day. Monday is a mandatory day. Rural stores are an easier go, but to successful in an urban store you gotta do at least 50 hours per weeks. No benefits, no extras.
Best working environment for a sales person in car sales is with a Mercedes corporate store.
Commission is the only motivator in auto sales. Pay ppl a base and commission and they sit on their *ss all day. Fail to show up on deliveries. Never work more than 40 hours per week. Don't follow up and pester customers
This is a self fulfilling prophecy and a mentality that is the cause of why we are still stuck with this crappy system today.
Its fact that Auto Sales is one of the highest turnover professions out there. They use a shotgun approach when selling and a shotgun approach when hiring. Throw as many sales people on the floor as you can so that no customer escapes. You can do this because 1. You have 0 investment in people no benefits, no training etc. 2. The labour pool is very large in most places. 3. They have very low hiring standards.
(note their are exceptions to everything and this is not meant to paint any one person or one dealer negatively)
If you hire people who are ill trained and have a mentality of chasing $ to feed themselves at any cost of course that person will sit around if you pay them salary. You haven't given them incentive to do anything else. There are many many sales jobs with great professional sales people who are very successful that are no where near 100% commission. I have held them. I was paid probably 90% salary in some of them. I did not sit on my azz and do nothing.
Like I said its a cycle or self fulfilling propehcy. Hire someone with the promise that if you sell you get $ nothing else matters and give them no training and no benefits the majority will fail, a small number will succeed through sheer force of will and become better due to their own self motivation. Its short term thinking by the dealer and it trickles down to be short term thinking by the sales person.
If you hire motivated people (in other words motivated by something other than tomorrows paycheck) support them while they learn and provide incentive to get better at their craft rather than on immoderate results they won't sit on their azz. Commission is the only motivator because its the only one provided. Its essentially motivation by fear. We know that works but it doesn't last and its only effective for short times. Long term success comes from having people FOLLOW the leader not from having hiom chase them from behind with a whip.
