Revamping my Pay Plan - suggestions?

[carguy]

As we approach the end of the year the owner of my store and I have decided to revamp my pay plan! I have been with a Chevy Buick GMC store 5 years, we sell an average of 72 cars a month, I am in charge of our CRM, and Sales department, 50% of orders, I purchase 50% of the used vehicles, and take 25% of the F/I deals as a backup F/I manager.

Current plan
- Any friends and family I sell I get a full commission
- 10% of F/I profit on my deals, No chargebacks, 5% of my profit is paid to our main guy to help cover my chargebacks and give him so profit. (running 69% cash, YTD at $690 a car compared to $1384 to our main guy)
- A base catch-all for CRM Salary of $4275

Current issues/problems with the current pay plan,
- To say that I have a full day is an understatement.
- Our owner is becoming more and more absentee putting more of a workload on me
- Throughout 2019-2021 we had 4 different F/I managers come through meaning I was taking a higher percentage of F/I and made an average of $996 a car and did at least 50% of all deals.
- We have a good F/I manager now, Trying to give him 100% of the deals only hurts me financially but benefits the store
- Sales, I don't have time for with all of my other tasks around the store, so I am giving them to sales, and they throw some cash at me if it works out.

Goals:
- Not overly complicated
- Roughly 8-10k a month
- I'd like to maybe change it to overall F/I sales instead of just mine, with the thought of me not wanting to take deals away from our main guy who appears to get higher numbers.

I know we all made killer money in 2020 however I feel my role has changed much more from a sales role and selling products in f/i to more sales manager especially with now ordering vehicles and taking on purchasing used and managing the CRM.

Thoughts/questions?
- Do I do an overall sales net percentage?
- Do I ask for just a salary?
- What seems to work best for measuring growth and not boxing myself in for years to come?

 

[Alex Snyder]

You're on the cusp of what many dealership employees (all employees, actually) will be asking soon. We are in a market shift within automotive. It is a minor factor of a more significant global economic revolution that will restructure cultures over the next 2 to 3 decades.

I'm not trying to de-emphasize what you're asking, but I am going to paint a word of caution to anyone who is seeking a raise while overall business is stressed.

Quite a few business owners and managers only grasp the economics staring them in the face. In the car business, used car values are dropping while new car inventories are growing. The days of $5,000 PVRs on deals are probably in the rearview, and we still have not seen a transition back to profit on volume. Don't worry - the selling models we worked under in 2019 are coming quickly!

Unfortunately, it means you're in a position to be worked more, while your boss is in a tough spot to pay you more for it. I say this not just to you, Taylor, but also to others who are reading this post.

This is the reality we are all going to be facing while the world shifts into a new economic structure. Dare I say the end of globalization is upon us? We will find normalcy while it all flushes out, but I would wait to ask for a raise or pay plan change outright.

You may be better served to present to your boss all the job functions you've been performing and then ask him how the dealership would be best served by your talents moving forward. Collaborate on what you both believe are the main priorities moving into 2023. You may find the collaboration helps him better understand your worth without you having to ask.