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Salary for Internet Sales Manager or Director

I'm new here & I know this topic has been touched on quite a few times, but being new (both here & to the auto sales world), I thought I'd post about the job I start tomorrow to see if I can get some input on the deal a dealership has made me.

I'm going to work for a small, locally owned dealership in a fairly rural area. The dealership has been around forever (around 75 years) & is very well known in the community. Currently they sell 6 different brands of cars & one woman basically answers all of the Internet leads for all 6 brands. The General Manager feels she's being pulled too thin & hired me to take over the bulk of this...all of the GM leads.

The problem is that the woman did other things as well (I believe she's sort of the office manager) so any sales she was responsible for were kind of like "gravy" to her. The sales I would be making are everything I make & he's starting me on a "draw" $300/week (even during training) for which I'd have to pay back out of any sales I make.

Am I wrong in thinking that I should be given a salary (even if it's less than this) that I can rely on (& not have to worry about paying back) so that I can concentrate on selling cars & getting people in the door & getting to KEEP what I make? I see where some Internet sales people get a salary, a commission, & a bonus per car sold (or something similar).

I just feel that tossing me out there without alot of experience & immediately expecting me to make $300/week in sales right out the door (from day one) is a tall order. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? The GM that hired me seems to be a very nice guy, but from his own admission this is something new to them and we'd be "making it up as we go along". The idea of starting something new without a concrete plan and adjusting it to what works along the way sounds exciting to me...except the part about me working 50+ hours a week for $300 (part of which I'll have to pay back when I sell a car).
 
The question is, are you managing any part of the store's digital footprint beyond just working leads? I believe you should receive some sort of a salary regardless of the answer to that question. However if you are responsible for the store's digital marketing strategy in addition to working leads, the store stands to benefit in more ways than just selling cars and so should your personal bottom line.

For example, if you maintain the dealership website and ensure specials are posted, the content is well organized, etc. don't you think it will pay off for the fixed side of the house too? I can tell you the answer is yes. The difficulty is hard to quantify and thus, develop a pay structure for.
 
I'm going to work for a small, locally owned dealership in a fairly rural area....

In my personal opinion, if you were a seasoned car sales veteran, you would be sitting on a gold mine. Correct me if I am wrong, but you will be working leads from beginning to end? Will you paid like a normal salesperson? If so, by having the majority of the phone call and internet traffic coming to you - there is a chance that you can sell a significant amount of cars and never worry about the $300 draw, which most salespeople don't even get a chance to receive.

I would agree with Matt, however, that if you are asked to do other jobs to maintain the website or do any other marketing, you are being ripped off.

Furthermore, if you have no car sales experience, you are getting thrown to the wolves. I can't imagine a successful scenario where you are asked to handle calls and internet leads and the sale of the vehicle without having any experience.
 
I receive a salary based on an hourly amount and then a small incentive for every appointment show and sale from the internet department. I am not a sales person, never have been, never will be ,my job is to train and monitor the sales people with their internet leads and phone skills. I also track all the phone leads as well and generate reports at the end of every month. Even though the phones are half of my job I am not compensated for it even if I set the appointment. But I love what I do and as long as I stay on top of every thing my bonus check shows my effort.
 
My last Internet Manager gig was at a Dealership in FL in 2005. My salary was 2K a month for maintaing the site and all the extra IM duties. I also received commission on my car deals, $50 bucks for any Internet customer that the salesguys sold, as well as a monthly bonus for hitting Internet Sales quotas. ...Boy do I miss those days!
 
Waow! Many professionals that I could benefit from. Thank you guys for taking your time and sharing your experiences.

I've been on and off the car business for 12 years. have lots of Managerial experiences, sales, SM, F&I, top sales person, top sales manager etc... but never did the Internet department.

I just got hired for the internet department. My store is a good store with lots of traffic (floor & Leads). They had an internet department that was lead by a loser who ended up getting fired, so the whole department that was based of 7 Internet managers went back to the floor not to miss store traffic opportunities. And management accepted knowing the heavy traffic this store has (Unusual in today's economy!).

Today the store wants to build this department from scratch and the lucky person chosen is myself, I have many challenges including current management ignorance on how to support a new internet department. All internet leads where/are going to the floor (big mistake)! now the plan is to route the leads slowly to my department of currently 1 person, myself and eventually building it to few more people to handle the traffic.

My question is the following:
Does anyone have a business plan to build this department from scratch? Or any professional advice?

Thank you in advance,