Uncle Crusty,
If you want a new & different breed of recruits, and they don't want to come, then It all traces to the culture of our biz. You just can't put a happy face on it, you have to blow up the old model and make a new one.
For example, One price stores are popping up all over. This model is looks at the "lifetime value of a customer", not just this months value. The idea here is to create a shopping experience based on knowledge and helpfulness. This sales experience is but one part of the entire lifetime experience. The summary here is if you train the staff to qualify properly (aka ask & listen) and remove the commission anxiety, you'll have started a new shopper experience.
Again, it's just another way to sell a car.
I was fine until "remove the commission anxiety" part. Who has the anxiety the customer or the salesperson? Today's salespeople are lucky to get any type of training. Your absolutely right about qualifying the customer properly and listening. These are traits of the professional salesperson. When a dealer needs to hire outside trainers, they need to hire new Sales Managers at the same time.
We used market-based pricing years ago and needed salespeople to make the customer understand that those prices were not negotiable. We ran extremely high CSI scores and had a ton of repeat and referral business.
Under your pay plan, you forgot to add for tips.