Aspie working as a car sales consultant?

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Chris71186
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26 May 2015, 1:00 pm

I have a very real shot at becoming a car sales consultant.

It's very weird because I've never done this kind of work before and I worry about how my ASD could affect me here.

I'm pretty comfortable in my own skin and have learned great skills in how to deal with people. In a strange twist of irony I've worked customer service in the past and have gotten very high QA ratings. [you just listen, nod a lot, say "how can I help you" and answer their questions].

My ASD comes out mostly in my bluntness and pin-pointed approach to social situations. I'm in no way shy, just can be a little "off" at times.

This would be brand new territory for me and wondering what you guys think

Can a person with ASD succeed in this kind of career?



justanothersara
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26 May 2015, 3:28 pm

I think so, being straightforward & direct should help you and honestly, I don't know about where you are, but pretty much everywhere in the US the majority of car sales reps are on tons of cocaine or other drugs, so you probably won't be any weirder than they are.



aspinnaker
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29 Jun 2015, 11:42 pm

Sorry for being late to the party here but just wanted to add a few thoughts:

1. One positive in that you generally only have 1 actor and 1 objective: sell the car to that one person (or a couple / family). Dealing with people gets infinitely harder when you start dealing with multiple actors, with multiple objectives, like in a politicized meeting - in those cases, I basically freeze up since I'm not sure whether to act enthusiastic, or reserved, or who I'm meant to support, or how to control the situation etc.
2. I think if you've already learned the skills then there should be no issue in you being able to pull of the sales. NT's are usually fine with some level of being "off". As suggested in the post above,there are many things that are worse than simply being "a bit off".
3. My only concern would be if you get tired from interacting with people on a daily basis. It's not only the "pretending", but the fact that we are so unable to gauge whether we acted in the "right" way or not after each sale, that is mentally and physically draining. But I think if its only tough but nevertheless bearable, I'd recommend that you hang in there - I feel like you could achieve some measure of success as a sales person with your existing customer service foundational skills and your enthusiasm for the role.

If you do meet some success in your field, please come back and tell us what you've learned. Good luck!



taiwanluthiers
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07 Jul 2015, 4:51 pm

Thing is, I don't even find it hard to do "customer service" once I got used to it, because mostly you just listen to them, and help them as much as your job allows you. If their request is way over your pay grade you send them over to your supervisor or a manager. It's having to deal with people on a personal level that's hard for us aspies. So things like having people decide life and death over you, where their decision is based on how they personally feel about you, then it gets difficult. Customer service isn't like that because they see the company, and not you personally so as long as you act within the company's guidelines, you're usually fine.