[2006] How much money can a timeshare Salesman make?

[TJK]

This might sound ridiculous, but at the age of 52 I'm considering a change of profession to be a timeshare salesman. Anyone have an idea of salary?
Thanks,
Tom

 

[brockville]

Yes, it does seem a little crazy. I don't know anything about YOU personally. However, after our experience with time-share realtors - I would rank them in the 'used car salesman' category of trust. Just my opinion! Good luck.

 

[Eric]

Maybe that says something about the types of places you vacation at. Just my opinion ! Good luck

Yes, it does seem a little crazy. I don't know anything about YOU personally. However, after our experience with time-share realtors - I would rank them in the 'used car salesman' category of trust. Just my opinion! Good luck.

 

[shagnut]

You can make huge money. I was offered a job at Bluegreen (when I went on a tour) shaggy

 

[Dave M]

There are some timeshare salespeople that make good money, but the majority of them have to hustle just to pay bills. The turnover rate is high - even among the top programs such as Marriott, perhaps because it takes a certain talent to do well.

 

[PhuketThailand]

Sales Executive Salary

I went from making over $70K working in Tokyo to making $100K selling t/s for Marriott. Yeah it isn't the standard but if you come into the industry with solid knowledge. As the Admin guy said yeah if you come in with at a Marriott program MVCI, RITZ or RENASSANCE program you will have great success due to brand awareness that other properties are trying to build. I was much younger though when I made this transition, however, it is a quality of life decision. Where do you live? And where would you be willing to move to in order to find your start? I shifted from Tokyo to Las Vegas to get me started and now the rest is history as they say. I found a business out of my t/s experience here in Thailand. So you never know what life will offer you and when is all I have to say.

 

[JLB]

I considered the same thing, similar age, etc., and even called on a few ads.

I was in direct sales for 10 years and won all the trophies.

Good TS salespeople make $100,000-plus, but they are a very small percentage. The majority bounce around from job to job.

I decided not to, based on personal pride and integrity. Knowing what I know, I could not be true to myself and sell timeshare. I'd rather sell soft frozen lemonade. :whoopie:

But I would not mind setting up a resale program for a resort or chain, or something like that, where I could be helping people.

 

[tim]

JLB, when I see you in Branson, can I buy some of that soft frozen lemonade for my kids? Tim

 

[JLB]

No you can't buy any, but like that pizza maker who gets to take home the mistakes (in the tipping thread), we bring home what we don't sell from 5 gallon buckets that we open. If guests to the Margaritaville Dock whine enough we take it out of the freezer, whip it up in the blender, and serve it.

It is almost as good as the original product, which never gets frozen solid.

Give us a heads up and we will try to have it on hand.

In high school and college, I was a pizza maker, and I did bring home mistakes. I laughed when I saw that in the tipping thread, because I used to do that, and because if we are on the road and don't want to wait for a pizza to be made, I will whip into a Pizza Hut and ask if they have any mistakes, one without green peppers!

JLB, when I see you in Branson, can I buy some of that soft frozen lemonade for my kids? Tim

 

[BocaBum99]

So you want to be a timeshare salesman....

I have done some research on what it takes to be a good timeshare salesman working for the resort developer. Here is what I've concluded.

First, the compensation. Timeshare sales is pretty much a winner take all sales job. Only the best get paid a lot. And, the best are heavily recruited by all resort developers. Most get almost nothing. Timeshare sales is like real estate sales in that you work on a 100% commission plan. Some developers have benefits plans that are pretty good. But, that is meaningless if you aren't making any money. Many do have a weekly minimum of about $200-225 that is offered as a non-recoverable draw. So, you get that minimum if you don't sell enough for that week.

The work week can be pretty short if you are really good. You get 1 to 3 tour opportunities per day for the most part. More at the busier resorts such as Las Vegas. The base commission is usually around 4-6%. If the average timeshare sale is $15000, then a base commission of 6% will net you $900. If you made 1 sale per week and you worked 48 weeks a year, you would make about $43,200. That is about the average of what a timeshare salesman makes. Or course, they only get paid if the deal gets past the period of recission. So, your close rate has to be higher to allow for recissions.

Let's break it down to an average work week. During a week, let's say you get 2 tours a day. At many resorts, that's a good day. During the slow season, you could be sitting around twiddling your thumbs waiting for tours to come in. And, when it gets that slow, the marketing department starts sending in anyone they can to keep sales busy. That can really suck. You learn to hate the term OPC.

Okay, so you get 10 tours a week. You only have to close 1 per week and have it stick. Then, you have your $43,200 base salary locked down. If you don't do 1 sale per week, you will get washed out or you will quit for lack of income. You should know it's not that easy making 1 sale per week. And, severe depression can set in if you aren't making sales. Lots of rejection in this job.

Okay, now this is where timeshare sales can get really lucrative. After the base commission, they start putting in accelerators into your comp package. After certain minimum thresholds during a current month, they start throwing in bonus comp. and that bonus is retroactive to the first dollar of commission that month. So, let's say that the first level is $50000, the second is $75000 and the 3rd is $100000 and the 4th is $125000 to make it easy and the 5th is $150000. Let's say they give you 2% extra commission for every tier you hit. This is when you start really making money.

If you hit the $150000 level in the month, your commission rate is 6% base plus 2% plus 2% plus 2% plus 2% plus 2%. That means for every deal you did that month, you get 16% commission.

Let's turn that into dollars per month assuming a 4 week month. You do 10 tours per week, if you close 2 per week or 20% close rate at $15k, you sell $120000 so for the month, your commission rate is 12%. Now, you are making $14,400 for that month. So, your annual rate jumps up from $43,200 to $172, 800.

Now, let's say you are at a 30% close rate. Your monthly gross is $180,000 in revenue and you are at the 16% rate, so you net $28,000 for that month or an annual rate of $345,600.

Do you see how the accelerators work? The key metric for assessing a timeshare salesman is their APG or average per guest. In the first case, the APG is $1500 ($15000 sales per week, 10 tours) which is barely the minimum acceptable level for a timeshare salesman. The second has an APG of $3000 ($30000 sales per week, 10 tours). That's decent. The third is $4500. That is a superstar. There are a few out there. I know one who has an APG of $5000. He makes well over $300,000 per year and he only works about 25 hours per week. What they also don't tell you is that those with the highest APG get their tours first. So, if you are at the back of the line, you may not get 2 tours in a day.

Now timeshare salesman are the best salesmen in the world. The timeshare sales job at the resort is the World Series of sellling. You need to get a couple to make the 2nd or 3rd largest purchase in their life without knowing anything about you ahead of time and without looking under the hood or doing any due diligence. That requires sales skill. What other job requires that level of difficulty?

The best resorts have personality tests that they require each potential candidate to take before they allow them to take the job. That makes sense. The type of people they are looking for are those who are NOT analytical. Those who live on the edge. The test has questions like, "do you want to be a rock star?" "If nobody were looking, would you cheat on a test?" "Have you ever cheated on a test?"

Given the rejection rate and high turnover rate, there is a mandatory pep rally every single day to reward those who are doing well and to help motivate the troops. The best sales guys can get into the "zone" where they start closing everyone they see. Then, all of a sudden, it stops and they have a several week drought. It's definitely an up and down job. To get you in the door, they sell you on making a ton of money, but the reality is almost nobody does. Remember, the same people recruiting you into the job sell timeshares for a living. Would you expect anything less?

So, if you think you can become a great timeshare salesman because you know a lot about timesharing. You should stop right there and consider a different career. The absolute best timeshare salesman say very little about the product. They spend all of their time trying to find what moves you emotionally and links those emotions to their product. They paint a picture of that dream vacation and they show you how through their product you can get that over and over again. If you can do that, you can be successful. If you can't, then you will make more money licking stamps at the post office.

 

[BocaBum99]

You can make huge money. I was offered a job at Bluegreen (when I went on a tour) shaggy

By the way, this is a timeshare salesman's ploy to throw you off their scent and get you back for wasting their time. There are lots of tactics they use for revenge. They keep you there for 2-3 hours to waste your time since they can't get another tour for a couple hours anyway. They may as well torture you so you will never want to come back.

Obviously, what you did was share with your timeshare salesman how much you knew about timeshares. They immediately determined they were going to get goose egg out of you and turned the conversation around to having you do what they do. They pump you up and make you feel like you could actually do it. Well, you can't. Not unless you possess the sales skills I describe above.

The more you know about the product, the worse you will do. Because at the end of the day, what you are selling at the resort developer is product that is overpriced by at least 100%. If you told the whole truth about the product, you would never sell one. You need to sell emotion. You sell the guilt that a grandparent feels for neglecting their children when they were growing up. And then, you tell them that by buying this product, they can make it up to their grandchildren.

You show them that they can renew their vows every single year in Hawaii after a 20 year career that put their marriage on the rocks. People have dreams. Vacations really can help them achieve it. This human need is real. The great timeshare salesman can show them how to get it by buying their product today.

 

[Steamboat Bill]

Now timeshare salesman are the best salesmen in the world. The timeshare sales job at the resort is the World Series of sellling. You need to get a couple to make the 2nd or 3rd largest purchase in their life without knowing anything about you ahead of time and without looking under the hood or doing any due diligence. That requires sales skill. What other job requires that level of difficulty?

So, if you think you can become a great timeshare salesman because you know a lot about timesharing. You should stop right there and consider a different career. The absolute best timeshare salesman say very little about the product. They spend all of their time trying to find what moves you emotionally and links those emotions to their product. They paint a picture of that dream vacation and they show you how through their product you can get that over and over again. If you can do that, you can be successful. If you can't, then you will make more money licking stamps at the post office.

Wow...what a great answer.

Perhaps TJK should consider selling cars like Lexus, MB, BMW, etc....it seems easier and more rewarding

 

[BocaBum99]

Wow...what a great answer.

Perhaps TJK should consider selling cars like Lexus, MB, BMW, etc....it seems easier and more rewarding

You can't make as much money selling those brands. Most of the time, those jobs are just escorting people around, wearing nice clothes and being generally pleasant. At the end of the day, the product sells itself. The marketing of the company does the entire selling job for you. So, just about anyone can do it.

I forgot to mention something that dramatically increases the level of difficulty in the timeshare sale. First, nearly 100% of the guests who come before you have absolutely no intention of buying. Most have a predetermined script for how they will say "no" to you. After all, they are there simply for the free gift. Second, you have to do it in 2-4 hours.

If I start a business selling any consumer product over $10000, the first thing I will do is advertise to timeshare salesmen and create a comp plan with huge accelerators in it. All I need to know is their APG. It will be instant success.

 

[rapmarks]

Boca, I know at Christmas mountain you can't keep your job if you only sell one timeshare a week. Our neighbor was their top salesman, he had just received an award for selling 16 million when he had a major stroke at age 43. He has come a long way back and he tried to go back in sales but they wouldn't keep him on because he didn't reach his quota. I believe the number is a cetain dollar amount.

Also, they get huge bonuses when they sell over a certain amount. I recently came across the guide as my daughter tried it for two months, and it is a sliding scale.

I know a lot of people who went into the business at age 50 or even 60. They a pparently are very successful, but it is strange how it changed some of them. They became deplorable people (and they probably were that way before but the easy money magnified it in them).

It is interesting that one neighbor moved up from Ilinois last year and their 21 year old son moved up too. He could not hold a job, went through 20 jobs in 8 months, and then tried selling timeshares in May. he is making a lot of money and still doing it.

 

[BocaBum99]

Boca, I know at Christmas mountain you can't keep your job if you only sell one timeshare a week. Our neighbor was their top salesman, he had just received an award for selling 16 million when he had a major stroke at age 43. He has come a long way back and he tried to go back in sales but they wouldn't keep him on because he didn't reach his quota. I believe the number is a cetain dollar amount.

Also, they get huge bonuses when they sell over a certain amount. I recently came across the guide as my daughter tried it for two months, and it is a sliding scale.

I know a lot of people who went into the business at age 50 or even 60. They a pparently are very successful, but it is strange how it changed some of them. They became deplorable people (and they probably were that way before but the easy money magnified it in them).

It is interesting that one neighbor moved up from Ilinois last year and their 21 year old son moved up too. He could not hold a job, went through 20 jobs in 8 months, and then tried selling timeshares in May. he is making a lot of money and still doing it.

Timeshare economics are very well defined and understood across the entire industry. What is important is the APG. The APG must be over a minimum like $1500. If you are selling a property with a low sales price, you need to make more than one sale to stay at the minimum APG. Brand names like Hyatt, Marriott, etc, need a higher APG given their higher sales and marketing costs. But, their prices are higher, so it can be a bit easier.

Front line sales is psychological warfare. The battle is who is going to sell whom? Are the buyers going to sell the sales guy that they can't buy now? Or, are the sales guys going to sell the buyers to take one home today?
7-9 times out of 10, the buyer wins by not buying. But, 1-3 times out of 10, the sales guy wins.

From the timeshare sales guy point of view, the buyers are the liars. And, for the most part, it's true. Most won't come out and say that they are only there for the free gift, even though that is the case most of the time.

I think what changes people who go into timeshare sales from another career are the emotional highs and lows that they experience on a daily basis. It is an emotional sale, so it's easy to get wrapped up in all the emotion. And, the incentives are great and the rejection is massive. So, a person can't help but be changed by it. Well, only while they are in it. It must be similar for psychologists who deal with depressed people.

 

[Steamboat Bill]

It must be similar for psychologists who deal with depressed people.

Perhaps there should be a law against "Free Gifts" for timeshare tours.

A psychologist or a patient can't receive a free gift for a consultation.

 

[JLB]

I called on two ads last Spring.

The first call I had to talk to a greedy, materialistic, spiffy, obnoxious, arrogant sales manager wench from ----.

The second one showed a bit of class, a desire to take a look at someone with a sales background, but without previous timeshare sales baggage (his words). He talk about developing innovative approaches.

I decided that if I could not talk about what we value from timesharing, like being able to share vacation time with our families, then really wasn't all that interested. In Branson I figured a lot of the prospects might be older than the Orlando crowd, and sharing vacation time with kids and grandkids might hit a hot button.

Of course, I would have to take up smoking, so that I could go hang out with all my buddies while I was waiting for the next peep. Then, of course, there's the investment in the gold jewelry. :whoopie:

I chuckled at some of Mr. Bum's comments, because that's what I used to do. It maybe wasn't their first or second or third largest purchase, but in an hour it was my job to get people to purchase a membership in something they had never heard of before, from someone they had never met before, to do something they had never considered doing before and that would change the way they had been doing something all their adult lives. And do that convincingly enough that they did not cancel (3-day) and they made their payments regularly (reserve). I believe I was the only one in the company that every got paid any of their reserve.

Oh, oh. I feel that knot in my stomach coming back. :annoyed:

 

[Steamboat Bill]

I chuckled at some of Mr. Bum's comments, because that's what I used to do. It maybe wasn't their first or second or third largest purchase, but in an hour it was my job to get people to purchase a membership in something they had never heard of before, from someone they had never met before, to do something they had never considered doing before and that would change the way they had been doing something all their adult lives. And do that convincingly enough that they did not cancel (3-day) and they made their payments regularly (reserve). I believe I was the only one in the company that every got paid any of their reserve.

ok I will take a guess at your previous profession:

1. Some type of insurance salesman (viatical, disability, lonmg term, etc)
2. Some type of exercise/diet club
3. Scientology

 

[JLB]

Answered privately.

ok I will take a guess at your previous profession:

1. Some type of insurance salesman (viatical, disability, lonmg term, etc)
2. Some type of exercise/diet club
3. Scientology

 

[BocaBum99]

I called on two ads last Spring.

The first call I had to talk to a greedy, materialistic, spiffy, obnoxious, arrogant sales manager wench from ----.

The second one showed a bit of class, a desire to take a look at someone with a sales background, but without previous timeshare sales baggage (his words). He talk about developing innovative approaches.

I decided that if I could not talk about what we value from timesharing, like being able to share vacation time with our families, then really wasn't all that interested. In Branson I figured a lot of the prospects might be older than the Orlando crowd, and sharing vacation time with kids and grandkids might hit a hot button.

Of course, I would have to take up smoking, so that I could go hang out with all my buddies while I was waiting for the next peep. Then, of course, there's the investment in the gold jewelry. :whoopie:

I chuckled at some of Mr. Bum's comments, because that's what I used to do. It maybe wasn't their first or second or third largest purchase, but in an hour it was my job to get people to purchase a membership in something they had never heard of before, from someone they had never met before, to do something they had never considered doing before and that would change the way they had been doing something all their adult lives. And do that convincingly enough that they did not cancel (3-day) and they made their payments regularly (reserve). I believe I was the only one in the company that every got paid any of their reserve.

Oh, oh. I feel that knot in my stomach coming back. :annoyed:

You should give it a go then. If you're good at it, it's an easy job and a ton of money.

I couldn't do it. I'd get eaten alive by the buyers. I'm better at the consultative sale rather than the emotional sale. Resales are more my cup of tea.

 

[Dave M]

...timeshare sales can get really lucrative.
....

You do 10 tours per week, if you close 2 per week or 20% close rate at $15k, you sell $120000 so for the month, your commission rate is 12%. Now, you are making $14,400 for that month. So, your annual rate jumps up from $43,200 to $172, 800.

Now, let's say you are at a 30% close rate. Your monthly gross is $180,000 in revenue and you are at the 16% rate, so you net $28,000 for that month or an annual rate of $345,600.

Nice post, Boca.

Top line salespeople at least one of the major chains can easily do $3-5 million in sales a year. With bonuses, they can max out at 11% or 12% commission on that so top people can easily make $350,000 - $500,000. There may only be a few dozen at that level but they are there.

In telesales, top people do between $1.5Mil and $2+Mil a year in sales and the commission can be as high as 14%. The math still works out quite nicely.

A top salesperson might make over $40K for one month and might have another month making between $1,000 and $5,000 for the month, so there is a big swing.

 

[TJK]

Thanks to all for your help. Like most everything else, I thought that if you are passionate about something and work hard at it, you can be successful. We feel that timeshare ownership has increased our vacation experiences so much by allowing us to stay in luxurious condos for the price of an average hotel room, that convincing your average Joe of that fact wouldn't be so difficult. But you're right, most people that attend these tours already have their "No, no, no" speech prepared and are just there for the gifts. We've done it ourselves! I think if I could make at least $50K, that would work, but those 6 figure numbers would sure be great. Desisions, decisions.
Thanks again for all your responses.
Tom

 

[rapmarks]

I mentioned in an earlier post that our neighbor's son had kept the job as a timeshare salesman after not keeping other jobs.

They just let him go as well as hosts of others, summer season is over. His roommate made $7000 commission last month and was still let go because of not enough productivity. tough job!

 

[BocaBum99]

Probably the best aspect of being a great timeshare salesman (I think since I am not) is the freedom it gives you. If you are one of the best, you can quit your job at any time and then go wherever you want. Timeshares tend to be in the best locations. So, that's the extra kicker.

Think about it. All you need to do to get a job is go to ANY timeshare resort in any location. Tell them you would like a job. You fill out the application with your name, address and telephone number and the only other thing you put on the application is you sold timeshares for X, Y and Z and your APG is $5000.

The only thing holding you back from starting the next day would be the real estate license you may need to sell timeshares there.

You will be making 10's of thousands of dollars per month and working only 25 hours per week.

 

[Steamboat Bill]

All you need to do to get a job is go to ANY timeshare resort in any location. Tell them you would like a job. You fill out the application with your name, address and telephone number and the only other thing you put on the application is you sold timeshares for X, Y and Z and your APG is $5000.

The only thing holding you back from starting the next day would be the real estate license you may need to sell timeshares there.

You will be making 10's of thousands of dollars per month and working only 25 hours per week.

I doubt if Marriott or Westgate would call for references to check into the APG....this job indeed is for good poker players.