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.
