• Question: hey im lewis and when im older i want to be a car sales man does this involve science?

    Asked by lewiiboii to Daniela, Hannah, Ian, Jono, Mark on 14 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Jono Bone

      Jono Bone answered on 14 Jun 2013:

      Hi lewiiboii,

      I can’t think of how car sales directly involve science but it does indirectly. For example,
      The decision to buy a car and what motivates people to buy a specific car or take your offer can be understood by psychology or behavioural economics.
      Cars wouldn’t work if someone hadn’t done some science to understand the chemical reactions involved in the combustion of petrol. They also wouldn’t be so aerodynamic if people did’t do science to understand how air moves around different shapes.

      Jono

    • Photo: Ian Wilson

      Ian Wilson answered on 15 Jun 2013:

      Hi Lewis!
      I suppose it depends on what area of the job you’d be interested in. If you just want to deal with the money side of things then no, there’d be no science involved.
      But you might want to have more of an understanding of how the engine works and things like that. In that case, you’d need a basic understanding of things like catalytic converters, which involves a bit of science but mostly engineering.
      So there’s not much room for science as a car salesman but science affects EVERYTHING so, if you’re interested, there’s always something to learn, whatever job you’re in!

      Hope that helps,

      Ian

    • Photo: Hannah Brotherton

      Hannah Brotherton answered on 16 Jun 2013:

      Hi Lewis,
      This question got my attention straight away. Why? Because I worked in a jewellery shop for over 2 years and my background in science helped me so much. No, it wasn’t my subject or my experiments that helped me. It was my experience with different people and how to understand them and their needs. So in a clinical setting I need to quickly assess if a person is suitable to take part in my study, how I introduce the study to them and how much support (some need more than others) do they need during the experiment. The same applies in retail and selling. In sales, you need to reach a sales target (just like science, you need to get a result from your experiment). How do you get the sale?..by assessing the customer. What are they needs and wants? My curiosity, which led me to pursue a career in science, allows me to easily start conversations with people, because I am naturally curious about them. This makes the customer relaxed and comfortable around you. This inquisitive nature, which I usually use to find answers to my science experiments, lets me find out what items my customers want to look at or purchase. In science, we have to be unbiased (which means you don’t favour one thing over the other), so our results are legitimate. This same concept is used a lot in selling. You would show the customer all the items but the customer always felt as though they were choosing the item themselves and that you were not forcing them to look at this one or the other.
      The respect and attitude you hold for fellow colleagues and patients in science was something I often reflected when selling. You must always respect the customer and honestly sell them something. This honesty and hard work is something you will always see in science.

      So in regard to the question, selling a car does not need a science degree, but it most definitely involves science…..science of the human interactions and behaviours. There is no degree for this, but psychology degrees do cover this concept, but in all honesty……understanding your customers and being respectful and honest is the most important thing in the world of retail and sales.

    • Photo: Daniela Plana

      Daniela Plana answered on 16 Jun 2013:

      Hi lewiiboii,

      As the others have said, I’m not sure there is a lot of science involved in the actually selling part, but there is definitely a lot of science and engineering involved in cars!
      Many people are interested, when they buy a car, in how it works, whether it’s energy efficient, how fast it can go, etc… all of these things boil down to science. Especially now that new types of cars are being developed. Although I don’t know much about cars (sorry!), I have done a bit of work on fuel cells, which people think will be used to provide energy in cars, instead of petrol… fuel cells make produce energy from things like hydrogen or methanol… part of my work is studying how that happens and how to improve it all!
      Hope that helps,
      Daniela

    • Photo: Mark Hodson

      Mark Hodson answered on 17 Jun 2013:

      Hi Lewiiboii,

      I think rather like everyone else I think the only direct science I can think of involved in car sales will be the psychology of persuading people to buy a particular model. There are of course lots of science jobs out there involved in designing cars (and also studying the damage that cars do to our environment!).

      cheers

      m

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