The Wrong Hire Costs More Than the Open Position

By Larry Sherwood Jr., founder · Updated October 9, 2026

An open position at least looks open. A non-performer fills the position on paper, so nobody recruits for it, while the position produces a fraction of what it should.

The cost adds up in three places

1. Lost production. At the benchmarks behind this site, a sales position produces about $29,196 a month in gross.^1,3 A salesperson producing half of that leaves about $14,598 a month on the table.
2. Time. Every month the wrong person holds the position, that gap repeats. At four months, it is about $58,392 for one sales position. (Half production and four months are examples; set your own in the calculator.)
3. Replacement. A Hireology and Cox Automotive study put the average cost of hiring a new dealership employee at $10,000.¹¹

Turnover is the bill that keeps coming

NADA's workforce study found turnover just under 40% across all dealership positions, and ESI Trends estimated turnover can cost the average dealership half a million dollars a year.⁹ When our founder, Larry Sherwood Jr., ran recruiting for a 36-franchise group, 90% of his hires stayed through the period Indeed measured, against 75% company-wide. That is the difference between hiring for the position and hiring for the person who will still be in it next year.

It is also why every position we fill carries a 90-day replacement guarantee.