Everyday managers walk into their dealerships in the morning and start their day with tasks or TO-Do list items. Unfortunately, those items rarely involve direct interaction with their sales team. The ultimate place for managers to be is in front of customers and salespeople.
Salespeople need interaction and input. If a manager allows a salesperson to direct their own day by their own design without input and coaching, the results will often be lackluster and will lead to feelings of being alienated. Attitudes will decrease and salesperson turnover will increase.
Most likely you have heard of Pareto’s Rule otherwise known as the 80/20 rule. The rule states that 80% of the money will be made by 20% of the people. The rule has stood the test of time and will remain true forever. If you know that only 20% of people are self-directed, that means the remaining 80% need direction, coaching and guidance with their daily focus.
Gone are the days of salespeople working in the fashion of independent agents where they are measured at the end of the month for results and the winners are rewarded while the non-producers are fired and replaced. Salespeople will be coached and guided from the beginning of the day and then periodically throughout the day. Actions and productivity will be measured, praised and rewarded knowing that more often than not those things will produce results.
The Law of Reaping and Sowing will be applied by coaching salespeople to sow seeds continually during the day. CRM’s, BDC’s and social media tools will all push dealerships to measure and correct every daily action of salespeople.
Imagine if there was a football team with a head coach who did not believe in practice. Or, if the coach did not believe in coaching, monitoring and holding responsible his players for every detail of their normal day or what they did in the games. Imagine if a football coach each day said nothing to his team and at the end of games just looked to see if his team had won and who had played well or not. Would a coach do these things? Would a coach tell his team to go win and never guide this team? Who is calling the plays at your dealership? Who is doing the coaching before the game? Who is monitoring every action and number?
The role of the traditional salesperson is dead. Gone forever are the days of waiting until the end of the month to see how the salespeople have done. Think of your salespeople as you would players on a team. Each has strengths and weaknesses. Each player will have expectations and responsibilities. Each player will be continually coached on techniques that involve sales skills, people skills, marketing skills and life skills. Create a team of team members rather than expecting all your players to be superstars that can do everything on their own and produce superior results. The old model is dead and it never was effective. Bury the old salesperson model and give birth to the new one today.
For the FREE Special Report “10 things Your Dealership Must Do to Be Successful” email me at info@tewart.com with 10 things in the subject line.