Who is in charge at your dealership?

[Jerry Thibeau]

I am often amazed at how many times I hear: "I can't get my salespeople to do that."

Well there's your problem right there! It's not a salesperson issue, it's a leadership issue! Get rid of the manager.

Occasionally we'll have a dealership jump off the Phone Ninjas program and it's usually a case of the above. Below is a message I just got from one of my salespeople this morning and it's a classic case of poor leadership.

Some people are just destined to suck! Makes it easier for those who get it!

 

[Jlewis74]

We see this quite a bit in the DMS world, dealers who want to change and we will be saving them $10K per month but someone on their staff has made a threat to quit if they change. My response is always, "Are they the only person out there that can do that job" Or like you said "Who owns the dealership?" I applaud the dealers who lead and will include their staff in the decision making but they also make it very clear why they are changing.

 

[Manny Luna]

I wish we had advanced(www.phoneninjas.com)phone training when I started selling cars in the 80's. Just to have a dealer invest in me would of made me so obligated to them.
I had to spend my own money to see Stucker, Cardone, Hopkins, Robbins LIVE back then. I would beg the dealer to just take it out of my check

 

[DarthRedarc]

Too true. It speaks volumes as to the leadership, or lack thereof.

 

[Keith Shetterly]

I saw this approach to this problem: Money. As in Pay Plan. The GM took back commission and bonused it to the staff ONLY if they did what she required. AND she did the same to the managers--if they wanted All Their Money, then their people had to do All Theie Work. I have put it this way for years now: "We hire people to DO a job, but they DO the job we PAY them to do. Which are often very different." Pay Plan Pay Plan Pay Plan. They will follow the money. I guarantee it.

 

[Rebecca Chernek]

I saw this approach to this problem: Money. As in Pay Plan. The GM took back commission and bonused it to the staff ONLY if they did what she required. AND she did the same to the managers--if they wanted All Their Money, then their people had to do All Theie Work. I have put it this way for years now: "We hire people to DO a job, but they DO the job we PAY them to do. Which are often very different." Pay Plan Pay Plan Pay Plan. They will follow the money. I guarantee it.

100% absolutely agree- if you want to get someone's attention it's all about the pay-plan! Every good F&I Manager works a pay-plan. I also agree if your management staff say they "can't train salespeople" I say fire the manager!

Becky Chernek
Chernek Consulting, LLC
F&I Coach
404-276-4026 (Direct)

 

[chspensley]

This is an interesting topic. It is easy to say "fire the sales manager" when the tail is wagging the dog. This is especially true when policies that are proven to yield results do not. I suggest that in a lot of cases the sales manager is coming up short because he or she had never had any proper training and is likely a promotion from the sales floor where they may not have done some of the things they are asking the sales team to do now. In short instead of terminating the manager take a look at how much training they have had. It may be a leadership problem as discussed on this thread but it may also be more of a knowledge problem where the manager may, in fact, need more training that the salesperson. Take a look before you leap- you may be surprised.

 

[skeetle]

It all starts at the top - develop a CULTURE of positivity and training (in this instance) and the sales people will have no other choice but to fall in line.

If they don't want to fall in line - I take a line from Bruce Kimbrell's DSES Keynote last year (he's a head honcho at Disney) & "Encourage them to find happiness [employment] elsewhere."

You don't need unwarranted negativity in

 

[joe.pistell]

http://forum.dealerrefresh.com/f40/black-hole-sales-training-1848.html#post14895


"IMO, there never has been a more important time to train your sales team.
Am I alone? After we spend $$ on training reps, weeks later we are back to where we started.

Question.
Who's training the managers to be leaders? "

That post is >3yrs old.

 

[Manny Luna]

I talked to a good Internet Director that wanted to have a phone process in place in the dealership, and he keeps getting shot down by the GM.
They don't want to give him any control of the salespeople.