Green Pea Diary: Taking Care Of New Hires
By Jack Bennett
Several years ago I wrote a story about taking care of the new hire right from the start. Here is an update to that story. With all the talk of technology and the Internet and everything else, salespeople can easily slip out of the good habits necessary to sell cars.
One of the biggest problem areas facing salespeople is time management. Most new salespeople get out onto the floor and have no idea of what is happening around them. You may have given them some rudimentary training, but in the real world here is what they see. They see a lot of other salespeople doing a lot of different things. They see a salesperson at 8:30 in the morning sitting at their desk. They see a salesperson with a clipboard on the new car lot. Two others are moving the used cars around.
The new hire really doesn't know what this all means and thinks, "Where did that customer at the desk come from?" How do these salespeople know which cars to move? What is that guy counting out there with the clipboard? Before a new salesperson can understand these things, they need some structure to their day and their time. That way, when they start to do the things I refer to above, they will know when and why.
The best way to guide your sales staff, both new and experienced, is to have a set schedule. Here's an example.
- 9:00-9:30am ...Sales Meeting
- 9:30-9:45am ....Free time
- 9:45-10:30am ...Inventory walk
- 10:30-11:00am ..Follow-up calls
- 11:00-11:30am...Prospecting
- 11:30-12:00 ......Paper work
- 12:00-1:00 ........Lunch
- 1:00-2:00 ..........Product Knowledge
- 2:00-5:00 ...........Selling
- 5:00-6:00 ............Dinner
- 6:00-Close ...........Selling
Sales Meeting: If your dealership does not have a sales meeting every morning, it should. The length could vary, but all salespeople need to get out of the gate on the right footevery day. These should be well run and highly motivational, not bitch-out lecture sessions.
Free Time: Your staff spends more time together than they do with their spouses. Although I detest salespeople hanging out in groups doing nothing, you still need to give them time to visit, talk about their bowling game, their new boat or their upcoming vacation.
Inventory walk: Every salesperson must know the inventoryWELL. My philosophy is there are two types of product knowledge. Technical product knowledge and practical product knowledge. Technical Product knowledge is simply knowing as much as they can about the product they sell. Practical product knowledge is knowing what you have to sell. How many trucks do you have? How many used cars? How many used cars under 30,000 miles? How many automatics, 2drs., etc?
Follow-up calls/mailings: This should be the time that they call prospects they are working or ups they have not yet sold, as well as calling customers they have sold.
Prospecting: This would include Orphan Owner letters, cold calls or any one of a hundred different forms of generating business.
Paperwork: Following up necessary paperwork for deliveries, finding keys, running the vehicle to subcontractors etc.
Lunch: Take one, we all need them and they allow for fresher employees once they've eaten. Some dealers schedule two hour break in the middle of the day so they don't lose salespeople during the busier dinner hours. (Know your employment laws)
Product Knowledge: There should be a time every day when a salesperson studies the technical side of cars and trucks. Engines specs, design techniques and the like. You can then run tests, spiffs and contests to keep them on top of everything in the industry. Not all necessarily specific to your make either. Imagine what 2 hours of studying per day over the course of a year would add up to!
Selling: When salespeople have done all the things listed above, they will sell more cars.
Obviously there needs to be flexibility in the schedule. If an up comes in early, that could back things up. Some salespeople like to make calls at night, etc. Some of the staff may do some of these things in the early afternoon.
Get your salespeople into this kind of scheduling habit and help them stick to it. When they hit the floor, you'll know they have spent the bulk of their day sowing the seeds that will generate business.
Good Luck and Great Selling!
A 25-year veteran of the automotive industry, Jack Bennett is the author of "You Can and Should Sell Cars", a book which has sold thousands of copies and is being used in sales training by dealers from the Bahamas to Canada. jbennett@dealeronline.com
