Recruiting and hiring quality personnel for vehicle sales has never been easy, but according to most dealers I talk with, it’s never been as difficult as it is today. Even most of those in the job market with an interest in a “sales” career state that they want to stay away from selling cars!

Although the automotive sales profession has pretty much overcome the stereotyping of the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, it is still plagued with negative perceptions, the most…

It was in late 1987, and I was conducting an in-dealership workshop focused on Financial and Operational Planning and Controls. I was describing an F&I process that I had recommended to increase service contract penetration, when the general manager said, “We used to do that.” In response to his statement, I asked, “Did it work?” “Absolutely,” he answered. I was tempted to say, “Then why did you stop doing it?”, but I was new to the consulting business and didn’t want to risk offending…

Salesperson%20Activities%20Tracker_v2.pdf

You cannot manage results; you can only manage activities. When activities are habitually performed and flawlessly executed, the results take care of themselves!

Sound activity-management requires that you do the…

A majority of us in the dealership consulting community, together with many client-dealers to whom we provide services, have long recognized a need for changes in salesperson compensation plans. The traditional plans which have been employed over the last several decades no longer effectively match the operating strategies being implemented in many dealerships today, particularly in those stores that are committed to “market-based pricing” their new and used vehicles on the Internet. This…