Comment

Comment by James A. Ziegler on December 11, 2011 at 10:16am

To answer your question Kevin (and others) The reason for that person's frustration is there is NO accountability from the top down. We did not need to train the sales people without retraining their managers. How many times has a dealership brought me, or any trainer into the dealership and we educated and fired up the sales people only to have their managers continue what they were doing with no regard to the training.

That is why I always get the dealer and general manager to swear in blood to continue the process and to manage their managers.

Usually, my training is never as effective on the first visit as it is on the second visit BECAUSE that's when I have the "Come to Jesus" meeting with the managers with the dealer present about all  of things they did not do that the dealer paid my fee to have them implement. 

The reason my training and consulting is so powerful and the results last is because I come from a management background myself, none of my serious competitors was ever a manager themselves. They really don't get it. 

I had a manager in a dealership tell me once... "This is the way I like to do it." He was basically telling me he wasn't going to change the process his dealer wanted changed. 

To which i replied... "Do you really think they hired me to come in here at this price because they think you're doing a good job?"

Nothing lasts until they know you're coming back and they need to show progress. 

Comment by Erika Burns on September 7, 2011 at 7:43pm

"Pete", I agree!! Burning time is burning money and burning ground!! Lord knows month end comes fast and dang it if we are fighting for every number out there now days! Great comment!

 

Kevin..Just remember knowledge is power!!! If you are on a pay plan you need to figure out how to work it!

Comment by Pete Grimm on August 7, 2011 at 11:06am

The comment from "New in Auto Sales" is so typical of the frustrations improperly trained new salespeople experience. Properly setting a new salesperson's expectations and teaching them their role is an absolutely critical part of the process of adding/creating productive people. "New in Auto Sales" obviously doesn't know that average daily dealership walk-in traffic is less than two UPS per salesperson per day. "New in Auto Sales" has no idea how precious each of those opportunities is, or how much the dealership spends to give them those opportunities. "New in Auto Sales" doesn't know that the dealership expects them to produce their own traffic, first from friends and family and personal contacts, second from prospecting and adopting orphan owners and service customers, and finally from repeat and referral business. "New in Auto Sales" clearly has no appreciation for all the resources the dealership brings to bear to insure their success, from sales managers or crew chiefs ready to help and train, to inventory ready to demo, to advertising pulling opportunities, to facilities standing tall - ready to make a good first impression. In most well-run dealerships "New in Auto Sales" would not be allowed to take an UP until they had a proper appreciation for all of this, and I have not yet touched on having a clear understanding of the steps of the sale, the psychology of buying, and the specific procedures and paperwork that may differ slightly from dealership to dealership. What a waste comments like this represent - waste of a potentially productive, motivated new hire, waste of management time in interviewing, checking of backgrounds and drug testing, training (if any were done at all), hiring, not to mention the waste of prospective customers "New in Auto Sales" mishandles. Someone once said, "If you think education is expensive, you ought to try ignorance." This is a classic example of ignorance and what should NOT happen with new hires.

Comment by Kevin "Friend Me" Bradberry on August 4, 2011 at 6:23pm

Jim, Your thoughts would appreciated....

Good afternoon (TRAINER),
 
You had a two day class almost two weeks ago. I have been here at !@@##$$$%%^^ and we haven't done much of anything. I've been told to wait for customers in the lot but customers are not showing up. The lot is really empty for almost 90 percent of the day. I was told I would be paired up with multiple people and I haven't done anything all day. Are any of the other dealerships you're affiliated with hiring right now? Or is this basically how it goes? We were told we would be getting trained but we were basically told to study the products. That was week one.. Now I'm not doing anything. One person never came back after the first day.

 

Sincerely, "New In Auto Sales"