When you are working a deal, how do you direct your sales people?  Do you insist they follow your steps to the sale?  Regardless of whether you have 8, 10 or even 12 steps, you have a specific process to increase the chances of success in selling and retaining that customer for a long time.  So, why don't you do that when you're hiring?

Watching and listening to how dealers and managers hire people, continues to surprise me.  They go with their gut.  Hire based on the past.  Take all comers and see what happens.  They even offer jobs to customers.  But, very few use their process effectively to land the right people.

As a former GM, I often found myself at the auction buying or selling cars.  I learned years before that it's better to come home with nothing than to buy the wrong car.  Yet, I'll stand next to a manager or a dealer bidding just so they have a ride home.  Why would their hiring be any better?  It's okay to interview a bunch of people and hire none of them because they were not what you were looking for.  The "warm body" method of staffing will not work long-term in this market.

The Basic Sales Content

When we sell, there are certain mini sales that must be made along the way.  These ingredients are essential to making your process work.  Our training program (21st Century Selling(c)) takes this into account with every class.  The ingredients are simple:

1.  Sell Yourself

2.  Sell the Dealership

3.  Sell The Product

4.  Sell The Price

5.  Sell Time (Create Urgency)

While I didn't invent this recipe, I've used it for the 32 years I've been around the auto business.  Every dealer I speak with, every manager I train for, and all the "experienced" people I deal with, agree that all the above are important and essential. (For a free list of what to look for in a hiring company, send your contact info to dealerresourcegroup@gmail.com)  Let's apply these factors in the hiring practice in the form of a quiz.

1.  Do you sell yourself?  Why would anyone want to work with you?  How do you greet potential hires?  Are they welcome or just an inconvenience because one of your "experienced" pros left you without any notice?  Think about sharing why you work or own this dealership.  What's your story?  How did working where you are make you more successful.  Tell candidates how you are committed to making anyone who works with you better than they were before they started.

2.  Can you really sell the dealership with a two line ad on a free job board?  Actually, you are.  What are you afraid of saying?  What don't you want people to know? Does this ad tell about how bad it is to work for you?  That's the message being sent by ads with no information.  Blind ads.  Why?  If you are proud of what your store repesents, why not shout it from the roof top.  "I work at XYZ Motors and if you're serious about a career, you should too."  This is the message you need if you want to attract the best and brightest.

3.  Brag about what you sell.  New, used, RV, powersports, it doesn't matter.  Make your product the best it can be and back it up.  Talk about your plan to hire people to help you reach the next level and then tell them what level that is.  Brag about how your own sales have been and where you're going.

4.  Sell real income.  While I know that there is a potential for six figures in almost every sales organization, don't offer that if none of your people have made that level of income.  It takes about a week for any new hire to learn what everyone is making.  If no one is making what you said was possible, how long before they begin to doubt other promises you make?  But, if you do have someone with high earnings, definitely use them as a selling point for the REAL potential in yoru store.

5.  Sell time.  In my 32 years in the industry, there have been a few great times to get started.  This is one of them.  Business is coming back, there are fewer places for customers to shop, demand is rising, and product quality is great. Tell everyone.

Your employment ads should also advertise yoru dealership.  If you don't want customers to see something, don't put it in your ad.  Car lingo, slang, etc. do not belong in hiring ads.  Words like Pack, Spiff, etc. should be saved for sales meetings not posted for the entire Internet to see.

As a training company, I tell dealers, if you are hiring two people or less, you should do it on your own.  Take the money and invest it in training the entire staff.  Three or more hires needed at one time, unless you have a full-time trainer on staff, should be handled by companies who do exactly that.  They work with you to design ads, interview your candidates, adn then give them a solid foundation based on your selling system.

John Fuhrman is the Senior National Trainer for Carolina Automotive Resource Services, a unit of The Dealer Resource Group.  His ten books have reached 1.5 million readers and he has trained sales professionals around the world.  Our Trainers are ready to work for you and develop a sales team you can be proud of.  Email us by Wednesday and we're in your dealership on Monday ready to interview.  When your dealership needs amazing results hiring new people, visit http://www.thedealerresourcegroup.net.   ATTENTION DEALERS:  VISIT OUR WEB SITE AND REGISTER TO KEEP UP ON MONTHLY TRAINING SAVING SPECIALS.  Our trainers are ready to show you our "WOW!" factor.  (c)2011 by John Fuhrman - Permission to reprint this post in its entirety, including contact information, is hereby granted.