Where have all the good managers gone?
A lot of dealerships think they are saving money by taking a good sales rep and making him/her a manager and not training them . The pay plans have shrunk for managers over the past year as well . The idea of paying people less and expecting more is a bad choice ranging from managers to internet people .
A planed sales training meeting should be done every day . Very few meetings have the hooting , clapping and hollering any more compared to years ago .
With poor managers the longevity has shrunk as well . It was nothing 10 years ago to see sales reps with 10 to 15 years on the job . Now it is hard to find sales reps with this much time at one dealership .
Some of the old ways will never be surpassed by the new ones . A hand written Birthday or Holiday card with a follow up call will never be beat . Computers are great but the lick em stick em envelope with a sheet of paper wishing someone Happy Birthday was outdated the day it started .
All is not lost . I work with dealers that have not gotten away from the meat and potatoes training and making sales reps accountable the right way . There sales meetings are fun because everyone knows what is expected . There are great managers that lead by example but we need more of them . I believe in time the dealers will go back to basics and invest in there sales force and not just advertising .
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Comment by Craig Lockerd on June 28, 2012 at 4:28pm -
Fran,we are all trainers,consultants and industry experts now.....Said completely tongue in cheek!
@ Candace Bennett McRae......That is the way it must,not should be!!!! Very cool.
Fran I also took the liberty of adding a link of a video we did about the salespeople actually "holding the training" and the Managers facilitate it....maybe check it out?Salespeople hold the meetings
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Comment by Fran Taylor on June 27, 2012 at 8:51pm
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Thank you Scott . I think is is really nice for a dealer {Candace } to take time to interact with us . It is special when you have a dealers point of view . As trainers { vendors } it is nice to see what dealers want out of trainers and what they like . Hope to see more of them on here .
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Comment by Scott Hengtgen on June 27, 2012 at 6:04pm
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Fran your so right, salespeople do not react to why to do it, but show them how to do it and you have created an audience that well follow you. The reason so many sales managers wont show their people how is because they don't know how. My grandpa always said "talks cheap, takes money to buy whiskey".
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Candice if you want to find different trainers that don't say the same thing find one that teaches the how to along with the training . People don't need to be told to have a good attitude to sell cars . They need to be shown ways to keep a great attitude .
Prospecting is the same way . There is more to prospecting than get your name out there as much as possible. Where is the how to in sales training gone . Too much general training and not enough here is how to do it. I think that makes a difference in trainers and the results for anyone that teaches .
Way to go on the record months . Thanks Candace ,much appreciated .
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Comment by CANDACE BENNETT MCRAE on June 27, 2012 at 2:10pm
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Fran, you are right..people get tired of hearing the same thing over and over. My staff is exposed to various auto trainers and thier biggest complaint is "they all say the same thing". The challenge is to make training fun and interesting while staying true to the basics. Dealer led training works in my store because I am in my store to inspect what I teach and expect. I may not play golf (with the hired trainers) like the dealer down the road but my store has enjoyed 3 record breaking years in a row and we are pacing for another record breaking year in 2012.
Stan, you are right. Daily training is crucial. Rollplaying host an excellent training meeting. Another way to keep training fresh is to have your sales advisors host a meeting. Assign a topic and give them free reign to design their own lesson plan. It builds the sales advisors confidence to stand in front of their peers and teach. You will be amazed at the creativity and unique approach that your own guys take in training.
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Thanks Curtis and Candace . I have worked with mega dealers that have there own in house trainers . Most of the time they last for a year or two at best . People get tired of hearing the same old thing . Many times as a trainer you say the same thing as a manager but get results because another person is saying it .
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Comment by Stan Sher on June 27, 2012 at 1:16pm
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Usually it is not talking though. It is role playing different steps in the process of the "road to the sale" and negotiations. It is also product knowledge. If the store in a down economy within the first 2 years managed to consistently sell 280-320 cars the training had to have paid off.
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Stan I think an hour a day might be a long meeting if the same person is doing all the talking every day unless it is with rookies . I think all new managers should go through a series of training programs ranging from how to train people , working deals , how to correct problems and so forth . If they are good enough to hire they are good enough to be trained .
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By the way, I love what Candace said. I love it when the dealer gets involved and oversees training. That is priceless. When I worked at Teddy Nissan, my owner was training sales people and managers every morning 6 days a week for an hour. He even helped me train my BDC staff for 30 minutes a day, 3 days per week. That is how you have a high performing sales team. The managers stay the same with almost no turnover and your sales staff is strong.
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So now that we know that there is a lack of good managers out there. What do we do about it? How to we breed good managers? Do we promote from within and create rigorous training programs? Do we hire experienced managers and make them go through a specific program? What do we do next?
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