The ebb and flow of the market make up the 'beast" of free enterprise in the market. That is what makes the truly compassionate salesman a rarity, and such a success in the marketplace.

 

Speaking from 18 years of high ticket retail sales, I can vouch for that. If automotive dealers were to embrace relationship selling instead of commodity selling, they wouldn't be a rarity. Relationship selling is what makes the difference between a huge success and a huge failure in high ticket sales.

 

You hit the nail right on the head. Now imagine if GM could establish just such a "connection" with customers. That my friend is the essence of The Plan for a Return to Greatness.

 

I agree with your first sentence, although I wonder why, if they are so successful, are they so rare?

 

The dealers are the face man to the customers. To the majority of the public, they are GM. It's their responsibility to establish a connection.

 

They are rare, I believe, due to the high turnover in the industry, and the lack of proper training. The price of entry to the profession is nil, walk-in and get hired. The fact no true standards apply opens the door to anyone regardless of their past. Many stores have long hours which aren't condusive to family life and we end up with many less than desirable members of society as our representatives. Add in the decades of adversarial relationships with prospective clients and you begin to see why this industry suffers from an image problem.
Dealers, and perhaps moreso the salespeople, are the face of GM. This problem is addressed in the first twenty steps of The Plan.

 

Your comments gave me these thoughts.... being a dealership General Manager, you can probably give a good answer...

Whenever I go to just about any dealership... it seems that there are 7 sales people for every 1 customer... most of the salespeople are standing around chatting amongst themselves, and stare at you as you walk around like you are a bother to them. There are usually a few good, interested ones, but they are usually busy doing something like helping a customer, or researching stuff for a customer, etc....

If the overall general quality of the people applying is so bad, why hire them? It seems that most dealerships have way too many salespeople on hand anyway... and it really gives an air of "employee loitering" rather than "look at all the people waiting to serve you"....

If dealerships cut down on hiring literally "anybody who walks in off the street"... you'd have a smaller, but much more focused, educated and dedicated staff of salespeople.... with presumably less turnover, and an inherant better public image and relationship over time.

 

While a very long article, it is very good reading.

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying...2/article.html

Many things in here point out the problems with the retail system. Good people are hard to hire and keep because the consumer is so conditioned by previous retail buying experiences. It takes a unique individual who can handle the rejection of the consumer day in, day out and continue on a relentless path of success. Because of that, one must hire more staff than needed and hope to find that one in ten that will rise to the occation. There are two schools of thought, one being the hire many and keep one, the other is hire what you need and provide substantial and relentless training. Actually training is a broad term, it should be called mentoring. Both seem to work, the latter requireing more effort from management to acheive the goals needed for profitability. The latter also creates a less hostile work environment as well as a more long term employee.

 

One of the most frustrating things I see in the business is the unproductive nature of retail salespeople. At the dealerships I have run, or advised, the personnel are required to perform a set schedule of daily tasks. No factory could run with employees "standing around", neither can a dealership office. Obtaining performance from these individuals generates sales and goodwill. The issue is proper supervision and training.
There should be only one salesperson at a time "on watch", covering the floor. The rest should be at their desks, back in service or body shop, or out in the world prospecting and building a business.

 

I can see the concept....

but... to me, that is nothing more than putting on a blindfold, and throwing darts at the wall, hoping to hit a bulleye... when, in reality, you miss the dartboard entirely much more often.

If I am an owner or manager, I don't want those poeple representing my company....

Now, if I have a lack of applicants and employees, I may be FOCRED into hiring them just to have a warm body on the lot... but, like I mentioned earlier... it seems like every dealership out there has 7 salesmen for every 1 customer at the dealership at any given time.... so I really don't see the point, unless I am missing something major.

 

I agree that is what you would want in a perfect scenario... but I can't think of a single dealership I have ever walked into that has been that way.

But... still... why hire 10 to find 1?

Or, better yet, assuming some slipped through a strict applicant interview, why retain the ones that are really just dead weight?

 

We don't keep them. When they are let go after their trial period, you still have to replace them with the next series of applicants or you find yourself short on staffing. Many people interview well but don't perform up to expectations......... remember, high ticket sales isn't a job for everyone. Hiring and firing is an endless task, management is always looking to replace the weakest link. Why hire 10? It just appears that a small percentage of the general workforce seem to be the go-getter, the self motivated and hungry for success. Until you find those and retain them, you will always have a certain amount of turnover until your staffing is full.... and even then, successful management is once again always looking to replace the weakest link. A large sales staff also creates competition between employees who want to rise to the occation. It isn't an exact science, but one thing is for sure..... you are better off with an excess of employees than not enough to get the job done. The theory is that each saleman should create a certain amount of business, not take a certain percentage of total business that is sold.

 

That makes sense...

Maybe the main question then changes to:

"How do you retain your quality employees once you find them?"

Doing so would eventually minimize (probably not eliminate) the need to continually bring in such a mass quantity of sub-par applicants.

 

lol! How true. Have you ever done the exercise of documenting the total work acheived by each member with your staff? Have them explain their productivity during any given day. That's a huge eye opener. Most times during an 10 hour day, a salesman is productive for less than 2 hours. It's a good thing they are paid on commission.

 

You are correct. How do we retain them? By treating them like family and gold. Statistics show that the main reason most people stay with their current job is that they like their manager/boss and the rest of the employees. By management giving their all in helping the individual become successful, making them feel like an important part of the team and taking a personal interest in them as people, not just as employees goes a long way toward retention. Eventually when your dealership becomes well staffed with happy and productive employees, your hiring criteria changes. That's when an interesting situation occurs..... successful salespeople from other dealerships begin applying because they see your place as THE place that they wish to work. A happy and productive staff attracts successful applicants.