In a “Normal” Market, Discipline Sells Cars
In a “Normal” Market, Discipline Sells Cars
There’s no doubt the easy sales our teams made from 2020-2023 destroyed any commitment to fundamental processes in most dealerships. Moreover, the order-taker market removed a key driver of sales in “normal” times: Discipline.
Discipline sells cars; and discipline is what you need to reintroduce if you’re struggling with lackluster sales and aging inventory. Oh, and no offense, but the lack of discipline is not the fault of your salespeople. Discipline, or lack thereof, is a top-down proposition. If your salespeople lack discipline, grab a mirror, you’ll quickly discover who’s to blame and who can fix it.
Owner/GM Discipline
You have processes and rules. These processes and rules either move metal or they do not. If they move metal, there should be rewards for those who follow them and consequences for those who do not. More importantly, your commitment to those rules and processes that move metal should be unwavering, because the first time you make an exception, you can kiss that rule or process goodbye. (You’ve no doubt seen this movie before.)
Yes, I’m writing about accountability; and accountability begins with you. Accountability is not a bad thing. In fact, top sales managers want to work in an accountability culture (their jobs become easier). True sales professionals appreciate accountability (they’re tired of seeing the slackers get away with everything). And order-takers need accountability (or they’ll just keep brooming your Ups).
Sales Manager Discipline
Being a sales manager today is a complex job. There are constant demands from the OEM, increased compliance concerns, and salespeople that appear allergic to hard work. While this article won’t help you with OEM demands or compliance concerns, adding just a few routines to your workday will cure what ails most salespeople today.
Let’s focus on an easy, but important routine: defending your desk log. In the days of paper desk logs, top sales managers ensured every Fresh Up was recorded as soon as the sales manager spotted them. Paper desk logs – before the introduction of CRMs – were littered with “guy in blue shirt” or “woman w/kid” scribbles. Next to these anonymous entries, they’d write the name of the salesperson they saw helping them. Later, when that salesperson “touched the desk,” they’d add the customer’s name.
If they ever caught a salesperson not touching the desk, and letting a Fresh Up leave without a TO, they’d reprimand them, retrain them, and maybe even remove that salesperson from the Up rotation for the remainder of the day. They held their sales teams accountable to this important rule because they knew getting contact information, completing a guest sheet, and ensuring a manager TO 100% of the time would lead to more sales today and more sales tomorrow.
Desk Logs Today
In the current market, it’s more important to log every Fresh Up and require a 100% TO rate – that is, if you want to sell more vehicles at better grosses. The great news is that technology makes these easier… so long as you defend your desk log.
Defending this today simply means your CRM’s desk/showroom log matches what’s happening on the lot in near real time. Given your salespeople can easily scan the guest’s driver’s license with their phones to put them and their contact information directly onto your showroom log, there’s no excuse for anyone on your team to spend more than a few minutes with most Fresh Ups before you see them appear in the CRM. When you don’t, you act.
This action can be as simple as calling the offending salesperson to the desk or going out to meet the guest yourself:
“Hey Bob, who do we have here?” you ask.
“Oh, this is Barbara Jones,” Bob replies.
“Hi Barbara, I’m Steve, one of the sales managers here. Gosh, we’re glad you’re here. Which vehicle did you come to test drive?” you ask the guest.
Whatever her reply, you turn to your offending salesperson, “Hey Bob, let’s be sure to scan Barbara’s license so we can get her keys when she’s ready for the test drive.”
In my experience, you’ll only have to remind Bob of this infraction a few times before one of you gets tired of having to remind him to follow this simple rule that sells more vehicles today and tomorrow. He’ll either get great at it or he’ll be selling solar systems door-to-door.
Of course, this requires discipline on your part, and your commitment to this rule that moves metal should be unwavering, because the first time you make an exception, you can kiss this rule goodbye. (You’ve no doubt read that line before.)
Good Selling!
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