Brandin... THANKS for another thoughtful, professional, and fresh approach to leading in the dealership.  

Thank you for the engagement once again R.J., it's always appreciated!

Most sales managers need training too. Many Sales Managers think the sales floor is their domain right - each sales person by definition is there to make them money. That's a fact. Over the years, that is my take on them, and I've seen how they live, how they talk, the ego and all. I've made all my sales managers a success by the shear fact I've broguth them PLUS PLUS business since 2007 and now over 50% of sales are the internet. Cost of advertising is dirt cheap. But salesmen commissions conitnue to fall. I've only met a few great sales managers - most of them would prefer to just desk, and leave the hassles of leadership to others. I think it's pretty pathetic. The general pay plan for dealerships is called a pyramid scheme, for the the most obvious of reasons. In the age of the Internet we really do not need sales managers anymore, like we used to. We can easily get numbers from a "AI powered kiosk-manager", and a senior floor sales person has as much closing skills as any manager, and can access the same program, enter a stock number and build a deal as easy as the manager does. The reasons most managers close deals, is because they lower the price. Anyone can do that.

Exactly Chris.  Great points!

Chris,

Couldn't agree more with the lack of manager training, and the sales manager is one of the key roles in the dealership.  The control the failure or success of the store processes.

Brandin, in my opinion, that includes your 13 questions.  It seems to me that a manager review using these questions would be a great opportunity.  How are you using this in your store?

Hey Bart, I’m fortunate to have close relationships with my team which allows me to communicate openly with them on a regular basis. Because we are a small dealership(400 retail new and used/year), I hold myself accountable to ensuring the success of everyone in the dealership. I invest in myself first so I can in turn pass that education off to our team. I operate the dealership remotely and we don’t have a “Sales Manager”, we have 2 awesome Sales Professionals and a Financial Services Manager. It’s my responsibility to lead them. A unique situation but it’s proven to work effectively. 

Nice "check up from the neck up Brandin."