Which is better: Experience or a rookie?

     We are in the process of interviewing and hiring 3-4 guys in order to get our sales team to an appropriate level for the spring and summer. The other sales manager and I are in agreement with the owner that we need the help going in to the busier months but we are struggling to find the right guys. Part of the problem is that the owner only wants us to hire someone that has a good amount of previous sales experience under his belt ( car sales or not). His take is that if we hire a person who already has experience, we will have to spend less time training him and getting him where we need him to be.  While I think experience is really important, I don't think that should be the determining factor as to whether or not we will hire them.

     My take is that ideally we would like to hire a guy with some sales experience, but I think we should be more open minded. We put our prospective employees through a screening process and the lady that does that for us asks them about sales experience. She doesn't even set up an interview with people that don't have experience. I think we could be turning away some really good candidates and I haven't even had a chance to meet them. I tried to argue the point by telling him that his 2 managers ( myself and the other desk manager ) were both hired with no sales experience whatsoever. I like the idea of taking a young, ambitious guy and training and molding him into a superstar. But that's just me!

     So who's right? Do you go for instant gratification and get a mediocre guy with some experience or do you look for a guy that could be great and invest the time into him?

Which is better: Experience or a rookie?

     We are in the process of interviewing and hiring 3-4 guys in order to get our sales team to an appropriate level for the spring and summer. The other sales manager and I are in agreement with the owner that we need the help going in to the busier months but we are struggling to find the right guys. Part of the problem is that the owner only wants us to hire someone that has a good amount of previous sales experience under his belt ( car sales or not). His take is that if we hire a person who already has experience, we will have to spend less time training him and getting him where we need him to be.  While I think experience is really important, I don't think that should be the determining factor as to whether or not we will hire them.

     My take is that ideally we would like to hire a guy with some sales experience, but I think we should be more open minded. We put our prospective employees through a screening process and the lady that does that for us asks them about sales experience. She doesn't even set up an interview with people that don't have experience. I think we could be turning away some really good candidates and I haven't even had a chance to meet them. I tried to argue the point by telling him that his 2 managers ( myself and the other desk manager ) were both hired with no sales experience whatsoever. I like the idea of taking a young, ambitious guy and training and molding him into a superstar. But that's just me!

     So who's right? Do you go for instant gratification and get a mediocre guy with some experience or do you look for a guy that could be great and invest the time into him?

     We have had an eternal struggle at our dealership with getting sales guys to attend the BDC on a regular basis. I'm sure most dealers have had similar difficulties convincing their salespeople to leave the floor for an hour every day and go to the BDC. We have a few guys that see the vision and have bought in to the benefits of their efforts in the BDC. The problem is trying to get all of our salespeople to buy in so we don't feel like we are forcing them to go up.

    I feel like we have tried just about everything to get them to cooperate. We have tried: letting them make their own schedule, trying to show them success stories because of hard work in the BDC, reminding them constantly, negative reinforcement if they fail to go up at least 75% of the time, and positive reinforcement by spiffing them for just showing up. Nothing has seemed to work over the long term. It sucks that you have to spiff them to do their job, that doesn't seem right to me!

     Anyway, I know there are many dealers out there that have very successful BDC departments and I want to know what the secret is. I know how important it is to have a scheduled time dedicated to both sold and unsold follow up. Are my guys just lazy? Should I give them the boot and start with a clean slate? Let me know what you guys have done that works.

     We have had an eternal struggle at our dealership with getting sales guys to attend the BDC on a regular basis. I'm sure most dealers have had similar difficulties convincing their salespeople to leave the floor for an hour every day and go to the BDC. We have a few guys that see the vision and have bought in to the benefits of their efforts in the BDC. The problem is trying to get all of our salespeople to buy in so we don't feel like we are forcing them to go up.

    I feel like we have tried just about everything to get them to cooperate. We have tried: letting them make their own schedule, trying to show them success stories because of hard work in the BDC, reminding them constantly, negative reinforcement if they fail to go up at least 75% of the time, and positive reinforcement by spiffing them for just showing up. Nothing has seemed to work over the long term. It sucks that you have to spiff them to do their job, that doesn't seem right to me!

     Anyway, I know there are many dealers out there that have very successful BDC departments and I want to know what the secret is. I know how important it is to have a scheduled time dedicated to both sold and unsold follow up. Are my guys just lazy? Should I give them the boot and start with a clean slate? Let me know what you guys have done that works.

     I have been brainstorming a lot lately on ways to rally the troops. Anybody that has worked in the car business knows that November is the start of 4 pretty slow months in a row. The guys are already starting to feel the affects of the downturn in traffic and as a result are already starting to complain. I want to try to do everything I can to help keep them motivated and to keep things somewhat interesting around here.  The only thing is that I am on a limited budget.

     We have tried Christmas at the dealership during December as a fun way to compensate and spiff the salesguys.  We would go buy like $6,000 worth of stuff (tv's, laptops, digital cameras, and basically anything else they have at Costco!)  The response that we got was always really good, but the problem we had the last time was that everyone needed the cash more than they needed the gifts, so they returned like 90% of the stuff to Costco. I'm pretty sure the guys are in the same boat this year and would rather have the money vs. the gifts. It is way too much work to go buy all that stuff and get it here to the dealership if they are going to just take it back the next week.

     With that said, we need a fun, affordable way to keep things interesting around here during the holiday season. Like I said before, we can't break the bank because the owner of the store keeps us on a budget. So we need a really good idea. Let me know what you guys have tried in the past that has been successful.  Keep in mind that the program needs to be tied to selling cars and needs to reward productivity for the guys that are pushing hard during the slow months. I don't want to just hand out free money! Let me know what you guys think.

     I have been brainstorming a lot lately on ways to rally the troops. Anybody that has worked in the car business knows that November is the start of 4 pretty slow months in a row. The guys are already starting to feel the affects of the downturn in traffic and as a result are already starting to complain. I want to try to do everything I can to help keep them motivated and to keep things somewhat interesting around here.  The only thing is that I am on a limited budget.

     We have tried Christmas at the dealership during December as a fun way to compensate and spiff the salesguys.  We would go buy like $6,000 worth of stuff (tv's, laptops, digital cameras, and basically anything else they have at Costco!)  The response that we got was always really good, but the problem we had the last time was that everyone needed the cash more than they needed the gifts, so they returned like 90% of the stuff to Costco. I'm pretty sure the guys are in the same boat this year and would rather have the money vs. the gifts. It is way too much work to go buy all that stuff and get it here to the dealership if they are going to just take it back the next week.

     With that said, we need a fun, affordable way to keep things interesting around here during the holiday season. Like I said before, we can't break the bank because the owner of the store keeps us on a budget. So we need a really good idea. Let me know what you guys have tried in the past that has been successful.  Keep in mind that the program needs to be tied to selling cars and needs to reward productivity for the guys that are pushing hard during the slow months. I don't want to just hand out free money! Let me know what you guys think.

     We are at the time of the year where we are doing our Christmas cards for our customer base. I think the cards are really important as we need to make sure that our customer base knows we care about them enough to wish them happy holidays. The problem we have is that we have tried various cards/letters not really knowing what is the best route to take to ensure that we get a positive response from our customers.

     To save money we have gone to a bulk card that we are all sending to our customers. While I agree with cutting costs wherever we can, I don't think this is the best place to cut costs. I wonder what the customer is going to think when they open the card. I wonder if they will really feel like we care.  Basically all we are sending is a card that says "Happy Holidays" in a nice font included with a signature from the salesperson and a business card. Some people here at the store think that this card is sufficient and there is no need to do more. I personally think they are just too lazy and don't want to put forth any more effort than they have to!

     Anyway, I think it is important to do more but other people disagree with me. I'm not suggesting we break the bank or anything, but I think it is important to show the customer that you really do care about them and it is totally appropriate to invest a little bit more money to do so. What do you guys think? Is there anything that you have tried that is effective, relatively inexpensive, and still shows the customer that you care?

     We are at the time of the year where we are doing our Christmas cards for our customer base. I think the cards are really important as we need to make sure that our customer base knows we care about them enough to wish them happy holidays. The problem we have is that we have tried various cards/letters not really knowing what is the best route to take to ensure that we get a positive response from our customers.

     To save money we have gone to a bulk card that we are all sending to our customers. While I agree with cutting costs wherever we can, I don't think this is the best place to cut costs. I wonder what the customer is going to think when they open the card. I wonder if they will really feel like we care.  Basically all we are sending is a card that says "Happy Holidays" in a nice font included with a signature from the salesperson and a business card. Some people here at the store think that this card is sufficient and there is no need to do more. I personally think they are just too lazy and don't want to put forth any more effort than they have to!

     Anyway, I think it is important to do more but other people disagree with me. I'm not suggesting we break the bank or anything, but I think it is important to show the customer that you really do care about them and it is totally appropriate to invest a little bit more money to do so. What do you guys think? Is there anything that you have tried that is effective, relatively inexpensive, and still shows the customer that you care?

    The owner of our store has been harping on me and the other sales manager lately about closing rates.  I feel like it is an issue that he constantly brings up and almost seems like we will never be able to get our closing percentages to a level that he is ok with.  We think we do a really good job with the opportunities that we have and I feel like we have a really good sales team. I can't imagine that we are so much lower than what is considered average. But what is average?

     These are our benchmark closing percentages that he wants to see from us.

1. Phone calls: 15%
2. Internet: 12%
3. Walk-ins: 25%
4. Demos: 85%
5. Be-backs: 50%

     We aren't too far from these percentages most of the time but we usually aren't ever there consistently.  I just get sick of the same old conversations with regard to these figures. I wish we could get to those #'s from time to time so we could blame our lower sales on something else. I feel like they are a little bit on the high side, but maybe that is the point.  What do you guys use a benchmark #'s at your dealership? Are we high, low, or right on?

    The owner of our store has been harping on me and the other sales manager lately about closing rates.  I feel like it is an issue that he constantly brings up and almost seems like we will never be able to get our closing percentages to a level that he is ok with.  We think we do a really good job with the opportunities that we have and I feel like we have a really good sales team. I can't imagine that we are so much lower than what is considered average. But what is average?

     These are our benchmark closing percentages that he wants to see from us.

1. Phone calls: 15%
2. Internet: 12%
3. Walk-ins: 25%
4. Demos: 85%
5. Be-backs: 50%

     We aren't too far from these percentages most of the time but we usually aren't ever there consistently.  I just get sick of the same old conversations with regard to these figures. I wish we could get to those #'s from time to time so we could blame our lower sales on something else. I feel like they are a little bit on the high side, but maybe that is the point.  What do you guys use a benchmark #'s at your dealership? Are we high, low, or right on?