Hiring the right sales candidate is never easy - everyone comes to the table with a unique background & new perspectives. Measuring the success of that new hire, however, is not easy in that there are several things to take into consideration, such as training, sales goals, experience, and overall plan of action for the first ninety days on the job. Without a unified plan of action for their first ninety days, it is tough to measure their success. Much less understand what the trending breakpoints are in the overall hiring process - i.e., what is the cause of their leaving the position other than it "not working out." 

Here are the top things to consider when measuring the quality of a new hire 

Have A Consistent Process for New Hires 

I get it, you need to fill that hole on the dealer level, and "hope" they can sell the eight to ten units required to hit the OEM objectives. Simply hiring someone to fill that hole and hoping they do not sink is not a cost-effective method, nor will it do your dealer any favors. Another critical issue dealers face when letting the new hire hit the floor is their having only completed the OEM training (if they even completed that). Or worse - letting an experienced sales consultant hit the floor without having even started the OEM sales training. 

You might be scratching your head with regards to not letting an experienced sales consultant hit the floor, BUT the fact of the matter is that while they have the experience, they do not know your process!! A process that, if not followed, can and will cause unnecessary breakpoints in both the sales process and, more importantly, the customer's overall experience. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen the "experienced" sales consultant who is new to the floor offer customers products, or "We-Owes" that would have otherwise not been allowed. All of which can cut your profit and cause frustration on both ends. Not to mention, the "meeting" in which the new sales consultant might get reamed out for offering the products can cause tension that could have otherwise been avoided. And while they should have asked for permission, did you bother to tell them what is and is not allowed? In most cases, the answer is No! And as for the new hires without automotive experience, the same principals apply. If your frustrated, be frustrated with yourself. 

Top Reason Your Sales Training is Not Working! 

Let's not forget the many excuses that come into play when it comes to the sales managers training new hires. One of the biggest excuses as to why the sales managers could not spend time with the new hire - sticking them with whoever is free, which is usually the top sales guy who winds up using them as their gopher - is because they do not have time. There is no doubt that your sales managers are very busy - but at the end of the day, in many cases, it's not about "time," but instead what is in it for them? Have you ever thought about paying your sales managers retention bonuses for their employees? If they were to have a strong motive to increase retention, it could pay off for not just the dealer, but for themselves as managers. Knowing there is nothing worse than having to start over at square one every month hiring yet another new sales consultant. 

The latter part of not having a successful sales plan of action is understanding that their going through the process takes time. Far too often, the dealer has good intentions with their training program but winds up shoving them to a floor to help a customer when they have not a clue as to how anything works. This not only frustrates the customer but also causes dissension between the sales manager and the new sales consultant. If you are going to commit to a sales plan, then COMMIT to it! Lastly, not everyone will make it through the ninety-days, and for those that do not make it through, it provides you feedback as to what the common breakpoints are in the overall sales process. And look, your plan of action does not have to be ninety-days, but it is essential that core items are covered, which is outlined below. 

To avoid the above issues, it is best to have a ninety-day plan of action for the new hires. As for the plan, see below. 

What Should the Ninety Day Plan Require? Where do I start? 

The goal and purpose of the ninety-day plan are to ensure that you have prepared your sales consultants well enough so they can be successful. When it comes to starting the new-hire process, it can and will be challenging as it redefines the way you approach hiring and training on the dealer level. However, you have to start somewhere, no? Below are key items to consider when approaching the training portfolio. In many cases, the OEM's have "standards" or "reviews" that require your dealer to have documented processes for much of what is offered below. For those with the documented processes, use them! 

So what should be included for training? 

OEM Training

• Sales Process Training 

• CRM Training 

Marketing Resources

Sales Documentation - i.e. the documents needed in every deal packet

Internal processes - i.e. dealer tags, keys 

How to Measure the Success of the Training 

Sales Process: Does the sales consultant follow the documented process? Have they spent time with a sales manager or consultant reviewing the processes? If they have, let them know what is working and what they could do to increase their performance. 

CRM Training: Have they been trained on the CRM. More importantly, are they using it? If they are, take the time to review what it is they are sending to the customer - work with them on best practices for customer correspondence, etc. 

Internal Processes: Are they following your dealer's documented processes? If not, then take the time to explain the process. And make no mistake, simply handing them a binder of processes is not going to work, either. 

Bottom Line: Dealers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on their sales consultants annually. Not to mention, they face terrible numbers when it comes to retention, which costs your dealer money. And while we can say that "they did not work out," "we are hiring the wrong talent," or "a good sales consultant is so hard to find." Instead, let's focus on the commonalities in your retention issues! You might be surprised to find out that much of the problems stem from not training them when they are on-boarded or a sales management team that is disenfranchised and or unable to offer the new hires the level of training required to be successful. 

What is Your New Hire Process? Do You Track Their Performance? 

Reporting is essential for understanding what your ROI is, right? So why then are we wasting several hours of your manager's time creating reports (using excel) in the service lane? More often than not, the reason managers are creating their own reports is mainly due to their not knowing how to pull the correct report. Albeit, there are multiple vendors the dealer works with daily. However, there is a way of collectively aggregating all of the data using the vendor's platform.

Many, if not all, vendors have substantial reporting options available within their platforms. And I understand that there is such a thing called analysis paralysis. But, it is best to review your essential vendors - i.e., marketing, appointments, email collection, and compile all of the "performance" reports into one cohesive report. In doing so, it allows you to better understand how the vendors and services interrelate in so far as how they work together. For example, in the service lane, a dealer wants to better understand how many appointments are being booked online. To then reviewing how many of those appointments came in, and what their average spend per customer pay RO was. 

Who Keeps Track of Appointments On the Excel Sheet? 

If you are using a manual report - often having human errors - then you are not getting the whole picture. Whereas if you are analyzing web traffic, conversion, appointments, and show rate - vs. the average dollar per RO for both warranty and customer pay, you are able to make a much more sound decision. A decision that can have a profound impact on overall sales in the lane - while you might already keep track of this using excel. I do recommend working with your vendors! In fact, when is the last time you called your vendor's account manager asking them to come in or give an update? 

Do you still use Excel? How do you manage the monthly reporting? 

As mentioned above, it is hard enough to compile all of the reporting into an excel sheet, let alone being consistent at it! One day off, or a day where your team is to busy to do the report, the less likely they are to continue with that report. Not to mention, in many cases, we wait to report on items until there is an issue of epic proportions. Yet had your dealer had monthly reporting in place, it would have been much easier to identify the breaking point? In which case, your management team could have potentially resolved the issue(s) at hand! 

How do you manage your reporting for service? 
 

One of the things I love most about the Driving Sales Executive summit is the ideas that come from the Best Idea Contest. The idea that hit home with me this year was using the tool monday.com to effectively manage your team's projects. I had been looking for a platform to manage the Business Development and Marketing teams projects - as it is a challenge to manage all of the various projects that are on our plates at any given time.

And while I am not one to discuss vendors on the platform other than in the reviews, this is one worthy of noting. So if there is a means of organizing all of those efforts into a meaningful, and more importantly, a relevant platform, than it can and will save your team time! 

Here are the top ways Monday.com has helped our team! 

No More Long Email Chains 

I love emails, said no one ever. If you're like me, you get several hundred emails a day - both spam and regular correspondence. All of which can - at times - be a bit overwhelming, where you feel like you spend more time answering emails than being on the phone. This was something I knew we needed to address to maximize efficiency. 

Monday.com allows you to add outside users to your boards, which means that instead of a lengthy email chain, you can send push notifications (replies) to a project, which allows you to easily access the board and make any updates necessary. This alone has saved us an incredible amount of time - given that if emails were only going to me, and not the team, they could now respond vs. having to wait. 

One of the most significant advantages of the notifications is its overall ability to help hold yourself, the team, and vendors accountable. In that, depending on who has last "updated" the account shows on the board. Offering you where the project lies vs. an ongoing email chain with phone calls to follow. 

Upload Documents In One Place 

Ever get the email that says "failed to send" because the attachments were too big?  And you find yourself having to email the vendor graphics in pieces - legit, five or so emails - and it taking too much time? I have! That and having to constantly check your email and see what you had already sent the vendor? All of this is eliminated because now you are easily able to upload documents to the board itself, which means that if you did not get a chance to load the documents/creative content, your team can easily do so! 

Transparency With Management 

While your managers know you are working - it is nice to have a simple, effective way of offering them the volume of projects/tasks you and your teams are working on at any given time! Not to mention, when it comes to writing reviews and or offering raises, you can easily go back and review their scope of work, timeliness, and quality - all within one platform! 

Bottom Line: if you are tired of chasing email chains, using excel docs, or for us - prior to using monday.com - using google docs than give it a try! This will save you the much needed time you already did not have! 

How do you keep your teams organized? 
 

A removed manager is nothing easy to deal with. Knowing that their removed can cause chaos, lost sales, and lack of morality, to name a few. So how do we approach the removed manager? There are two key things to consider when approaching this problem manager. And the sooner you deal with them, the better off everyone will be on the dealer level! 

Sounds Simple, But Why Are They Removed? 

I get it. It sounds simple to answer this question, though it is an important question to consider. In that is there something we can do to help them check back in? Is it worth the time and effort to get this manager checked back in? 

If the answer is no and their performance has continued to be lackluster, then you have to make the hard decision in removing them from management. If they are good employees, but in the wrong position, then perhaps there is another suitable role for them on the dealer level. However, if they are otherwise a good sales manager, then you have to consider what is causing them to check-out. It could be anything from not having your support, over-tasked, not enough sales consultants, limited resources, and or micro-managed, to name a few! All of which can be changed, though only if you are willing to address the above issues head-on. 

Is A Lack Of Empowerment Causing them to Check Out? 

There is nothing worse than feeling helpless in a management position. The idea that your every move is micro-managed. And you cannot make decisions that can and will have a positive impact on the dealer level. Think about it, if you are unable to make decisions and everything has to be approved by either the GM or Owner - would you take more initiative to make things better? Probably not. 

If the manager is a good employee and has the talent needed on the dealer level to deliver, then you need to approach them differently. The notion that there is a reason you have the sales manager in their position, no? But if they cannot make a decision for themselves, then why are they in the position? Sounds easier said than done, however, when it comes to actually giving your sales manager autonomy to do business. This is by no means offering that your sales manager ought to have free reign over all aspects of the dealer, either. What this is offering is that there are certain decisions s/he ought to be able to make without getting approval. 

Bottom Line: Ignoring the situation - or in this case, the removed manager - will not solve anything and can cause further dissension and chaos. But before you approach your sales manager, take the time to figure out why they are removed? Asking yourself if there is anything you can do to help them! In doing so, not only can it alleviate a situation, but it can help your sales manager reconnect with the dealership. If the sales manager, however, is unwilling to work with you or their respective teams, then you will have to make the hard decision. 

How do you deal with the checked-out sales manager? 
 

One of the keynote speakers for DSES 19, Clint Pulver spoke in detail about the types of managers we encounter. One of those managers is the “removed” manager. The one that can wreak chaos on your dealership. A few years ago I wrote an article “Top Reasons to Avoid the Coin-Operator State of Mind: Machines Don't Have Emotions” the idea that executive management can in many ways set the tone for their managers. That tone, if not managed in an effective way can and will cause for turn-over. 

More importantly, as we have to cultivate a new culture, one that attracts the right talent - it is imperative that we manage our managers effectively - where we are responsible for curating an environment that fosters creativity, leadership, and growth. 

How have you restructured your management style to be in alignment with your team? 

It sure would be nice to know what the actual market value is for the vehicles on our dealerships lots are. But that is easier said than done, and while we have several inventory tools that provide us “market” interest - we have to ask ourselves what the even means? In that when you look at the reports it might offer that there are “X” amount of vehicles in the market and “X” amount of interest. How do they (the vendors) define “interest” is it clicks, VDP views, to name a few? Instead of getting caught up in the reports - though, they can be beneficial - here are a few things to consider to ensure that you do not have too many old aged units on the lot. 

Inventory Specials. Not every vehicle should be on special. 

The whole goal of having a specials page is to promote vehicles that are on special. But if there are too many vehicles on the specials page it can detract the customer from converting on one of the vehicles. There ideally should not be more than eight to ten vehicles on the specials page. Those units should be the oldest aged units. In many cases, you can easily set up a rule in your CMS (back-end tool for the website), and it will automatically display your oldest aged units. 

Marketing on the Dealer Level. 

If you have a high level of visibility on the lot make sure to promote certain vehicles! Whether that is writing the special on the windshield or balloons to name a few. There are customers who visit the lot when your dealership is closed. And if they see a vehicle that is on “special” it can spark interest. One of the biggest challenges dealers face with marketing their inventory is consistency. There might be a few months where the vehicles are front-line ready and marketed, but before you know it - the efforts fall to the wayside.  

Digital Marketing Efforts 

One of the most effective ways to increase conversion - and more importantly sell the vehicle - is to leverage your marketing efforts. Whether that is promoting a post on FB featuring the vehicle, or using other platforms. Increasing awareness of the vehicle can not only lead to a conversion - click to call, or lead form - but you are increasing your chances of bringing more traffic to your website! That said, once the customer is on your website - it increases the chances that they will call your dealer or submit a lead. 

Avoid “Days in Inventory” on your website. 

This sounds like a given, no? But you would be surprised as to how many dealers still leave “days in inventory” on their website. This can have a negative impact as if the customer sees the fact that the vehicle has been in your inventory for more than sixty days they might want a “better deal” when in many cases the current price is less than what you have in it! And no, this is not about being dishonest, either. But considering you are already losing money on the vehicle, it does not make sense to make it that much harder to make a deal happen by advertising it has been on the lot, forever.

Bottom Line: There are many factors to consider that can help you move inventory off your lot. One of the best things to do, however, is be consistent with your efforts on the dealer level! It is easier said than done. I cannot tell you how many times I visit dealers websites and they do not have any inventory on their specials page! To avoid this make sure you have someone - perhaps your used car sales manager - check the page every day to make sure that it has at least eight to ten vehicles on display. If you pair effective digital marketing and dealer level marketing together it can and will help you move those units. As for when it comes to the pricing and fair market value, you can use those as a guide vs. being the end all be all when you are pricing the inventory. If there is a unit that is readily available - aka saturated - be sure to push it! Having a plan of action on day one vs. sixty days later as your getting ready to send it to the auction. 

How do you market your vehicles on the dealer level? Do you engage your sales team and BDC by informing them of which units need to move first? 

Birthdays are supposed to be a great time of the year, it's your birthday after all, no? But one Birthday you want to avoid is the vehicles on your dealer's lot! Knowing that every day the car sits on the lot, it can cost you thousands of dollars in floor plan interest. To avoid celebrating a birthday for one of your vehicles, here are some things you can do! 

Send the Pre-Owned Vehicle to Auction. If You Cannot Sell It, Lose It! 

Maybe it is the wrong color, too many miles, too many in your market, whatever the case is, if you are unable to sell it after more than sixty days on the lot - then you need to get rid of it! Even if you lose money at auction, it could still be less expensive to send it to the auction than to keep it on your lot, paying floor-plan and still taking a loss to sell the vehicle. Before you do take it to auction, be sure to check out the pricing. If the pricing is off in that you have over-priced the car for your market going rate, then you can try and salvage it by changing the pricing. 

Do Not Over Allow On the Trade-In. This Can Easily Wind-Up Making Your Dealer Celebrate A Birthday. 

It might be tempting to over allow on that trade-in to get the new car deal, which means that you wind up making the OEM bonus. However, make no mistake - while you might get that tiered OEM bonus for each unit sold, it still might not make sense to over allow on that trade-in just to make the OEM bonus. Albeit, if that is the only way humanly possible to make the tiered bonuses, and it is a substantial amount, then by all means, do it. But instead of trying to sell the pre-owned vehicle on your lot, take the loss now rather than later knowing that you're going to spend 'X' amount to rid yourself of the car. 

Know Your Market. Use the Trade-In Reporting Tools to Your Advantage. 

It is no secret that the customer wants transparency on their end when it comes to the value of their vehicle. So when it comes time to giving them a value on their trade-in - one that you know is not going to sell well - present the documentation that shows that. This is by no means offering that this will always work, either.  But the point and purpose of doing so is to show the customer that there is not much demand for their vehicle. And as such, you cannot give them a value that is above the current fair market assessment. If this means that the customer is going to walk away, then you have to make a mutually beneficial decision. As mentioned earlier, if you need to sell one or two more new vehicles to get an OEM kick-back, then, by all means, take the deal. However, it is best to have an immediate plan of action so that the vehicle does not wind up having a birthday. 

Too Much Time In Recon Does You No Favors. 

While there might be an internal process for handling trade-ins, getting them front line ready, any delays can wind up costing you money. And while putting a vehicle on the website - without photos might work - we all know it is harder to sell a car without photos. One of the things you can do if the vehicle is not in terrible condition is to use one or more of the pictures from the trade-in. This way, you at least have a few photos to show the customer while it is working its way through the recon process. 

Bottom Line: There is no one right answer on how to manage your trade-ins and or preventing a vehicle from having a birthday. What there are suggestions on, however, is how to avoid a car from having a birthday. With the notion that there are many ways to handle the issue. One of them is offering the customer a trade-in value that makes sense. Think about it, if the customers only objection is their trade-in value, then perhaps there is another underlying objection, which could be their payment or APR. So if you can resolve the other objections without increasing the value on the trade or over allowing on the trade, then you can actively avoid an issue. 

How do you prevent vehicles from having a birthday? 

One of my favorite events at the Driving Sales Executive Summit is the Best Idea Contest. Each year participants enter their respective ideas. For those who were selected as finalists, they present their ideas at the conference. This is by no means an easy task having done this myself. The very fact that you have to present in front of hundreds of people can be overwhelming, much less only having five minutes to coney your idea. 

The one idea that I was most drawn to was the tool “Monday.com,” which is an organizational tool. One that enables you to remove much of the endless email chains that take place on the dealer level, which often leaves you trying to manage email chains vs. moving the project forward. That said, the tool itself is extremely robust. And by using the tool, you can easily allow your vendors to be apart of the work-flow. In that when you assign them a project, and they can easily update the status by using the app. In which case, when they have made an update it lets every know what the status is - in turn, saving a lot of time! 

Here are some of the other key advantages of Monday.com 

Removes the need for endless back and forth emails, which often do not include everyone that is apart of the project. That alone can delay things from moving forward. 

• Keeps everything moving as it shows which projects have been completed, and those that are still waiting for feedback or the next steps 

• Can create an engaging dashboard (the presenter even went as far as using a TV screen to house the projects in their marketing office) 

• Removes repetitive steps as it houses everything thing under one app - no more logging into multiple vendors apps to update a project status 

Lastly, if anything, by centralizing all of the projects under one app, it can in a sense create more productivity. Especially if everyone knows where the project, itself, stands. In that, there is nothing more deflating than a project being stalled due to the waiting for feedback. And let's be real if you are constantly unsure as to when something will be launched and or completed, are you going to work as hard to move things along? 

Bottom Line: for those who handle their marketing in-house and have multiple dealerships this tool can potentially save you a lot of time. It also offers a clear picture as to what the current status of the project is vs. having to spend time emailing and speaking with multiple people. The tool also allows you to hold your team accountable in that if they do not complete their portion of the task, you can easily see where the breakpoint is within the project. As for the cost, it is less than $700 a year, and if it means getting an email campaign out in a more timely fashion, one or two-car sales can more than cover the costs of the campaign. 

One of the hot topics last year that remains an issue on the dealer level is the logging of customers in the showroom. In most cases, the reporting spelled it out - where you would have one or two sales managers with more than a sixty percent closing rate, which seems incredible no? But when it came time to following up with unsold leads, much to our surprise there were multiple leads who said: "ugh, I was in your showroom last night."

This is, of course, was just one of the many examples, but the point is that if we're not logging traffic into the CRM, then how can we increase our business? Some of the other examples were "they were just looking and were not really in the market." or "they had really bad credit. They could not buy a vehicle," which very well could be true; but if we had not run their credit, and or seen if they had a co-signer how do we know if they cannot purchase? And even if after running their credit (going through the sales process), and they are not approved, still log it into the CRM, period. 

I have seen instances where the customer was never marked in the showroom, and or the CRM was never noted, and the same customer came back into the store twice in three months. They'd go through the entire sales process, again. Had they marked the CRM, and known that the customer was unable to purchase a car for more than six months, it would save everyone a lot of time, no? 

Are You Logging All of Your Customers in the CRM? check it out, and in the meantime, how do you handle logging traffic into the showroom? For those who allow customers to not be logged in to CRM if they are "BAD" what constitutes a bad showroom up that should not be logged into the CRM? 

One phrase we often hear is, "I want to empower my managers to make their own decisions if they cannot make their own decisions than they are not the right manager." This is a powerful statement; one that should be the case on the dealer level when it comes to sales managers making decisions. However, is this really the case? In that, while it is the right frame of mind - do the GM' s/Owners really allow their managers to make the decisions? Cause if not, then why do we have sales managers if they cannot make their own decisions? 

Mean What You Say. Stop Micro-Managing. It is Not A One Man Show. 

I have often been in meetings where the GM would offer that they want the sales managers to make their own decisions. Everything regarding inventory purchases, trades, and/or deals. Yet when it came time to make those decisions, the GM would backtrack, and get involved in almost every deal. In which case, they'd disagree with the sales managers' train of thought. In doing so, as one could imagine, it made making those decisions that much more difficult as they'd worry about whether or not the GM would approve. Of course, if the sales managers are making bad decisions that could wind up being incredibly costly, then, yes, you need to look at your management team. However, if the decision is a good one, just not your style, then you are dismantling your team, and discrediting them to their employees. All of which can send the wrong message, and in some cases can wind up, meaning that their respect is lost if they realize that the sales managers cannot make decisions. 

Teach Them How to Approach the Decision Making Process. But Do So Privately. Have Respect. 

There is nothing wrong with explaining how to approach the decision-making process with your sales managers. In fact, it is encouraged - in doing so, you can confidently allow your sales managers to make the necessary decisions. Otherwise, your sales managers will not be on the same page with you or with their other managers. And while not all decisions will be the way you would have approached the situation, you can use them as an opportunity to train your managers. But if you do not take the time to work with your sales managers - working with them on how to approach the decision-making process - you cannot expect them to perform. And if you make all of the decisions and or undermine them, it will only create a chaotic, unproductive department. 

Bottom Line: making deals, purchasing inventory, or appraising trades is not easy. Even with all of the tools we have available, I cannot tell you how many times I have seen managers call their friends at other dealers asking them what they should appraise the vehicle for. In which case, that might not be the best way to do it. And while data is not always one hundred percent accurate, it can help you in making those tough decisions. Lastly, if you genuinely want your sales managers to make decisions on the dealer level, let them. Micro-managing them in their every decision sends the wrong message. A message that can - as mentioned above - wind-up losing their respect with their employees. In that, if the employees realize that the sales managers are otherwise unable to call the final shots, they will just go to the GM for every deal bypassing management. As for how the decisions are made, as a leader, you need to get with your sales managers, privately and have a united front in how the decisions are to be made. This way, you are all on the same page, collectively.