A sales floor with a process, no matter how good (or bad) the process is, will experience more success than a floor without one.

This is no secret and I am not telling you something you don't already know, but I have roamed hundreds of dealerships and I am still amazed at how many dealerships use a free for all approach, relying on people, rather than relying on processes.

Yes, but I have had a lot of success with some of the people I have, some would say. I agree, and good Sales People and Managers are hard to find. But relying only on people makes you dependable on them. Every time you lose one of them, for whatever reasons, the world stops turning until you find a suitable replacement, which may take months, if not years. Trust me, I know what I am talking about. A few years ago, I was given the mandate to start an Internet Team. I tried many people in that team, and finally, after two and a half years, I found THE MAN. He broke all kind of records and we had it good for a while. Then, after a year or so, things started to change and that person left. Since then, this dealer never found THAT GUY again.

I did not have to look very far to understand why I failed. It was clear that I was relying way too much on the person. If I had developed a process, it would have been much easier to replace him. Maybe not as good as that guy will ever be, but the slopes would not have been as bad.

Now back to process… Just be careful about that term, it can be used at large and misunderstood most of the time. I believe processes need to be specific and should target a single series of tasks. It is more likely that you will require a process for multiple events on your floor than simply just one process for the entire floor, or a main process with multiple sub-processes… You get the picture:

Process: Walk-in customers

• Welcoming the customer and transferring over to a Sales Representative
• Qualifying a customer
• Demoing a vehicle
• Negotiating price/payment
• Walking out

And there could be multiple side processes as well:

• Delivery
• Internet Lead Management
• Following up on customers, pre and post sale.
• Role of Managers towards Sales Representatives

I mean the list can go on and on and on. The point is that when you have a defined process (or multiple processes), you no longer have to rely on people. It is the people that will learn and apply the process. Of course not everyone will be able to perform to your expectations, but your chances of success are multiplied.