Who is getting all the money in your dealership? Is your store paying for steak, or just sizzle?
Potential clients are shopping for information, communication, and a relationship with someone they can trust. Who provides that in your store?
Typically the highest paid non-management sales employee is the “closer”. A sales person who profits on the hard work of many individuals forging relationships with clients and positions themselves to be involved at the point of decision. Are they really bringing the largest contribution to a dealership bottom line? The answer is no.
The highest value employee is the person that engages our clients both before and after the sale. A real client liaison that is willing to engage potential clients on the web, through social networks, and face to face. The future of the dealership sales force. They become evangelists for the store, bridges to the community, and reduce advertising costs, while driving business to the service department.
The ideal person should be a combination of the traditional sales consultant, and business development representative. Now how to get as many of them as you want. Financial commitment through compensation and training. The majority of pay structures for stores pay strictly for “closing”. The store pays to advertise to get clients to the showroom, pays to keep inventory, pays a BDC department to prospect, and then pays the highest amount to the person that simply is there at the end. Change compensation to pay the highest amount to those that set appointments, contribute to advertising through social media, drive their clients to service, and work face to face with clients.
Finally great employees are made, not found. Consistent cross training over time. Take the business development representatives and invest in sales training. The ones who pick up on handling face to face interaction move up over time to a new position of client liaison. Next take the sales consultants, and train as business development representatives and the ones that pick up web marketing and client relations also become client liaisons. These become your top tier sales employees, at top tier compensation. They save you money every time they interact with your clients.
The remaining staff are compensated at a lower schedule until they can learn the new material. Create a twelve month plan to move everyone to the higher pay level, and watch your bottom line grow.
For more details, and help on a written plan for your store www.RecruitmentHQ.com
