Without the activities, the results can’t be obtained.
Let’s discuss some universal ways that any sales team, in any market, selling any brand, can sell more cars, make more money, and reduce their stress. I would guess that all the suggestions that follow are executed consistently in perhaps five percent of showrooms, but they are well executed in the most successful showrooms.

They are not complicated or highly sophisticated, but they do require regular inspection, effort and constant focus. It’s a short laundry list, but it is an effective one. May I suggest photocopying it for all your managers to read, having them score your showroom out of 10 in the small blank space to the left of the comments, and then hold a manager’s meeting with your findings and recommendations.

___/10?  Since you can’t manage or improve what you don’t measure, are all your incoming sales calls, e-mails and walk-ins logged, then followed up by management?

___/10?  Are your Internet sales leads distributed and followed up within an hour of receiving the email?

___/10?  Is every prospect, suspect and customer asked for their email address?

___/10?  Do you have an appointment board in the showroom for everyone to see? Is your entire sales team selling for profit and volume?

___/10?  Do your sales managers log all the deals they’ve desked and appraisals they’ve done?

___/10?  Do you track your demonstration drive ratios?

___/10?  Is your sales manager meeting every prospect of all types, even to just thank them for coming in?

___/10?  Are your sales people contacting by phone, email and/or mail all unclosed traffic within a few hours of them leaving the dealership?

___/10?  Does your sales team meet with management one-on-one every day for a few minutes to discuss the previous day’s productivity, today’s activity and perhaps even calling back unclosed traffic together?

___/10?  Is your sales team keeping in touch with your customers?

___/10?  Does each sales person make a few outbound "cool calls" a day, in addition to their current prospect list?

___/10?  Is your entire sales team likeable?

Essentially, the activities and jobs of the sales team are to effectively:
• Take inbounds (phone, Internet and walk-in)
• Make outbounds (phone, mail and e-mail)
• Build their skills (sales, phones, closing, etc.)

And the minimum individual goals should be:
• two appointments per day
• two demonstration drives per day
• two worksheets or quotes per day

Without the activities, the results can’t be obtained. Waiting at the door for the walk-ins or trying to sell each other cars in between the walk-ins just doesn’t work very well most days.

If we don’t, won’t or can’t master the short list above, and work on our business all day long, maybe we should all get cots or do bicep curls while we wait? Ooops! Did I say that out loud?

Duane Marino is the principal and founder of Team Relmark Dealer Services and one of Canada’s foremost professional automotive sales trainers. More information is available at www.duanemarino.com or from This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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