Successful dealers have a different view, a different attitude, a different swagger about them and a different way of managing accountability.
It’s always a good feeling when we are kicking off a new year. This time of the year sort of reminds me of spring training for major league baseball. Optimism is running high, as it should be, but in a few months reality will start to set in.
The stronger teams will have started to pull away and the weaker teams will be asking themselves, “What happened, where did we go wrong?”
A number of my articles recently have been prodding you to get ready for the New Year. Here are a few thoughts to get you moving a little faster toward your goals and some suggestions of changes you might need to make.
Observe-Spend a Saturday just sitting in the tower observing. Say nothing. Take notes. Of course you’re not going to see the true picture, but you will see enough to give you an idea of where the loopholes are.
Ask Questions-On Monday meet with your GSM/Sales Manager and ask him/her to review with you what the selling process is. Better yet, prior to meeting, ask them to write out the selling process to bring to your meeting.
Get After Them-Tell them what you observed and how far off track they are compared to the list and the discussion you just had. Of course, first tell them all the things you observed that they are doing well. Do your best to end the meeting on a positive note and create a plan of action to improve.
Re-Commit-Get them re-committed to what they say they are supposed to be doing. Reviewing the processes is the single most effective way to do this.
Re-Deploy-get them on a mission to get back on track through renewed focus, training, disciplines and processes. Get a commitment for the training they intend to do with the sales force over the next 30 days.
Create Accountability-create a daily check list to review what they are doing as compared to what they said they were going to do. Continue to observe and whenever it’s not right go back to step one and start over again. Your number one job is to “Guard the Processes.”
Raising expectations is in part about raising your level of intensity and creating accountability within the team. Human nature being what it is, people will do what little they have to do to get by.
And we’re off. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs