Dashboard
By Robert Counts
robert@countsbusinessconsulting.com and Chad Counts
crcounts@countsbusinessconsulting.com
Managing Sales R
ecently I asked a salesperson the fol- lowing questions:
1. Do you think the way you handle a call makes a difference in the outcome? 2. Do you think it is better or worse to use a person’s name during a sales call? 3. What is the benefit of getting the VIN number? 4. Do you think it is important to the outcome of a call to know what the cus- tomer is looking for?
a. How much do they have to spend or what do they think it is going to cost?
b. When do they need the part? c. Miles on the vehicle?
Thesalesperson I talkedwith answered all of the questions in the affirmative and gave me a compelling reason why. But when I listen to their recorded sales calls, I do not hear this belief put into action. Talking the talk isn’t going to move
parts off the shelves, putting into action the belief system of your organization will.
Listening in Listening to recorded phone calls
reveals that this is not isolated. Most sales- people know that no two calls follow the same path, but they tend to approach every call the same way they always have. Because of that approach around 60 to 70 percent of the calls they answer end unsuccessfully. A problem part or a diffi- cult customer is all it takes most of time for the salespeople to lose their rhythm. And because they have not done what is needed to increase their chances of suc- cess, they are unable to recover before the customer hangs up. Traveling to auto recycling facilities across the country has demonstrated to me that the majority of salespeople were trained by another salesperson who was trained by another salesperson. Have they ever been exposed to any thinking outside of the sales counter or desk that
I am a big believer in trying to run an organization based on positives instead of negatives.
However, there must be negative consequences for employees when their poor performance creates negative consequences for the company.
they have been sitting at for 20 plus years? Stop and think about how much this industry has changed in the last 20 years. Forward thinking, current, quality train- ing is necessary. Sales performance is the most critical function in your company and needs the most attention and ongoing training. Even highly functioning and highly suc- cessful salespeople will slip frompeak per- formance within a weeks’ time. I have listened to salespeople who were doing an outstanding job of qualifying the cus- tomer, offering a warranty, and closing and then they go back to simply saying I have it and quote a price.
TheCarrot and the Stick I am a big believer in trying to run an
organization basedonpositives insteadof negatives. However, there must be nega- tive consequences for employees when their poor performance creates negative consequences for the company. When training and generous commissions are not enough to get the required per- formance then negative consequences must be employed. It is very difficult to keep a highly per- forming sales staff without daily attention. You must set goals that are self-monitored by the employeeandare achievable if the employee is performing at an above aver- age level. You can’t set goals that require maximum performance every moment of every day. If you do, you will end up with burned out employees using creative ways to game the system. But, you must
set goals that require consistent good to better performance to maximize theout- comes needed.
Goals, Training and Compensation Goals, training and fair compensation
are the environment in which good sales- people excel. I think many believe that training is a one and done activity. Again, training for salespeople needs to be daily to weekly. It can be as simple as refer- encing a standard set for the sales posi- tion, and/or the consequences of not following their training (not following the script). It should also include one on one reviews of calls and goals as well as sales training that emphasizes new strate- gies, changes in procedures, sales contest, etc. If you are going to hold a contest you would be well served to focus your train- ing on the area of performance that the sales contest will cover.
Make sure that goals are set based on
the capabilities of the salesperson and their present level of experience. Make sure the employee can readily see how they are performing during the work day, week and month.
CBCDashboard and CBC support salvage and recycling business owners to improve and grow through PRP Profit Teams, Inde-
pendent Owners’ Groups, On-Site Consulting, and Online Consulting using CBCDashboard: personnel, buying, in- ventory, income, sales activity, operations, and financials. Contact Chad Counts at (512) 963-4626 and Robert Counts at (512) 653-6915. Visit
www.cbcdashboard.com and
www.countsbusinessconsulting.com.
November-December 2016 | Automotive Recycling 29
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