Dealer Consultants

Preparing for sales training

Steve LemcoEditor’s Note: This is the third in a series about hiring salespeople. In this blog, Steve Lemco advises dealerships on how to prepare for pre-hire sales training. 

Normally I start the first day of training with 35 candidates. I know going in that each one of the men and women there would love to be a salesperson at the dealership that I am hiring and training for.

I am impressed that so many people would take a chance on being selected. The odds are against them, but they still took their turn at bat. They are willing to risk striking out in order to maybe get a hit and get hired. This is a good beginning.

I like to have coffee and doughnuts at 8:30 a.m. and begin the class at 9. I also feel the dealership should provide lunch. They gave us their day. We can give them a meal. Besides, it keeps everyone at the dealership. This is very important to me. I keep an eye and ear out to see how the people mingle. Who is loud and boastful? They will probably make you crazy if you hire them. Who is timid and shy? They probably would not last long if they did get hired. I usually cut a couple of people in my mind just from watching them at lunch.

I also pay attention to who sits in front of the class and who sits in the back. This can let me know what they think of themselves. It’s not always true, and I have hired many people who sat in the back, but it is a good indicator.

When they are sat down, and we are ready to begin the class, I remind them of what I told them on the interview phone call of how the selection process is going to go.

I normally cut the class at the end of the first day to twice the number the dealership wants to hire. After lunch on the third day of training, the survivors get another 10 minute interview normally with the owner, sales manage and myself. After the interviewee leaves, the three of us score her or her on a 1-4 basis. The top scores get selected.

The beauty of this is that not everyone who gets selected will be working there within 30 days. It’s not all bad as you had the extra people still available who did not make the final cut but did go through the entire training process. Many times one of those people became top salesman and promoted to management. You do your best to select the best people, but you really don’t know someone until you live with them.

In my next three articles, I will go over the highlights of what I do each day of training. I do my best to make the class fun to learn. I feel this is a must in order to keep their attention from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. It can be a long day or a short one; it just depends on how the class is run.

It is not just a matter of explaining the sales process. It is a matter of them understanding the sales process. Boring sucks and makes it very hard to learn. So relax and have fun with the training or give me a call, and I will do it.

Steve Lemco is the youngest brother of the late Ed Lemco and has been doing sales training and hiring for motorcycle dealers since 1983. He is the author of two sales books, the new “Motorcycle Sales Made Easy” and “You Gotta-Wanna.” Steve has trained in every state in the U.S., as well as England, France, Australia and New Zealand. Steve incorporates motivational boards and games along with his training and hiring because he believes the best way to get the job done is to make it fun.


Contact: stevelemco@aol.com

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Website: www.stevelemco.com

Phone: 253/826-6110

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