Dealer Consultants

First day of training — Part 1

Steve LemcoEditor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series about hiring salespeople. In this blog, Steve Lemco explains how the first day of sales training should be handled.

Once everyone is sat down, and you are ready to begin the class, I suggest thanking everyone for taking the chance of getting hired. Tell them that you feel they are all winners, and you wish you could hire them all. Then I would once again go over the cut and hiring process.

Cutting people is the worst part of this procedure, but you have been up front about it, and if you do a good job at training then, everyone will get their days’ worth.

Let’s say that you want to hire five new salespeople. The way I explain the first cut is to let them know that at the end of the day you will call out 10 names to return for 2 more days of training. (I always invite back twice as many as I plan to hire.)

After I have called out the names, everyone not called will get up and leave the building. I tell them that I will not explain my reasons for the cut. I won’t answer questions like, “What did I do wrong?” or “What could of I done better?” I make everyone raise their right hand and promise if they are not selected they will take it gracefully and go home without any questions. For the most part, they always do as they promised.

After five minutes the 10 people whose names were called will return back to the training room for instructions for the next two days. By doing it this way you can and will avoid some unpleasant explanations, but sometimes you do get someone who hangs around to talk to you about the decision not to select them.

Many times this person impresses me. They were told no, but they decided to take another swing at it. All in all this is one of the top qualities of being a top salesperson. Sometimes I stick to my guns and explain my decision as delectably as possible, but often I invite them back to the next two days of training. I would say that 50 percent of the time they make the final cut and end up getting hired.

Another thing I like to let them know in the beginning of the first day of training is that they will be doing some role-plays in front of the class. This frightens a few people, and they will go home after the first break. Another reason people give up is because they look around the room and feel that there is no way that you will pick them.

Normally I lose two to four people at the first break. This is good. If they lack the confidence in themselves, I want them to give up. Better that than cutting them. Or worse yet, they faked their way through the class, and you selected them to start, and they quit in a week or so.

I always suggest hiring one or two more people than you want to start on the floor. In 30 years of doing this hiring and training procedure I have found that one out of three people hired will not be there in 30 days for one reason or another. Another cool thing is, if you need more people, you have five additional people who went through the three days of training to select from.

Click on the headlines below to read the previous blogs in this series.

  1. Hiring the right salespeople is the key to increasing sales
  2. Taking the incoming call from potential salespeople
  3. Preparing for sales training

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.


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Contact: stevelemco@aol.com

Website: www.stevelemco.com

Phone: 253/826-6110

 

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