Dealer Consultants

First day of training — Part 2

Steve LemcoEditor’s Note: This is the fifth in a series about hiring salespeople. In this blog, Steve Lemco explains how to start evaluating sales candidates. 

I like to talk for about 15 minutes before I have the classroom of candidates introduce themselves. I go over a few things first about myself, the dealership and some of simplicities of sales. Things like we don’t have to lie, cheat, or steal from customers. We have an awesome product, reasonably priced with super financing. We don’t need to lie, cheat, or steal. I feel if a salesperson would do that to a customer, he most certainly will do the same to the dealership.

I like to let them know the heartbeat of sales. Selling is pretty much about two things. If they master these two things they will have great success in sales.

1. What you want a customer to know, you must tell him.

2. What you want to find out from a customer you must ask.

Selling is about the art of properly exchanging information. It is the surest way to gain a customer’s trust, respect and friendship. Knowing what to say and when to say it is, of course, very important. But just as important, or possibly even more important, is to know when to keep quiet and listen.

The customer is chalk full of wants, desires and dreams. We most certainly want them to tap into their mind’s eye and tell us all about them, especially when they are standing next to their dream bike or, preferably, sitting on it.

When I feel like the class has settled in, I take a roll count. When they made the decision to come to class after the interview at the dealership, I put their name in a notebook. The first person entered was told his number is 1. The second person entered is number 2 and so forth. When the time comes to make comments in your notes about one of the candidates, it is so much easier to find someone in a numerical order than by a last name.

Once I have pulled out the names of the people who did not show up from my notebook, I have the members of the class introduce themselves one at a time and telling me their numbers. I also ask them to tell me why they want to be in sales. I give them about one minute to give their answers. There are times that I have to cut someone off as gracefully as possible as there are normally 35 people or so waiting their turn. But then again, we do want good talkers. When I get one, I am hoping he is a good listener too.

I open my book and find their numbers and listen and watch as they are speaking. If they did a good job, I give them a + mark. If it was an average introduction ,they don’t get a mark. If I was unimpressed, I give them a minus mark.

At the end of the day, when I am going to make the first cut, I add a point to their score for each + mark they got. I subtract a point for each minus mark they got.

Again, going on the assumption that you are looking to hire five new salespeople, the top 10 scores are invited back for the next two days of training.

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Now that the introductions have been made, it is time to begin the sales training. In the next several blogs I will be outlining the steps I make to build up to the sale and a very happy customer.

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
  4. First day of training — Part 1

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

Website: www.stevelemco.com

Phone: 253/826-6110

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