My Thoughts Exactly—June 2010

By Gary Tilkin,

CEO and Founder of Gary Tilkin Consultants, Inc.

Author of the “Professional for Life™ Sales and Management Development Series”

Introduction:

Every month I have five or more retail associates, business owners and retail dealerships say to me; “Gary, we need Sales Training.” Since this is one of many ways I produces sales and therefore gross profit for my “Performance Improvement” company, I listen intently.  My mind and logic wants me to respond enthusiastically; “Of course you need Sales Training and my organization is just the solution for you.J” My heart and conscience tells me to educate these individuals on the reality of their complex request. Simply stated, “Yes, you need Sales Training, but it is NOT the first step, EVER.” 

However, if I tell “the whole truth and nothing but the truth”, I am providing good information for the customer; but, I may lose the opportunity of doing any work for them. If I don’t educate them completely upfront, I only have the client for 6-8 months and frustration sets in for me as well as them. If it is not going to create improved business outcomes, WHY WASTE THE TIME, EFFORT AND MONEY?!!! This article address some issues to consider before you conclude that sales training is the ONLY answer.

All “Process and Procedures” Should Be In Writing:

If your current training/development program is not in writing, hiring a sales trainer will simply create contradictions of how your management team wants to deal with each retail opportunity. It also creates a very difficult environment for hiring new sales associates with no past retail experience. Why you might ask? Because there is no consistent way to educate and develop new (and existing) associates.

Most dealerships have management teams that came from different organizations and a melting pot of cultures. Each manager has their own RIGHT AND ONLY way and terminology for how they want a sales consultant to process a given transaction. Even at McDonalds™, the organization has a written “Process and Procedures” written manual for things as mundane as how to flip a burger. They sell $1.00 burgers and we sell $30,000.00 vehicles. The result of developing a firm foundation  in writing is a consistent and repeatable approach that creates a consistent and repeatable product.  (A Big Mac may not be a very good burger, but each one is not very good in exactly the same way.)

ACTION NEEDED: Make sure your training is in writing and that it includes ProTrack™ (Scripts) on how to respond to client wants, needs and motives throughout the sales process. Highlight commonly occurring client concerns and “Practice, Drill and Rehearse” the  ProTrack™ so the staff is more confident when these situations should arise in the future.

I Am the Manager, Do As I Say, Not As I Do:

Why train sales consultants if the managers have not internalized the materials being trained first? Logic tells us that if the managers are not committed to following the exact process, procedure and intent of the training program, all you will receive is a motivational talk from a very expensive facilitator. No lasting improvements result, and therefore training is a complete waste of time and resources. So, take the time and make the investment to train your managers first. Some hints, if you are serious. If you are the dealer or general manager, learn with your team. This lets them know you are serious about the commitment to create, improve, and participate in this developmental process. Constantly remind your entire staff that you insist on a consistent as well as repeatable sales process.  It’s really not dissimilar to a Head Coach of a football team.

The real issue is lack of commitment to internalize the sales training and structure as part of your dealership’s culture.  The words used, the approaches outlined, and the skills trained need to be “Practiced, Drilled and Rehearsed” by the sales and management team daily, with the goal of internalization.  It would be a darn shame if only the sales consultants were asked to learn and execute the approach. Ask yourself, how long would that last?

ACTION NEEDED: Train the management team first including , and especially the General Manager and Dealer.  The training should start with how to manage any new “Process and Procedure”.  This should be followed by not just learning, but internalizing the sales process program completely. The management training should include role-play and testing. We are not fooling around here, our future results depend on commitment and internalization.  Remember, this key focus:

“A manager’s job is to get their associates to act and react properly (Proper Business Behavior), therefore the manager must be crystal clear on what ‘proper’ looks like.”

Stay True To Your Organizational Culture OR Change It:

While the management development is going on, the management team needs to let the facilitator know what aspects of the sales process development program are unacceptable for your associates. Eliminate those skills, techniques and philosophies from your final written training manual. The worst mistake I have ever seen is an organization that hires a training company to develop their sales consultants and the manager(s) does not attend the training.  This happens a lot with Manufacture Based Training.  The sales consultant comes back from the class and begins to use the technique learned.  The management team asks the sales consultant what they are doing. They respond what they learned in class. The management response is “we don’t do that here”. The training program is now completely ineffective, and therefore a waste of time, effort and money. 

ACTION NEEDED: If there are words, phrases, tags and approaches you want in your training, insist the Facilitator stay true to those cultural items.  If you have a vision or mission statement, it should be emphasized with every training class. The actual and finalized training manual should have your logo, not the trainer’s company logo, so the message sent is clear that the concepts and skills taught are the way your organization does business.

Train Veterans Before New Hires:

First select a performance improvement company that can handle your veteran sales consultants professionally. These associates are often overly confident in their past methods and believe no one can develop them because they know so much (I include management team members in this fraternity). They tend to feel like they should be the facilitator, because they are SO great at what they do. They also tend to be very “ego driven”. It takes a highly skilled facilitator to balance this with an end result of mutual respect and internalization of the materials given. Once the veterans are or close to being trained, then put together a group of new hires.

Please remember that the veteran sales forces are more influential trainers than any of us.  We train the new hires and they do GREAT for 90 days. They sell vehicles at sticker and follow our client communication plan perfectly. They follow-up, make appointments and prospect daily.  However, whether consciously or unconsciously, our veteran sales staff serves as mentors to new hires, and the processes and procedures the current staff uses will be mimicked by newer hires at some point.

ACTION NEEDED: Unless your newly hired sales associates training needs are urgent, train the veterans first. “Do a little, not a lot” at any given time, and make sure you have developed your management team first. The classes should be one full day at a time, with the same subject covered for two consecutive days.  This allows for half your sales force and management team to be trained on day one, with the other half on day two. Make sure each class has management attending and that ALL managers attend the training during one of the two days. The third day should be a consulting day with the General Manager and/or Dealer observing transactions being done as trained in class. The managers should participate with the facilitator during the training event, so in the future they can support the materials on their own.

Plan a one full week training class for new hires four to six month after you have begun developing the veterans. The result is the veterans see this approach is not a passing fancy and understand that they need to internalize as well as execute consistently or their career paths maybe effected.

 

“Do I Need Sales Training?”  Of course you do.  But that’s not the first or most important step to developing the sales staff.  First, you need your organization’s policies and procedures in writing, with managers and veteran sales staff on board.  Then you can incorporate new staff into the team with a greater chance of long-term success, both for the individuals, as well as for the team, and the dealership.

Now, I have a question for all of you.

Do You Really Need ONLY Sales Training?