Without the best possible sales team at your dealership, it can’t possibly reach its full potential. You’ll always leave money on the table. While having some kind of auto dealership training isn’t a bad idea, it’s not enough to avoid this problem. Instead, you need to know how to bring in salespeople with the most potential before training ever begins.
3 Ways to Build the Best Possible Sales Team at Your Dealership
1. Hire for Attitude – Train for Skill
You’ve probably heard some version of this famous expression when it comes to making the right hiring decisions.
Now, this isn’t always
For example, when hiring salespeople, you want to make sure that any candidate you consider can sell.
The last thing you want to do when hiring someone to sell a big-ticket item like vehicles is choosing someone who’s never sold so much as a t-shirt before. Saying you’ll have your work cut out for you is an understatement.
Ideally, you want to hire someone who has experience selling automobiles.
However, don’t assume that someone who “knows cars” is going to automatically succeed at selling them. Someone with only an average level of knowledge about vehicles can become one of your highest performers provided they have experience with sales and the right attitude.
2. Honesty and Integrity
Although this may seem like a no-brainer, it’s so important that it still merits mention. Anyone who sells vehicles at your dealership will be a representative of your business.
If they lie or are in any way dishonest about a vehicle, sales package, or F&I product, the bad publicity you will receive could be enough to make a noticeable dent in your bottom line – maybe worse.
Unfortunately, you can’t teach people how to be decent human beings in your auto dealership training.
Instead, make sure you focus on their honesty and integrity during their interview. Look for any signs they are exaggerating or avoiding any answers that may cast them in a bad light. If they’ll do this to win a job, why wouldn’t they do this to sell a vehicle?
3. Commitment
So, although customer-loyalty is always a hot topic in this industry, employee loyalty may be just as important to your dealership’s future. Interviewing for employee-loyalty involves asking questions like:
- What made you apply at this dealership?
- Why are you passionate about car sales?
- What do you look for most in a job like this?
Don’t Depend Too Heavily on Your Auto Dealership Training
As we mentioned earlier, there are certain things you can’t teach your employees at auto dealership training.
While some training may still be necessary, focus on hiring the best possible people first – using the advice above – and you’ll have a much easier time populating your dealership with a staff of high-quality salespeople.