“The price of education is far less than the cost of ignorance.”
Though people from other industries sometimes don’t agree, the car business is very unique. Most often when people try to bring solutions to this business that are successful in other businesses, the solutions simply do not work.
Most dealers would agree that years ago when you needed to hire a salesperson, it was because you had one who was retiring who was with you for 15 or 20 years. Replacing him meant recruiting another career person who was successful at a competing store or who was a successful salesperson in another industry.
Times have changed. People change jobs more often. It is estimated that today’s college graduate will have at least four jobs before he is 25, and 80% of the population will have three or more career changes throughout their working life. As a dealer, your task has changed from having to hire very rarely (when you did hire someone with the skill set necessary to get the job done) to the task of being in the full time interviewing/hiring process which is very expensive.
In today’s business climate, old methods of hiring must improve. For many years, people have depended upon their own personal interviewing skills to determine whether or not they should hire an applicant. These interview techniques are no longer efficient or effective. How do you get out of this vicious cycle?
First, recognize that you must train the people you hire. One dealer told me that he did not believe in training because when the salesperson stopped training, his training dollar went out the window. That is like saying that when a radio spot stops running your ad, your ad dollar is gone out the window.
“The price of education is far less than the cost of ignorance.” There is a fallacy regarding the hiring of experienced people – The place they came from didn’t train them either so what is their experience?
Second, embrace the idea that people will leave and you will have to replace them which is why you need to train them in a cost effective, time efficient manor. Once you start training, you will have a lot less turnover.
Third, hire the right people. Don’t wing it. A salesperson should have a process to use when selling a car which includes memorizing a dialog and a list of very important qualifying questions. The same is true of a manager going into an interview. We at Patrick Davis & Associates have exactly what you need.
The PD&A Hiring process will save your organization a lot of money. Screening out undesirable applicants during the interviewing process is much simpler than having to deal with the lost sales, wasted advertising dollars, and ill will created by hiring the wrong people.
About the Test
It is the nation’s most efficient and cost effective pre-employment testing instrument available for car dealers. The test consists of 10 questions the answers to these test results will tell you if your applicant has what it takes to sell cars. It will also indicate the likelihood of a job hopper. This package also includes everything your managers need to know about the hiring process including every statement you should make and every question you should ask to get through the entire hiring process including both the first and the second interview.
This process was developed by Patrick Davis using information gathered in both his on-hands experience in automotive retail management, the written works of some of the most brilliant authors specializing in human resources, and the techniques used in some of the most widely accepted personality profiling tools including DISC.
Patrick Davis has developed this specialized test to help car dealers screen out undesirable applicants. Such applicants may exhibit uncooperative and unruly attitudes toward fellow employees, customers, or managers costing a dealer both time and money. Patrick provides clients with an evaluation system that reports an applicant’s potential counterproductive behavior or job performance due to low moral, lost ad dollars and ill will created within the community and lost sales. Clients save money by avoiding time consuming interviews for unsuitable applicants.
Leaving gets easier every time you do it. Have you ever noticed that if a salesperson is hired straight into the business trained properly and is subsequently successful that person is not likely to ever leave that dealership?
Save your money by hiring salespeople who will make it
Did you know that 46% of newly-hired employees will be terminated within 18 months and only 19% will succeed? Don’t be a part of the statistics; use the hiring process developed by Patrick Davis specifically for the automotive dealers to most effectively screen salespeople and managers. This low cost hiring process is priced at only a fraction of the cost of poor hiring decisions and turnover.
Research shows that when you hire a salesperson with a strong work ethic, a positive attitude, and a willingness to learn, then they will meet the expectations you have of them. They will be more productive and you will be more productive.
Why the high failure rate with salespeople
When asked, most managers will tell you their employees have a very clear understanding of what is expected of them; however, when surveyed separately, each employee will give you a different set of expectations.
Hiring a sales force with a strong work ethic, a willingness to learn, and a positive attitude allows you to keep your company productive and profitable. That’s why many dealers are abandoning the traditional “just wing it” style interviews as well as the one size fits all personality profiling to find and hire the salespeople it takes to operate a successful car dealership. These dealers are using a pre-employment screening process developed by Patrick Davis, which will weed out undesirable candidates which saves them both time and money.
Our powerful behavioral interviewing hiring packages are in high demand with car dealers all over the US. Here is what they include:
- Effective behavioral interview questions
- Advanced behavioral interview techniques designed to help you identify the most qualified candidates
- The tools you need to build a solid evaluation and selection strategy
- The preparation and groundwork for conduction effective structured interviews
- Management interviewing processes that when used guarantee an improvement to your bottom-line via productive hires
The price of education is far less than the cost of ignorance.
In today’s world, hiring and training are one in the same for successful car dealers. When shopping for prospective employees, you only have two choices: someone who has been in the business for a while or someone who hasn’t. Ask yourself two questions. If a salesperson was good at what he did, why would he leave the dealership he is at? We can make a list a mile long, but let’s face the facts. If he were good, he wouldn’t be leaving! Successful salespeople don’t move from store to store. Why isn’t he any good? Either he has never been trained or he won’t consistently do what he has been trained to do. Either way, you are left with three choices:
- Hire a guy who has never been properly trained and train him
- Hire a guy who has never sold cars and train him
- Hire a guy who does not consistently do what he has been trained to do for one reason or another. He will leave you for the same reasons he left the last place whether on his own accord, or because you ask him to. Either way, rest assured when a good dealer (one who trains) meets a good salesperson (one who consistently does what he has been taught) meet, they stay together.
I, like most, wasn’t offered much training from the dealers I worked for; however, Gary Wagner did offer me one piece of advice on interviewing that turned out to be very true. Gary said, “When you are interviewing someone, remember they are probably at their peak. In other words, this is the best they will ever dress, speak, or listen. You are probably seeing the brightest smile they have. They most likely look and act better now than they ever will again as long as they work for you.
Even though he sounded cynical I found a way to take advantage of his cynicism. I will gladly show you the same thing. I will show you how to turn their eagerness to get hired into motivation and manageability, that will not only increase the number of years that they work for you, but also increase then number of cars they sell during that time, and have a positive impact on their overall value as an employee that lasts that entire time.
Most employees do not posses the interpersonal skills necessary to accept feedback and manage their emotions, motivation, attitude and temperament, which contributes greatly to there failure. However, if a manager properly sets the stage during the interview process, all of these negative attributes that the salesperson would normally bring with him into your organization can be alleviated before day one.
82% of all managers conducting interviews admit to lacking in their interviewing skills. If employees are not prepared in a positive and inspiring way to be open to feedback and improvement.
How can you expect them to succeed?