Today, we're diving into what motivates a sales team and how you can leverage purpose, direction, and targeted motivation to push your team to new heights. There's a massive opportunity in the industry to bring forth significant change, rebuild teams around market trends, and take advantage of inventory and market demand. Whether you're looking to get your current team back on track or build a new team of fresh salespeople, these principles will set you up for success.
Establish a Clear Purpose
Success is systematic and intentional; it's never earned but kept and progressed. To lead a team to success, you must first give them a stated and deliberate purpose.
Define Your Mission: Clearly articulate what the dealership stands for and what you aim to achieve. Make it specific and relatable.
Set Clear Expectations: Communicate your sales targets, the consequences of not meeting them, and the rewards for achieving them. For example, "Our job is to sell X cars per month. We'll celebrate with [specific reward] if we meet this target. If not, we'll need to [specific consequence]."
Provide Memorable and Energetic Direction
Sales are challenging, and the hardest part is finding your why and digging deep every day to show up, perform, and fail over and over until you get it right. Some ways to help with this are:
Daily Motivation Meetings: Start each day with a brief, energetic meeting. Share success stories, recognize achievements, and set the tone for the day.
Best Practices Workshops: Conduct workshops regularly to share best practices and new techniques. Make these sessions interactive and engaging.
Consistent Follow-Up: Implement a system for daily check-ins to ensure everyone is on track and to offer support where needed.
Targeted Motivation
It is crucial to keep your team involved, maintain their attention and energy high, and retain a team that speaks the same language and adopts your culture.
Individual Motivators: Find out what makes each team member tick. For some, it's financial incentives; for others, it might be recognition or career advancement.
Personalized Incentives: Offer customized incentives based on individual motivators. For example, offer a bonus structure for someone driven by financial gain or provide mentorship opportunities for someone seeking career growth.
Team Building Activities: Organize regular team-building activities to foster community and shared purpose.
Seize the Opportunity in a Down Market
A down market allows a change agent and game-changer to step in, develop a phenomenal team, and restructure from within.
Market Analysis: Regularly analyze market trends and share insights with your team. This will help them see the bigger picture and identify opportunities.
Flexible Strategies: Encourage flexibility in sales strategies to adapt to changing market conditions. Promote creative solutions and out-of-the-box thinking.
Restructure and Train: Use slower periods to focus on training and restructuring. Implement new processes and build from within to strengthen your team's foundation.
Addressing Current Issues in Dealerships
Many dealerships lack a Champion who will take the reins in building a motivated team. Picking a desk job and sticking your face into a computer screen does not move your inventory. Instead, do this:
Active Leadership: Be the leader who sets the example. Get out from behind the desk and actively engage with your team.
Push for Performance: Motivate your team to strive for excellence. Too often, we train dealers at LotWalk who have an 85% or higher LotReady, average 2-3 leads per car, and a large percentage of the inventory having leads but sell less than 100% of their inventory per month. This happens because no one is pushing, motivating, and building a culture of follow-up, lead management, and appointment setting.
Build a Culture of Follow-Up: Ensure that follow-up, lead management, and appointment setting are integral parts of your dealership's culture. Your sales staff is the heartbeat and backbone of the dealership, and they need a Champion, a leader who will set the standard and be willing to do what is needed to make them great.
The most significant need in the market right now is training! Those around pre-COVID are the gatekeepers to success. Technology is great, but navigating people and sales is a skill set that can only be done with the human element. Invest in your salespeople and provide them with world-class sales training that will give them the confidence to handle your investment, time, and effort, ultimately giving you an ROI sooner rather than later.
On average, a new salesperson with less than a year in the business without training costs a dealer $130K monthly, with a return of $16K—$20K. Why not invest a small fraction to cut your investment curve and loss by giving them training that sticks and gives them purpose?
Purpose, direction, and targeted motivation are the keys to building a successful sales team. By defining a clear mission, providing energetic direction, and targeting motivation, you can push your team to new heights. The current market presents a unique opportunity to rebuild and innovate. So, take these actionable steps, and let's make your sales team champions!
-Amid Jones
Training Specialist
Lotpop Inc.
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