As the economy improves and everyone looks to increase market share, dealers are struggling to take advantage because they can’t find enough good salespeople.  As a result, the customer experience suffers, guests are not logged into the CRM, and sales opportunities are missed.  But there are 3 places where good salespeople can be found:

1) YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA

If you are seeking a younger, more technologically advanced salesperson you have to go where they are – online.  Whether on craigslist, Career Builder, facebook, or other social media sites, your message has to stand out.  Advertise for a customer service representative or product specialist like this:

SEEKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES

Women and Men – College degree preferred

• 40 to 45 hour work week

• Medical/Dental/401(k) benefits

• Paid training

• Compensation averages $40-50,000 annually

Of course, pay plans and operating philosophy have to agree with your ad.  For a selection of sample pay plans, send an email to bbowers@thenextup.com with “PAY PLAN” in the subject.

2) YOUR CUSTOMER BASE

Customers who bought and service at the dealership are a great resource for recruiting new hires. 
You can utilize them by:

• Prominently displaying a “NOW HIRING” button on your website home page or your service appointment page

• Place a life-size image of a female sales associate holding a “NOW HIRING” sign in your customer lounge

• Post in your newsletter or on your facebook page: “If you liked buying from us, you’ll LOVE working with us – NOW HIRING”

3) YOUR SHOWROOM

You have excellent salespeople, the question is how to make them more productive.  The answer is to close the floor.  A few things happen when a store converts their showroom from an open floor to a closed floor.  In a closed floor scenario, the sales representatives are put into an online queue and alerted when it’s their turn on the floor. The remainder of the sales rep’s time can be spent following up with prospects and creating lifetime value for each customer.  There are many benefits to a closed floor:

• A consistent, equal approach to how traffic is handled.  When reps are placed in a consistent, fair rotation they can schedule their day more effectively.

• Follow-up becomes just as important as the sale.  If a salesperson is at the bottom of the rotation, they have confidence that they have the time to follow up with prospects versus missing out on the next up who walks in the door.

• A closed system enables managers to better determine the success of their sales reps.  Maybe one of the less aggressive sales reps has the best closing ratio and just needs more opportunities to be at the top of the sales board.  With an open system, a manager doesn’t know if a sales rep sold 15 units because he talked to 100 guests or because he better managed 50.

• A closed floor system provides an immediate increase in the perceived value of a customer.  When a salesperson knows they will cycle to the bottom of the rotation by dropping a guest, they will treat that opportunity differently and are more likely to follow the proper steps to close a sale.

By changing your floor to a closed system, sales reps know that they won’t be able to burn through showroom traffic.  They’ll see they have to depend on follow-up and cultivating the business they do have to sell more vehicles.  The result is not only more names and numbers in the CRM system, but more sales in your showroom.

Utilizing the Next Up technology, a dealer recently went from test driving 56% of guests to 82%.  Their closing ratio increased from 19% to 30%, and the average units sold per person went from 10 to 13!

If you need or want information, visit www.thenextup.com or call 866.673.1230