Change your thinking to get quality sales reps. Have them come to you.

The people being interviewed are interviewing you too. So what do you have to offer that is better than the dealer down the street? You will never attract and keep good sales reps without having a good pay plan and training. We know the problem and here is how to fix it. Start with what you have. Pay bonuses on increases of productivity only. Pay on the increase and you never have to pay unless you make your money first. All departments should be envolved in this bonus.Whoever wins the bonus has an add in the paper saying thank you for helping me win a trip. A business size add is fine. Make sure there picture in in the add. You can send six people on a boat fishing for $700. A two day mini vacation some where is peanuts for what you get back. Have employee of the month in the paper as well. People like to be complimented. The key is to do this every month. In Texas we had three of the top sales reps come aboard along with one manager because we were different.

We now had the advantage of a bigger pool to choose from. We had quality trained people with a proven track record. They brought there following with them. Think of the cost of hiring a new sales rep and how much it cost you because of lack of knowledge. LOT"S. The small amount you pay to do this a is peanuts compared to conventional advertising. The whole dealership is involved.The only requirement we had is the winners had to bring in a picture of the trip. In our FUN room [ not the conference room ] there was a sign that said, WHO IS NEXT.

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Comment by Fran Taylor on December 30, 2011 at 6:41am: A dealership has never sold anything. The people inside the dealership who do all the selling. So promote your people in the dealership. You never get hate mail for being nice. By promoting your people [ small adds in the paper ] who won the bonus is a way to telling the world how nice everyone is at the dealership. This actually slows down turn over and you have fewer problems because of better attitudes which is created by dealers doing this.

Comment by Fran Taylor on December 29, 2011 at 7:35pm: Good point. If you pay bonuses on the increase any person can win the bonuses. Therefor the little fish will take there turn eating more. Never pay a bonus for a sub par job. That doesn't mean you can't help someone who is really trying. If you have a great pay plan and bonuses you can expect more from your sales force.

Comment by lenny bello on December 29, 2011 at 7:11pm: one question mr taylor if you just feed your big fish how can you develope quality sales people when your big eat the small ones plus of those small ones may be you have a dimond in the rough that with the proper norishment he or she can develope into a big fish.

Comment by Fran Taylor on December 29, 2011 at 6:56pm: Thanks Lenny. As a manager feed the big fish because they end up eating the little ones. This process will get you the big players in time. A happy employee will outperform a unhappy one every time. You don't always have to give big bonuses all the time. Small ones work just well and you can do them more often . Thanks Kevin and Happy Holidays to all.

Comment by lenny bello on December 29, 2011 at 6:42pm: my 2 cents is appreciate the guy you have especially if he is a hard worker a guy that gives you a hundred percent all the time especially when times get tough for him the money part of the equation will always come around as long as you put a strong effort thats just my opinion icould be wrong. p.s. great article mr taylor

Comment by Fran Taylor on December 29, 2011 at 4:16pm: I was there when an office lady, technician , the lot guy , a sales rep and a manager won. The office lady was an automatic winner by employee of the month. The lot guy the manager said he earned it. All got picked up in a lime and taken to the horse track. They had dinner and a 100 bucks to spend. All this was less than $1000 cost to the dealer and he had a lot of happy campers spreading the word. The dealer said my employees are my number one customer. Treat them like a million and I will make two. Then they will treat all my outside customers like a million. This gentlemen taught me a lot and has 356 employees in one location. He also has several other locations. Who wouldn't want to work for a man that thinks and treats people like gold. One of the few dealerships I have ever worked for that had a waiting list for sales reps.

Comment by Kevin "Friend Me" Bradberry on December 29, 2011 at 3:44pm: Nice Contribution Fran. Hope you're Christmas and New Years is ROCKIN!