How long do you keep a new employee before letting him go ?

I had a manager say to me sales people should be able to sell cars in a week or ten days, A lot of dealerships don't give the new sales rep time to learn. If a sales rep sells 8 to 10 or more a month , that is ok to start. So how much time do you give them to learn? My answer is 20 months. You hardly get repeats in the first year and can get some referrals if you follow up and keep prospecting. You have to memorize the product , closing techniques , phone techniques , steps of a sale and so much more . I would rather keep a new person with a positive attitude and learning compared to an old fart that sells 11 every month.

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Comment by Noel Walsh on September 25, 2011 at 9:49pm: Fran, well said. It is hard to find decent employees, let alone good sales people. If you had the faith to hire them, then you should give them the ability to grow and give them training and a true shot before you let them go.

Comment by Fran Taylor on September 21, 2011 at 10:36am: I agree Stephanie . When a manager says we need more aggressive people the first thing I think of is how much training are they getting. To me it's not always the sales rep but how are they trained and are the managers giving them enough time to get it. That's why they have Rookie of the year awards and not 90 day awards instead.Thank you my friend and best of luck to you.

Comment by Stephanie Young on September 21, 2011 at 10:19am: Just like there is a sales cycle with a time line, there is a learning curve with its own time line. If you try and skip steps in sales cycle, you know the outcome is poor. A learning curve follows the same pattern.

Comment by Fran Taylor on September 21, 2011 at 9:20am: Chip training doesn't cost you any thing unless it's bad training. Little or no training means the dealer has no choice but to advertise and hope someone sells cars. There are dealers that have meetings but don't do training. Same results. The Yankees do training every day and so does the guys at the bottom of the league . Managers and the people who do the training is a big factor. Some of the rookies set on the bench for a year or so. They give them time to learn and we should do the same with the new sales reps. Thanks my friend.

Comment by Chip King on September 21, 2011 at 8:46am: Ouch! Daily training should not be optional--as Grant Cardone said in the ALR this weekend, what do you think Derek Jeter is doing today? He is taking batting practice specific to the pitcher he faces tonight....whether he wants to or not!

Comment by Fran Taylor on September 21, 2011 at 8:38am: Agreed Chip. I see it all the time. The new guy gets hammered to sell, sell and they leave the old pro alone who has been selling for 10 years and sells 11 a month. Any good manager knows it takes time to develop someone. The key is training and accountability . If the old guy keeps selling 11 there is little accountability and the new guy has a hard road ahead. When I sold cars we had training every day. Not many stores do that any more. This hurts the dealership and especially the new people. Thanks Chip.

Comment by Chip King on September 21, 2011 at 8:29am: So much depends on the culture and leadership at the dealership, I think this is a hard one to make universal---

How many times have we seen the "natural" hit the ground running and sell everyone he speaks to until the real trainers--the mediocre veterans, train them how to qualify? We owe the new folks the best in training, and the best working environment to be sure we are not training for the next dealership.

I agree we need to allow the time to learn, but I would add that a sales floor with a sharing culture, who's leadership fosters a spirit of excellence in both customer and employee experience will separate themselves from the rest of the market.