-by Sally Whitesell for AutoSuccess Magazine

Is your top performer good enough to set the standard for your entire department? If everyone settles for reaching that advisor’s performance level, will your store truly be great?

If having all of your advisors step up to your top performer's level is your dream come true, you need to dream bigger!

You need a plan to reach a level beyond your wildest dreams.

In the book “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, the author states, “If we settle for good enough, it will become impossible to be great”! Isn't this true in all aspects of our career? One might be considered the best at one moment, only to be overtaken by someone the next.

Walmart versus Amazon is the perfect example of the need to constantly strive to stay on top. It would have been easy for Walmart to get stuck in the "good enough" rut. Yet they understood that someone else (Amazon) was on their heels. Walmart has “beefed up their online offerings to compete,” according to Business Insider.¹ This drive and competition keeps both of these companies on top.

We need to challenge our teams to that same level of competition. I speak to Service Managers weekly that tell me they are “doing pretty good,” so they don’t want to invest in advisor training. This mindset puts your entire service department at the risk of becoming complacent. Sometimes they will even quote statistics on manufacturers averages as if these are "good enough." Should you settle for being an average store according to average standards? This thinking will be followed by average profits.

Being great is not a matter of circumstance. It is a conscious choice. Once you have decided to strive for greatness, it’s important to promote it throughout your department. Don’t approach it as “How I am going to be great?” but rather, “How are we all going to work together to be great?” Good leaders and team players put egos aside.  

Assist your team in achieving greatness.

Once your service team understands that the standard is greatness, hold individual meetings to discuss each person’s professional and personal goals.

Their professional goals may be to hit a CSI bonus or sell more customer pay. Others may need to see a clear path to a promotion. Often I work with advisors who are talented and capable but feel stuck because their managers only focus on numbers instead of mentoring them to excel in the company and move down a career path.

After exploring your advisors’ professional goals, find out about personal goals. These should not be confused with their financial obligations. Personal goals are about their dreams and passions. What do they want but won’t achieve at the level they are performing at right now? Is it a motorcycle, a new home, a vacation? Find out what it is, and what it will take to motivate them to reach their goal.

Here are a few questions to get the process started.

1. What is their personal goal?
2. How much does it cost?
3. How much more do they need sell each month, week, day, or ticket to achieve their goal?
4. In which areas do they need to focus to achieve their goal as well as your team’s goal for greatness?

• Greeting
• Walk-around
• Rapport building
• Personalized benefit-based presentations
• Closing skills
• Selling repair work
• Promise times
• Follow-up
• Active deliveries

Let each advisor be a part of this important self-evaluation and let them help do the math. Together you will form a plan to help them improve in the areas they’ve identified. This is also a fantastic opportunity to discuss upcoming promotions and sales incentives. In order for them to be successful, it’s important that they have consistent training and a clear process to follow on the drive.

Finally, hold a team meeting where everyone can share their goals. Encourage them to help each other with coaching and role-playing. Monitor their progress with daily reports and hold fun competitions in order to increase their desire for success.

Have you been settling for “good enough?” Isn’t it time to promote greatness in your store? It’s time to motivate your team to reach their “great” potential!

¹ http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-walmart-online-shopping-compa...

Sally Whitesell is President of sw Service Solutions, which offers in-store training nationwide and Fixed Ops University; engaging online training for managers and service advisors. Sally brings over 21 years of on-the-drive experience to her training, seminars and books, which include her highly sought after “What Drives Women?” program and her book, “Words That Sell Service.” And new for 2019: the ultimate sales tool: the sw Service Solutions Maximizing Menu.