Average is a term I think is often overused.  Average income, average performance, average height, age, etc.  But, when it comes to sales performance, what does average really mean.  For some it means the worst of the best.  For others, it's the best of the worst.  I'm from Jersey.  For me it's the "Cream of the Crap."  Average for me is doing just enough to stay out of trouble and under the radar.  And, if you are perfectly happy, there is nothing illegal about that.  However, you give up certain rights.

#1.  You can no longer complain about the floor traffic in your dealership.  Average sales people survive on floor traffic, but do little to increase it.  Therefore, you are at the mercy of the market.  When things are good, you'll rise to the middle of the pack.  When they are not so good, you'll sink to the bottom third.  I recommend you don't buy anything requiring long-term financing.

#2.  You can no longer accuse the top performers of:  "being lucky", "getting all the house deals", "managers always put more in their trades", and the like.  I recommend that you set your desk up so that you can no longer see what others are doing and take your name off the sales board so you don't get depressed.

#3.  You must never be around for payday.  Why put yourself through so much pain.  Ask for paydays off, stay in bed and drink cocoa while watching Oprah and soaps.

#4.  Never look at the inventory.  You and I both know that the reason for your performance is that management never puts enough in yoru trade-ins and when you do get a customer on one of the rare trades you took in, magically there is suddenly too much money in it.  You should only handle cash customers who already know what they want and how much they are going to pay - oh wait, that's already what you do.

#5.  You can never ask for help.  Every suggestion, idea, or training offered in your store is promptly filed under "been there - done that."  You have a habit of coming to work for the sole purpose of reinventing the wheel.  I recommend sending for the Inventors Information Kit on TV.  But read the disclaimer that tells you most inventions never succeed.

That's enough of that.

What has always bothered me as a sales manager and now even as a trainer, is that average has an easy solution.  Too many "average" sales people give up because they think that there is so much involved in becoming above average.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The simplest way to be above average is to do just one more thing than the average person is willing to do.  If the average number of sales in yoru dealership is 10 and you work to deliver 11, congratuations, you're above average.

Best of all, everytime you exceed average numbers, you raise the average of the entire dealership.  That means you're responsible for making your entire company a better place.  That's powerful.  The example you set for yourself can be repeated as often as you like.  I call it the shampoo formula.  Read the back of your hair care bottle.  It will say, "Lather, rinse, repeat as necessary."  Simple isn't it.  Success often is exactly that - simple solutions put into practice.

John Fuhrman is the Senior National Trainer for Carolina Automotive Resource Services, a unit of The Dealer Resource Group.  His ten books have reached 1.5 million readers and he has trained sales professionals around the world.  When your dealership needs amazing results hiring new people, visit http://www.thedealerresourcegroup.webs.com.   ATTENTION DEALERS:  VISIT OUR WEB SITE AND REGISTER TO KEEP UP ON MONTHLY TRAINING SAVING SPECIALS.  Our trainers are ready to show you our "WOW!" factor.  (c)2011 by John Fuhrman - Permission to reprint this post in its entirety, including contact information, is hereby granted.