LET EM GO it’s not Disney
When it comes to personnel it is not always “happily ever after” and that is ok. Of course, we would like it to be just like Disney but that just isn’t reality. As a manager, I believe that our first responsibility is to our personnel. More often than not we fail our people before they fail us. When hiring a new person in sales we should have a detailed plan for their success. That does not consist of having a veteran salesperson shadow them for a few days or week and hope they catch on. We have to adopt that new salesperson and invest in their success. Why? Because ultimately our success depends on it. Never subscribe to the theory of let’s see if he or she can make it first before we order business cards or invest in training. Think more about those things in the interview process before hiring a new person. Only hire those that you are convinced can be successful in your organization and be prepared to make a commitment to them to reach that success. Building the right team is not an overnight process and patience is a must. It is better to be short handed for a season than to acquire the wrong people. Which brings me to my next point:
It is a two-way street. Once we have exhausted every effort to ensure success and we see no fruit from that investment, it is time to cut them off like a gangrene leg. Learn everything you can from the experience and make the necessary adjustments to better help the next person and your dealership. When it comes to veterans exercise the “blind eye of justice” meaning that tenure is not what this business is about. It’s about performance. If we have built our team properly the veterans will be less “maintenance” and the backbone of our sales FORCE while poised for advancement. If that is not the case the veteran can be the biggest cancer that the dealership supports. Remember, this is business and the veteran would not be around if the checks were not cashing. Don’t let the ship go down to protect anyone’s feelings or even livelihood. LET EM GO it’s not Disney!
Dave Cribbs @deskingdeals
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