One of the things that puzzle people in the auto dealership business is why general managers and general sales managers think that their sales teams will always have low productivity and high turnover because of it. Research has shown that the Pareto principle can be applied to salespeople so that 20% of all salespeople make 80% of all sales. That means that 80% of the sales team fights over the 20% of business that the best salespeople don't bring in.
With so many salespeople trying to get a piece of such a small pie, it's clear that the turnover rate is very high. But many auto dealer executives are willing to accept the never-ending costs of finding, hiring, and training a steady stream of new salespeople as a cost of doing business. Instead, they should realize that bad hiring practices are to blame for the low sales productivity and high turnover in the industry.
Research has shown that emotional intelligence is much more important than IQ or personality traits for success in the workplace. It makes up 80% of the most important skills needed for success in the workplace. Emotional intelligence (EI) has been a popular topic in business for a number of years. By definition, EI is a person's ability to notice and control their own and other people's emotions. In real life, it means being able to understand how our emotions and the emotions of others affect what we do and how well we do it.
There is no better place to use EI than in sales. A recent study by the Hay/McBer firm in Boston of Fortune 500 companies like AT&T, IBM, and PepsiCo found that the top 10 percent of sales teams made nearly $6.7 million in sales while the average was only $3 million. This is more than twice the average or 88 times the average salary of $42,000 in extra sales. The top 10% of those sales teams were very good at EI skills, but the average salesperson was not.
In an objective study of more than 2,000 auto dealer salespeople meant to compare the EI skills of successful and unsuccessful salespeople, the following five skills were found to be the most important in predicting sales success and retention in the industry.
Intuition and compassion. This means that the salesperson knows how the prospect feels, what they need, and what worries them. This skill is important for a sales job because of the following.
Attitude toward others: the ability to look at other people in a positive and fair way
Understanding others means having a natural sense of a prospect's or customer's feelings and point of view and being interested in what they want.
Customer service orientation means being able to predict, identify, and meet customers' needs.
Results-oriented and able to make decisions. This is the salesperson's skill at getting the customer or prospect to do what they want. This skill is important for a sales job because of the following.
Communication is sending messages that are clear and convincing so that the customer or prospect can understand them.
Influencing means using effective strategies and methods to persuade and get what you want.
Getting people to commit: the ability to come up with a reason to do something
Self View. This is the salesperson's level of courage and self-esteem, which gives them the thick skin they need to keep going when they run into problems during the sales cycle. This skill is important for a sales job because of the following.
Handling rejection means being able to deal with a "no" or "non-sale" and not take it personally, as well as being able to bounce back quickly and try again.
Self-esteem: A salesperson will have more passion and courage in the social arena the higher their self-esteem.
Self Awareness. This means being aware of your own feelings, preferences, resources, strengths, and weaknesses. This skill is important for a sales job because of the following.
Self-confidence is the ability to believe in one's own skills and strengths so that they can take charge of reaching their goals and going above and beyond them.
Persuasiveness is the ability to stand your ground in negotiations and handle sales objections to show the customer or prospect that your product or service meets their needs.
Competitiveness is a person's desire to win and be seen as competent by others, as well as their desire to be recognised for what they've done.
Expectations of self. This is the salesperson's emotional tendencies that help them reach their goals or make them easier to reach, as well as their sense of personal responsibility. This skill is important for a sales job because of the following.
Achievement drive is the desire to get better or meet a standard of excellence that we set for ourselves.
Initiative is the willingness to take advantage of opportunities without being told.
Optimism is sticking with goals in spite of problems and setbacks.
All of these are important skills to have if you want to sell cars at a dealership. Even if a salesperson knows everything there is to know about a product or service, they won't be successful in the long run if they don't have these key skills.
"Since we started using a pre-employment emotional intelligence profile to help us choose salespeople, our retention rate has gone from 10% to 77%. Not only do the employees stay longer, but they also work harder, learn faster, and need less time to be trained "Regina Roat, who is in charge of HR at the Houston, Texas-based Sterling-McCall Auto Group, which is part of the Group 1 Automotive, says this.
Auto dealers who think ahead and know they have to compete with other businesses in their market for the best workers are now using emotional intelligence as part of their hiring process. They also offer emotional intelligence management development programmes to help their managers improve their leadership skills. This has a big impact on improving the relationship between managers and employees and is a key part of keeping employees.
