Salesperson turnover

[Greg]

I am interested in learning why the turnover ratio for automotive salespersons is 50%, according to NADA surveys. What is it attributable to? Is it because 50% of the persons hired do not have the aptitude for sales, insufficient training, perceived insufficient compensation or what?

[richardwright]

It's the essence of lazyness. Start taking chunks of their commisions, they change or quit.

[joe r]

From a parts managers view, I see sales people thrown on the floor with little or no product training and almost never any situation training. Along with sales managers who are too busy to spend time with new hires.
The hours basically suck. In some metro areas sales persons never get a weekend day off and have to work two weeks before getting two days off in a row.
I worked at one dealership who made an effort to train everyone in the hopes of reducing turnover. They were also closed on Sundays and each crew got a two day weekend every other week. That sales crew stayed for over two years with an occasional turnover. And they sold cars. Their closing ratio was amazing.
I believe the high turnover is more the fault of management than the individuals. Just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Joe R

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[DSipus]

It has everyting to d with training. Most dealerships today don't give thier new people an opportunity to make a living. Training does just that, gives them a chance to succeed!

[Doug]

A few general observations I've made over the years:

1) So many salespeople who are "in between jobs" or "giving it a try" without being committed to the car business.....and the willingness of dealers to hire such people

2) Continual altering of pay plans...very bad for morale

3) Not enough time off...sometimes working 10-15 days or more with no time off.

4) Some can't handle the stigma of being a car salesman

Just my 2-cents worth

Doug

[jdaniel]

Another problem is the hiring process- dealers often don't do a good job selecting viable candidates. The attitude is often to just toss 'em at it and see who sticks. The comission pay plans give some managers the idea that it doesn't cost anything to hire a failure since they won't make a comission and won't cost much.

Jack

[fdcreamer]

Somehow salesperson turnover always gets blamed on the salespeople.
Consider the average experience a new hire has in this industry. Typically the new hire is a young person looking to make more money then whatever entry level job they currently have is paying. Maybe in some cases its a bright young bartender, waiter, or retail clerk who a sales manager solicits. In any case because there are not enough people to cover the floor we tell them all you need to make eighty thousand dollars a year ia a smile and a pen.
They get real excited and tell their significant other they are going to quit their current job and start selling cars. The idea of making all that money for little or no effort and the promises we make about training fill them with confidence and enthusiasm.
Then they show up for their first day in the typical store. Assuming we have been lucky in selecting this individual and they have some raw talent and proclivity for sales, this should be a match made in heaven, right? Unfortunately that is not the case in the typical store. At the time they show up, the manager who hired them is so busy he dosen't have time to even talk to them. So they wait half a day for someone to give them their paperwork to fill out. We don't have a hiring procedure or policy of any kind and no assigned responsibility for orienting new hires. By now its after lunch and the green pea hasn't been able to eat. Along with their first day jitters now their blood sugar is low and they start to feel bad. Just as they are ready to ask if they can go eat we assign someone from the bottom half of the board to "show them the ropes." Larry wontbeherelong takes them under his wing and before we even get to talk to them he fills them in on "how we really do things around here." So ends the first day.
By the end of the first week they have spent hours watching tapes and following their assigned mentor around like a puppy. They probably have not been to a training class; they most certainly have not engaged in any role play. They most likley have not been introduced to anybody in any other department. If they are taking sales calls and with our luck they are; they answer by saying "hello", and it gets worse from there.
Its no wonder that most stores turnover ratio is between eighty and one hundred and twenty percent on an annualized basis. It also no wonder the average salesperson only sells eight to nine vehicles a month.
In my humble opinion most if not all stores would benefit from hiring a good professional training manager. He/she could oversee the selection, hiring and training process. With a combination of classroom, computer based distance learning and role play some level of proficiency could be attained prior to hitting the floor. Confidence comes from a couple of sources. Product Knowledge and competitive product knowledge, knowing you know the sales process, the ability to do a walk around, knowing how to answer the phone and an organized follow up system to name just a few.
With a structured orientation and training process we could raise average sales per salesperson to fifteen or sixteen and cut our turnover way down. Food for thought.