How to attract Gen Y sales people

[ddavis]

Uncle Crusty,

If you want a new & different breed of recruits, and they don't want to come, then It all traces to the culture of our biz. You just can't put a happy face on it, you have to blow up the old model and make a new one.

For example, One price stores are popping up all over. This model is looks at the "lifetime value of a customer", not just this months value. The idea here is to create a shopping experience based on knowledge and helpfulness. This sales experience is but one part of the entire lifetime experience. The summary here is if you train the staff to qualify properly (aka ask & listen) and remove the commission anxiety, you'll have started a new shopper experience.

Again, it's just another way to sell a car.

I was fine until "remove the commission anxiety" part. Who has the anxiety the customer or the salesperson? Today's salespeople are lucky to get any type of training. Your absolutely right about qualifying the customer properly and listening. These are traits of the professional salesperson. When a dealer needs to hire outside trainers, they need to hire new Sales Managers at the same time.

We used market-based pricing years ago and needed salespeople to make the customer understand that those prices were not negotiable. We ran extremely high CSI scores and had a ton of repeat and referral business.

Under your pay plan, you forgot to add for tips.

 

[Josh Knutson]

I sold cars for a few months straight out of college and there were definitely a few aspects that really drew me to the auto group I worked for.

TRAINING:
1. There was an Month long training program set up to in a 4 week break down
Week 1: Classroom
Week 2: Showroom
Week 3: Classroom
Week 4: Showroom and test out

Also we were paid during this entire time on an hourly rate and learned everything from the in and outs of sales to how to work the phone and CRM systems, a very in-depth process to prepare each employee for success. ( About 10 - 12 people per class)

After X amount of weeks you took another test to get certified to do more things as well as a raise of about $2 and hour.

Also the training process was done with people that were hired through ought the entire group. So when you are in the classroom session you can learn from each other "Jim works at the Honda dealership and X worked for him last week on the salesfloor" and "Sarah from Honda did this and that worked." So building a great "community" per-say and learning from others in a very close system.

Hourly Pay / No Commission:
One thing that Millennials really want is guaranteed pay and and exact # they can count on each month. I had tons of customer experience and was ready to make a killing, but signing on with a commission only based pay model is intimidating to people who have never strictly sold before and a vehicle is hard sell at that anyways. So having a guaranteed amount really helps your sales people feel comfortable. I believe I was making around 15ish an hour right out the gate.

ABILITY TO GROW
This is fed into alot of college kids lately that if you start at the bottom and make your way up you can get some large $. One of the largest things we were shown was a "System Set-Up" that is you succeed in each category you can work your way up to Gm and Owners. Dollar and Time amounts were also attached to each of these. So ex. A Sales Consultant starts at $15 works for x months then can move to Sales Manager ect this really helps the person visualize the process and let that play in their mind that if they do x they can get x pay in X time.

Also How are you finding these millennials?
The likelihood for someone who likes your facebook page to just get up and apply because they saw your latest post is pretty unlikely. You need to make sure you have listings on different job boards and FB ect with detailed descriptions and fast response times. Right out of college we are hounding the job boards and there are endless vague "sales and marketing positions" So make your ad stand out and make sure millennials feel comfortable applying with very easy CTA's I recall sending endless emails and waiting forever for sometimes just a generic email. Call the people you want and be prepared to show them why this sales position is different than the 50 other ones they have just applied for.

Hope this helps.

 

[joe.pistell]

Matt,

Enterprise Rental is strong in college grad recruitment.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Careers - Opportunities
Enterprise Rent-A-Car Reviews | Glassdoor

HTH
Joe

 

[joe.pistell]

I was fine until "remove the commission anxiety" part. Who has the anxiety the customer or the salesperson?

Both buyer and seller. Commission pay plan puts "tension in the air". Only a real seasoned pro can hide it.

I use to tell my guys, "A good Doctor never let's his patient see the knife."

 

[TomLaPointe]

Colleges have job fairs. So do many tech schools. The challenge is image, income, and individual growth. The car business ranks at the bottom of the list for impressing people at cocktail parties, and entry level income and work schedules at many stores is an aberration.

I agree with other posters that gen Y is a spoiled and un-ambitious lot, but I remember my disgust when people said the same about me as a Gen X-er, and many of us looked at the collapse of the traditional career path and started our own businesses. My partner is a bank manager, and many younger employees have a deplorable work ethic and attitude of entitlement, but many don't.

Here is the big thing...the challenge with hiring gen-ANYTHING in a sales career is that if they take an objective look at their career path, it doesn't lead very far. I have been in stores that had more sales managers cycle through than Taylor Swift has had breakup songs. F&I is less insecure, but most aren't a poster child for their company's career ladder, and I have seen very few new ones trained, especially since the recession started.

Just my two cents.

 

[ddavis]

Colleges have job fairs. So do many tech schools. The challenge is image, income, and individual growth. The car business ranks at the bottom of the list for impressing people at cocktail parties, and entry level income and work schedules at many stores is an aberration.

I agree with other posters that gen Y is a spoiled and un-ambitious lot, but I remember my disgust when people said the same about me as a Gen X-er, and many of us looked at the collapse of the traditional career path and started our own businesses. My partner is a bank manager, and many younger employees have a deplorable work ethic and attitude of entitlement, but many don't.

Here is the big thing...the challenge with hiring gen-ANYTHING in a sales career is that if they take an objective look at their career path, it doesn't lead very far. I have been in stores that had more sales managers cycle through than Taylor Swift has had breakup songs. F&I is less insecure, but most aren't a poster child for their company's career ladder, and I have seen very few new ones trained, especially since the recession started.

Just my two cents.

I have two daughters. One is 34 and the younger is 30. The oldest is a store manager for Brooks Brothers and the younger is a Branch Manager at a bank. You will not find two people that are more critical of Gen Y employees. Given any alternative, they both refuse to hire them.

We didn't go into the car business for prestige ...it was always about the money. Most people are nice when they are purchasing an iPhone. Those same people have a completely different attitude buying cars. Look at the steps to a sale and think about $15/hour (someone's suggestion). $2400 per month to sell cars?

 

[Jlewis74]

I have two daughters. One is 34 and the younger is 30. The oldest is a store manager for Brooks Brothers and the younger is a Branch Manager at a bank. You will not find two people that are more critical of Gen Y employees. Given any alternative, they both refuse to hire them.

We didn't go into the car business for prestige ...it was always about the money. Most people are nice when they are purchasing an iPhone. Those same people have a completely different attitude buying cars. Look at the steps to a sale and think about $15/hour (someone's suggestion). $2400 per month to sell cars?

Do you think maybe if people are not nice when they go in to buy a car its due to how they were treated in the past or reactionairy to how they are being treated at the time. For the most part I have only encountered a few people were were not nice when buying a car and usually when there was a problem it was due to a conflict with the sales person or the pre-concieved notion they were going to get screwed.

I hate the fact that car sales gets a bad rap in the court of public opinion, and I feel that could change if people were willing to do what it takes to make that change. I feel there are just as many good GenY works as their are bad Babyboomer works out there. There will also be those who want to work they are just going to have differnt ideas on how it works best. Kinda like Social Media I am sure there are many that took a long time to embrace it (some still dont today and they will get left behind). The only thing constant is change and unless you are willing to change you will be left out.

My old football coach used to have a saying "You either do or you mildew" took me a while to get it but you can either get out there and do something of you can sit here and spoil.

Sorry for the ramblings.

 

[ddavis]

Do you think maybe if people are not nice when they go in to buy a car its due to how they were treated in the past or reactionairy to how they are being treated at the time. For the most part I have only encountered a few people were were not nice when buying a car and usually when there was a problem it was due to a conflict with the sales person or the pre-concieved notion they were going to get screwed.

I hate the fact that car sales gets a bad rap in the court of public opinion, and I feel that could change if people were willing to do what it takes to make that change. I feel there are just as many good GenY works as their are bad Babyboomer works out there. There will also be those who want to work they are just going to have differnt ideas on how it works best. Kinda like Social Media I am sure there are many that took a long time to embrace it (some still dont today and they will get left behind). The only thing constant is change and unless you are willing to change you will be left out.

My old football coach used to have a saying "You either do or you mildew" took me a while to get it but you can either get out there and do something of you can sit here and spoil.

Sorry for the ramblings.

Jeremy,

I sold the customers with the bad attitudes. Today, you see people that believe profit is a four letter word. There are people out there that demonize any form of business but especially dealerships.

I was hopeful that the internet would change people's perceptions of our industry but I haven't seen a significant change. All I could control was the way that we conducted our business. I left a dealer group, after 6 years, because the new GM was unethical. They did well for a short period but it caught up with them. Now, they don't do half the business that just my internet department was doing.

You can try to compare generations but we have been on a slide since the greatest generation of WWII.

"Sorry for the ramblings" ...No, here is a RANT!

The car business was good to me. It allowed me to send my children to private schools. My ex was a stay at home mom and didn't start working until my daughters were in High School (public). Both of them advanced a grade when we moved to Dallas. They wanted my youngest to move up two grades but I refused. They both graduated on the International Baccalaureate program and started college as sophomores. My girls are bright but not geniuses by any means. They had the advantage of Catholic school education.

Every child in America should have the choice of a private school education. We are sending our children to unsafe schools where they don't learn with a high probability of dropping out. Our public schools are a monopoly and those never produce a quality product at a reasonable cost. In California, the graduation rate is 78% but that only considers students that actually start high school. If you consider the ones that never make it that far the drop out rate is more like 30%. We a building a permanent under class.

Personally, I didn't want my girls to be indoctrinated in secular humanism, until they were old enough to think on their own. America spends more per student than any country but the real costs are much higher than those published. Here is a link to an interesting study that discusses the real costs.

 

[Jlewis74]

I agree on the Greatest Generation, I grew up on a farm in NC my great grandfather was one of those guys and so was my wifes grandfather. My GGFather worked me like a mule but it taught me work ethic, the car bizz has been good to me as well and who knows I might be back at the store level again one day as I truly enjoyed it just got a little feed up with some things.

 

[ddavis]

Jeremy, growing up, if you wanted spending money, you worked. I remember hauling hay for a nickel a bail. You would point the truck down the rows of bails, put it in granny gear, and keep up. You weren't paid until it was stacked in the barn. Roofing was maybe the hardest job that I ever had. I can't call myself a roofer because my part was carrying the bundles up the ladder. A good crew can go through a bundle as fast as you can go down and back up with a bundle. How hot a summer was determined by how many straight days over 100. Forty five was considered mild.

When I graduated from High School, J.L. Huffines let me sell cars while I attended college across the street. There wasn't a finer person in the car business than that man.

Many times when I have become frustrated in my job, I remember hauling hay, roofing and humping a pack through the jungle, to put my life in perspective.