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'You Can't Handle the Truth!'

A line made famous by Jack Nicholson in the movie 'A Few Good Men'

is also a great line to describe how many Sales Managers treat their own sales staff. In the movie, Jack states, "My existence, although grotesque and incomprehensible to you, probably saves lives!" Sales Managers have the same burden to bear that Jack did. It is our responsibility to save lives. I'm not saying we're defending the freedom of a nation here. What I am saying is that the sales staff in a dealership is responsible for ensuring the ongoing success of the entire dealership. Unfortunately, we as Sales Managers do very little to ensure that they are in top condition, standing at the ready to defend the integrity, processes and values of the dealership. Sales staff turnover is probably the biggest headache for a Sales Manager and, in fact, the entire dealership. Constantly short-handed, training "green-peas," worrying about the new salesperson even speaking with customers, takes up the Sales Manager�s valuable time that, I'm sure, could be better spent ensuring future business. By taking a minimal amount of time to review and develop sales staff performance, you can almost guarantee less turnover and better, more effective salespeople who require less management time. The performance review, which can occur more than once per year; in fact, monthly or quarterly reviews are certainly more effective and do not take very much time to perform; prove to be essential in both management and staff knowing what needs to be worked on. Many Sales Managers, who want to remain 'buddies' with the salespeople, are afraid that their staff "can't handle the truth," and choose to say nothing; almost ensuring the salesperson will not improve and develop. On a monthly or quarterly basis, take fifteen minutes and sit down with a written formal review of the salesperson�s performance. Go through, line by line, how you feel about the salesperson's strengths and areas that need improvement. DO NOT make this a negative experience for the salesperson; this is intended to promote development, not break a man's spirit. Let the salesperson speak as well, only together can you both make the necessary adjustments to ensure the ongoing improvement of the operations. Many salespeople, many Sales Managers too, judge their own performance by how many units they've got on the sales board. The truly successful are the ones who judge their performance by what areas they can improve upon to increase that number. The one-minute management style is fine for some things. This formal, written performance review will not only shed some light on what the salespeople need to work on, but help us discover areas that we as Sales Managers need to work on as well, and everyone involved develops positively from this. Speak the truth, we're all adults, "We CAN handle the truth," but only when the objective is to grow, develop and improve, not to make us feel like we should leave. These reviews will not only improve your sales staff's abilities and knowledge, but will improve yours as well; and, as a bonus, your sales staff will respect you for what you've told them, realize that you're working with them to improve and ultimately will not be as prone to move on to another dealership where the 'grass is greener.'