Give your car salesperson focus!

This week, it became crystal clear to me once again: when do you give a salesperson too many tasks that have nothing to do with direct selling? And why does that approach ultimately cost you sales?

At many car dealerships I visit, salespeople are busy with customers: following up leads, handling showroom visits, following up on those, and delivering vehicles. That’s a full-time job. Ideally, a salesperson should be hitting at least 25 sales per month to be truly effective. But the market average is much lower — around 12 sales a month. Why is that?

Car salespeople are doing enough already…

First, many salespeople spend a lot of time on administrative tasks around the sale. In smaller companies, that’s often unavoidable. But larger organizations should be able to support this better. And yet, in large dealer groups, you still see salespeople getting bogged down in admin. Cost-cutting plays a part: saving an extra FTE in admin sounds attractive, especially if some colleagues think “the salesperson isn’t doing that much anyway.”

I have a theory about this, based on my own experience at our Experience Centre in Doesburg. As a salesperson – whether it’s Martin or myself – you have to do everything there. But if you’re deep in admin mode and a customer walks in, how sharp are you? Mentally? How enthusiastic? Or are you still half-thinking about ordering that white license plate, just to name one example?

In the physical showroom that might be manageable, but online – when following up leads – this definitely plays a role. New opportunities get delayed because there are other “real customer” tasks waiting. That’s why Calldrip works so well: it forces lead follow-up and a shift in focus. Believe me, I speak from experience.

So, to large dealer groups: be careful pushing admin tasks onto your sales team. It invisibly costs you sales – simply because it disrupts the focus and mindset needed for selling. And yes, I experienced it myself last week. It ended up costing me a deal… just last week.