| You Track Everything So You Can Set Clear Goals Assume we’re talking about unit goals. Before you can even think about setting realistic and achievable goals and creating effective plans, you have to find out where you are in sales. Not just totals or long term averages – you have to know exactly what’s going on now, so that you can plan to improve. That means you have to know all the stats about your favorite sales team and each of your players in sales. |
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| By Joe Verde President Joe Verde Sales & Management Training email: jverde@automotivedealersnetwork.com |
Joe Verde Sales & Management Training is the largest sales
and management training company in the Automobile, RV
and Marine industries teaching their exclusive formula for
success. Joe Verde Sales & Management Training has a 23
year, verifiable track record of success and over half the top
500 dealerships are their customers. Additional information is
available at www.joeverde.com.
and management training company in the Automobile, RV
and Marine industries teaching their exclusive formula for
success. Joe Verde Sales & Management Training has a 23
year, verifiable track record of success and over half the top
500 dealerships are their customers. Additional information is
available at www.joeverde.com.
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| SUPERIOR DEALER SOLUTIONSsm |
| The most Important thing you Don't do! (continued) |
month average, so what’s a realistic ‘total’ goal by year end? _______ units. I’d guess almost everybody just figured another 100 for December for a total of 1,200 for 2009. It seems realistic and logical – you know the total for the year, the math says you’re averaging 100 per month, so what’s the problem? The problem is that your ‘total’ for the year has nothing to do with what you’re capable of doing now, or what a realistic goal for December would be. What do I mean? Here are sales for two dealerships this year. Both have sold 1,100 units, which means both have a 100 unit average per month. According to the average, selling 100 in December should be a piece of cake, right? But, one started the year with a bang and went south, the other started slow and has really turned on their sales production... |
So how realistic and effective is that 100 unit goal?
• Dealership A: Is a 100 unit goal for December a good goal and is it realistic for Dealership A? _Yes _No
• Dealership B: Is a 100 unit goal for December a good goal and is it realistic for Dealership B? _Yes _No
• Current Average. This is a phrase you need to understand and use in all of your projections, forecasts and goal
setting. Your current average is your most recent 90 day average. For ‘A’, the current average is 40 units per
month. For ‘B’, the current average is 160 per month.
We can think of our dealership like a football coach thinks of his team: who will you have to depend on to make the
first downs, drive the ball down the field, and score the touchdowns to win the game?
Exactly, the franchise doesn’t make first downs or score points, only the players can do that. So how do the coaches
improve their odds of winning?
Correct – good coaches win games by knowing exactly what every player is doing now (statistically) and what every
player is capable of doing above that. Then the coaches work with each individual player, and through training and
constant practice, they get them ready for the game.
Plus the coach then has to turn a bunch of players into a team, give them clear goals in that game, and keep each
player focused so they can win the game.
Football teams don’t just go play football. They carefully select the players, train them daily, track everything they
do, use the information to help them improve, and then the
coaches keep them focused on winning with clear goals.
• Dealership A: Is a 100 unit goal for December a good goal and is it realistic for Dealership A? _Yes _No
- Why not? No need for a Rocket Scientist here – it’s a bad goal because they can’t hit it, or even come close.
They’re dropping like a rock and probably won’t be around for the fireworks to kick off New Year’s Day in 2010.
• Dealership B: Is a 100 unit goal for December a good goal and is it realistic for Dealership B? _Yes _No
- Why not? Just the opposite, for a reason: what is ‘B’ supposed to do, drop 75 units to hit their goal for the
year, or just set a 100 unit goal and waste the chance to hit 200?
• Current Average. This is a phrase you need to understand and use in all of your projections, forecasts and goal
setting. Your current average is your most recent 90 day average. For ‘A’, the current average is 40 units per
month. For ‘B’, the current average is 160 per month.
- Using those two numbers as your guide to setting good, realistic and achievable goals – a good goal for ‘A’
would be 35 or 40, because their average is trending downward fast. A good goal for ‘B’ would be 175 to 185,
because they’re trending upward just as fast.
We can think of our dealership like a football coach thinks of his team: who will you have to depend on to make the
first downs, drive the ball down the field, and score the touchdowns to win the game?
Exactly, the franchise doesn’t make first downs or score points, only the players can do that. So how do the coaches
improve their odds of winning?
Correct – good coaches win games by knowing exactly what every player is doing now (statistically) and what every
player is capable of doing above that. Then the coaches work with each individual player, and through training and
constant practice, they get them ready for the game.
Plus the coach then has to turn a bunch of players into a team, give them clear goals in that game, and keep each
player focused so they can win the game.
Football teams don’t just go play football. They carefully select the players, train them daily, track everything they
do, use the information to help them improve, and then the
coaches keep them focused on winning with clear goals.
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