David Martin The Mar-Kee Group

Accountability for Accountability for AllAll

1. An obligation or willingness to accept responsibility

2. Measuring performance against a defined set of rules

or standards

Accountability:

Positive or Negative?

Having a good plan of action and securing the cooperation of others to carry it out

Following-up and following through on the plan

Monitoring the process and changing it when and where necessary

Giving everyone the best possible chance to succeed

Accountability Involves:

Some dealerships seem to have a mission statement that says:

“We will hold all employees accountable -- as

long as it is easy, convenient and popular with

the staff.”

Is Accountability Present In Your Dealership?

Salespeople

Managers

Owners/Dealer Principals

Who Should Be Held Accountable?

All starts with the WHY?

Tangible goals must be in place

Goals must be: Specific Measured Attainable Relevant Tracked

Salespeople

Short-term: 2 months or lessMedium-term: 2 to 12 monthsLong-term: 12 months and over

Monthly income

Number of sales needed (based on averages)

Number of write-ups needed

Number of product presentations needed

Number of opportunities needed

All numbers broken down into weekly/daily

This is the ultimate accountability to personal financial

success

Salespeople Should Break Down Their Financials

Goals to:

Must be held responsible for:

Representing the dealership in a professional manner

Following the dress code and good grooming

Staying educated on products and trends

Following your sales process (no shortcuts)

Utilizing technology

Completing scheduled CRM tasks

Follow-up and prospecting

100/100/100

Salespeople

Group most often associated with accountability

Typically responsible for overseeing (punishing) those that do not complete follow-up activities; chastising sales consultants with below-average results and acting as a general watchdog

One of their most important duties is to hold salespeople accountable and measure performance activities

Managers/Team Leaders

1. Communicate specific performance standards that are expected

2. Be sure they understand your vision, mission and values

3. Learn what motivates each one

4. Provide the time, tools and structure to improve their skills

5. Routinely have one-on-one coaching and review sessions

To Hold Salespeople Accountable, What Must

Managers Do?

6. Provide unfiltered, candid feedback on performance

7. Confront them with appropriate consequences when warranted

8. Regularly evaluate those who are not performing

9. Be prepared to remove those who cannot or will not comply

with your standards

10. Lead by example

To Hold Salespeople Accountable, What Must

Managers Do?

• Training, training, training

Capitalize on every opportunity to do

business

Shows your commitment to the business

Everyone makes more money

Customer satisfaction is enhanced

Managers/Team Leaders

WHO is training YOURS?

1) Your customer?

2) Veteran salespeople with too much time on their hands?

3) You?

FACT: Your Salespeople are

Being Trained Every Day!

1)They don’t know WHAT to do.

2)They don’t know HOW to do it.

3) Someone INTERFERES with their desire or

willingness to do it.

Why Do Salespeople Fail?

Do Not Undo The Classroom Training

1)Reinforce training in actual situations

2) Real world, real customer—not theoretical

3)Have salesperson present proposal to sales

manager first

4)Role play

Train at the Desk– Every Day, Every Deal

The trickiest group to hold accountableThe dealership is not a democracy, nor should it beThose on top must take accountability to a higher levelSee your staff as stock holdersHave quarterly meetings to tell them what you are going to do

to make their business thrive

Owners/Dealer Principals

Inventory and stocking levels

Planned training Employee improvements

Business reinvestment Advertising guidelines and

plans Capital improvements

• Leaders lead – either up or down

Employees look to you for direction

Treat people as you want them to be - not as you see them

Owners/Dealer Principals

Give all managers clear guidelines on your expectations

Don’t accept statements such as: “We can’t find good people in our area” “Let’s see if he works out and then we will train him” “I can’t fire him because I have no one to replace him”

Face some facts: Managers are paid to get results regardless of

conditions. It is not always easy, but it is always possible.

Managers should focus on the things they can control and stop getting distracted and complaining about things they cannot control.

Owners/Dealer Principals

Must be consequences for employees who remain mediocre (or worse)

If there is no consequence for a manager who fails to either develop or replace below average salespeople, you have accepted mediocrity at the highest levels

Create minimum standards of performance and have the courage to enforce them

Minimum standards are designed to:◦ Motivate an employee to strive for more than they thought

possible.◦ Weed out the wrong people before they can do much harm.◦ Compel managers to either “get their people better or get

better people.”

Owners/Dealer Principals

Their attitude

Their work ethic

Their discipline

Their character choices

Where they spend their time

With whom they spend their time

Failure is not an accident

Hold People Accountable on the Aspects of Their Job

That They Can Control

Hold People Accountable on the Aspects of Their Job That They Can Control

“That’s nice, but now let’s talk about

something we can control.”

WHY? Because we:

1. Sell cars one at a time.

2. Lose deals one at a time.

3. Mishandle sales calls and Internet leads one at

a time.

4. Give poor product presentations one at a time.

5. Fail to take customers on test drives one at a

time.

Stop Looking at “The Big Picture”.

Concentrate on “The Little Picture”

6. Don’t follow our sales processes one at a time.

7. Fail to follow-up on customers one at a time.

8. Allow cars to age on us one at a time

9. Make bad hiring decisions one at a time

10. Tolerate mediocre employees one at a time.

When dealers concentrate on making positivechanges one at a time – good things result!

Stop Looking at “The Big Picture”.

Concentrate on “The Little Picture”

Snapshot How are you doing in these vital areas?Use a scale of 1-10 to rate the

effectiveness of your current programsWe currently have:

An ongoing recruiting process _____

A firm set of hiring standards _____

Clear job descriptions _____

An orientation process _____

An initial training schedule/plan _____

Performance tracking _____

Regularly-scheduled ongoing training _____

Snapshot

We currently have:

Timely assessment of training progress _____

Sales skill certification _____

Standards for continued employment _____

Weekly counseling sessions (salespeople) _____

Management accountability _____

Opportunity for advancement _____

An environment that creates success _____

How are you doing in these vital areas?Use a scale of 1-10 to rate the

effectiveness of your current programs

As a leader, you must acknowledge shortcomings where they exist and vow to pay the price to make the necessary changes.

“When it comes to paying the price, you can either pay now and play later or play now and pay later. But either way – you will pay!” - John Maxwell

Remember – the cost of doing the right thing is

miniscule in comparison to the cost of doing nothing.

Owners/Dealer Principals

Accepting accountability is crucial to real leadership

You cannot control all that happens to you, but you can control (and are responsible for) how you handle it.

The quality of your life & business will be measured by the quality of the response you choose when bad things happen.

Owners/Dealer Principals

You have two choices each day: perform or make excuses. You get to choose!

Regardless of how honorable your intentions or how persistent your efforts, you will always be measured by performance and results.

The more you focus on performance and accountability, the less likely you will be embarrassed into making excuses.

Owners/Dealer Principals

The end of excuses begins at the top!

Excuses will finally end when you, as the leader, decide to do away with them personally and when you stop accepting them from others.

Unfortunately, giving up excuses is easier said than done because they provide protection for our egos and allow us to shift blame.

Owners/Dealer Principals

As a leader, if you hide behind excuses and rationalize poor results, you give your people the freedom to do the same.

But if you accept and take responsibility, even if it is a blow to your ego, you create a positive pressure for your people to do the same.

Eliminating excuses and demanding accountability in your dealership begins and ends with YOU!

Owners/Dealer Principals

David Martin The Mar-Kee Group

Accountability for Accountability for AllAll

David Martin The Mar-Kee Group

Accountability for Accountability for AllAll