The owner of the company, the client and the supplier expect from the newly minted salesperson not only the ability to negotiate, but also the professional knowledge that only a few have: the device of a car, the interchangeability and applicability of spare parts, knowledge of the assortment, understanding of client "I have fallen off such and such a thing , screwed there».
Hire a good manager – a real success for any business. But the problem of hiring qualified specialists is especially acute in the field of selling technologically complex goods, in particular auto parts.
Experience versus youth
Specialists are not born. Every experienced manager once had difficulty distinguishing a starter from a generator. Behind professionalism are years of work, training and strong motivation. But hiring an experienced specialist with an established client base is not always an ideal option.
Hiring an employee with experience, at first glance, has a huge number of advantages:
- It does not need to be taught – you don't have to invest money you haven't earned yet;
- Achievements in the past make it easy to judge qualifications;
- Recommendations and the reason for leaving a previous job can tell a lot about a specialist as a person;
- He has an established client base.
However, the latter advantage is ambiguous. If a person is ready to take customers away from the previous company, where is the guarantee that in a year or two he will not do the same to you?
At the same time, hiring a young specialist as a manager, despite the ambition and lower salary expectations, is a big risk. Not under the phrase "no work experience" understand its complete absence. To teach a person absolutely everything from scratch requires enormous efforts and a huge amount of time. 95% of leaders are not ready for this. Therefore, under the definition & nbsp; "no experience" there are applicants who do not have experience in the sale of auto parts.
Applicant without specific skills must either have knowledge of the vehicle, or – active sales experience. Knowing the device of a car - you will teach how to sell, who knows how to sell – learn to understand auto parts. With luck, of course.
When selecting candidates, pay attention to temperament, ability to communicate, and correctly express your thoughts. The key skill of a good manager – the ability to adapt to the client's psychology, understand his fears and level them. Calm, self-confident people cope with such tasks admirably.
No inspiration – have motivation
In order to get the most out of an employee and engagement, you need to understand what tasks he performs in a global sense.
Conditionally, all work tasks can be divided into algorithmic and heuristic. Algorithmic ones are performed according to a well-established and well-studied scheme – dig a trench, fill out a form, press buttons in a certain sequence, etc. Following a certain algorithm gives a completely predictable result. Heuristic – require a creative, and sometimes even non-standard approach. Performing them, a person experiments, looks for new solutions. There is no algorithm, the outcome is unknown in advance, the result depends only on the performer.
It is a mistake to assume that a sales manager performs algorithmic tasks. The order processing scheme seems to exist, but this is not enough to sell high quality and a lot. Faced with new people every day, he is looking for an approach - those levers of influence that help win over a client, gain his trust, convince him of his professionalism, in order to eventually sell.
A good salesman by definition – creative person. It is not easy to work with creative people, it is even more difficult to motivate them. The principle of "carrot and stick" fails, financial motivation quickly becomes obsolete, as a result – a talented manager goes to competitors, taking with him some of the clients.
Financial motivation
The sales manager, like any other employee, does not care about your profit. He sees profit. The financial motivation of the manager should be tied to it so that the incentive system is understandable and transparent. If the manager cannot independently calculate his bonus – you bad system of financial motivation.
Typically, the following scheme is used:
Revenue = fixed amount + % of revenue
At the same time, both the fixed and the percentage are taken not from the ceiling, but taking into account the average market salary and are calculated so that both the business owner and the company employee are comfortable.
The auto parts business is tied to a huge number of suppliers, the markup on goods of which, in fact, cannot be the same. Considering markup factor, you can build the manager's motivation in such a way thatUsually you worked with the right supplier as often as possible, got rid of leftovers in the warehouse, etc. – everyone has their own motives. Increase the percentage of the manager with priority commodity items, and decrease for non-priority ones.
Satisfying needs
It is impossible to ignore financial motivation, but also to put money at the forefront – error.
Everyone has basic needs that you like a good leader must be seen and understood. At different levels A person's career ladder is driven by different motives.
The need of a young specialist with no experience – earn money for food, an apartment, etc. The need for a more experienced – respect, recognition, self-realization. When a young specialist moves into the category of experienced, financial motivation is not enough. A person begins to seek recognition of his merits, an opportunity for expression & nbsp; their ambitions. If you do not give him this opportunity, he will go to competitors in search of recognition. Each new company – it is not a conquered battlefield. Getting into a stressful situation, a person becomes active, uses the accumulated knowledge and skills to win the favor and respect of colleagues, management, clients.
If the financial motivation in your company is stronger than that of competitors, the employee will remain, but he will look for recognition on the side. If you provide maximum opportunities for the realization of ambitions, but lose to competitors from the financial side, the employee will remain to satisfy the need for self-realization, however, he will again look for additional satisfaction of financial needs on the side.
In both the first and second cases, a person easily finds a solution – part-time work, weekend jobs, etc. However, the human resource is not unlimited. Working two jobs is not easy – an increase in workload affects productivity. Sooner or later, a person has to make a choice between & nbsp; meeting financial needs and ambitions. For you, the risk of losing a good manager is 50/50, depending on what needs a person satisfies in your company.
To prevent this from happening, it is important to find a balance and not miss the moment of changing priorities. Remember, a good leader does not motivate, he creates conditions in which the employee motivates himself.
Encourage the success of your employees. Any method is suitable for this: from bonuses to a photo on the honor roll.
The value of the company is the employee
The value of the company – not a client or even a partner. True value – employee. Look for people who are dedicated to their work, with interest in their eyes and healthy professional ambitions. Stand the right system of motivation, train and encourage young professionals. And, if you want to develop a truly strong results-oriented sales team, create an environment in which a person is comfortable working, in which he will love his job and appreciate his company. Otherwise, you risk turning your business into a training center for competitors.
