Based on the 80/20 rule, 20 percent of managers are great and the other 80 percent are either average or below-average. What’s the difference? The great ones learn how to deliver extra sales each month to help their salespeople and their dealership grow and become more successful, year after year.

Before you can define a successful sales manager, first we need to define success in sales management.

I don’t refer to a successful sales manager as someone who had a great first year at the dealership. It’s easy to have a big bang when you start, just by taking out some of the garbage. I also don’t define ‘good’ as someone who can clearly explain why sales are down. Anybody can make a list – the good ones fix the problems on the list.

When I talk about a successful manager, I’m referring to someone who makes a significant and measurable increase in sales, gross, CSI, CS and customer retention year after year, not just the year they were hired or promoted.

A successful manager has stopped turnover in sales and is constantly improving the quality of the selling process for the dealership, the customer and the salespeople.

Successful sales managers do their absolute best to win the game today, this month, this year. They continually set goals and write plans to win again, and they produce and hold themselves accountable for results.

It’s just a fact: most managers fail at consistent success. It’s also a fact that most sales managers were never trained on how to hire, train or manage their people. We learned to appraise trades, order cars, desk deals, write ads, handle heat and work deals from watching someone else – but serious training on managing people? Nope!

What Are the Qualities of a Successful Sales Manager?

A successful sales manager...

• has clear, written policies and procedures of exactly what they expect from their sales team.

• hires only good people or people they will commit to make good.

• initially trains all new hires on the procedures, the skills and the work habits required to succeed in sales.

• measures (tracks) every opportunity, activity and result, so they’ll know exactly what training and coaching each person needs to improve and grow.

• provides continuing education every day to every salesperson, so they can continue to grow in sales.

• motivates each person through training, praise and money, and by removing the demotivating events that negatively affect the team.

• sets clear goals for the team and each individual, based on effective projections; writes clear plans and follows through with the exact training and one-on-one coaching to make sure each person hits their goal.

• leads the team to more success, month after month, year after year.

• never blames the team and always looks at how he/she can improve themselves to make the team better.

• holds everyone accountable and never keeps a player who’s bad for the team.

The successful sales manager also...

• is aware of everything happening in sales, with each salesperson and about each prospect and customer.

• has confidence in their people because of the effective training, management and coaching they’ve given each person.

• is a possibility thinker and develops a plan to overcome and improve in any market condition or any situation.

• understands ‘sales management’ is two words and continually learns all they can about “selling” and “management” and works on continually improving themselves first.

• understands how valuable each person on the selling team really is, and understands a significant improvement from even one salesperson can generate more net profit per year than doubling the advertising budget next quarter.

• understands the 80/20 rule applies not only to the competition, but to their sales team, too, and knows that without supervision, what they see now, is all they’ll get, or less.

• understands that monthly sales production and annual growth are the responsibilities of management, not of the market or of their salespeople.

• manages each individual on the sales force daily to guide every person on the team to more success.

The success of your dealership, both short- and long-term, is up to good management – not up to a good market.

Help your salespeople sell more cars with Joe Verde’s new book, “Earn Over $100,000 Selling Cars – Every Year.” Go to www.joeverde.com to get a free PDF or order a free soft-cover book.