You Can Still Win the Big Game with the JV Team

In my youth, I played soccer. For many years, that was the primary sport I excelled, though I was involved in many. At one point, I stepped up into a soccer team where the coach’s son, who was a year older, played the same position (striker) as I. While I’m sure it isn’t unheard of, I know it isn’t easy to replace the more senior player at the position, especially when it was the coach’s son. I did it. Quickly.

I’m sure there was drama in the coach’s household to make that decision, but he did it for (what he believed to be) the good of the team. He did it because I outworked his son. I followed the rules of the game more and executed his game plan better. My youth didn’t deter him from putting me in, and, truth be told, his own son likely could have kept the role had he just did the little things right. Had he just listened more and did what was asked of him. Instead, being the coach’s son, and the loudest on the team, surprisingly didn’t win him the approval he believed it should. He felt he was entitled to play. He felt as if he was allowed to play his way because of his seniority with the team, regardless whether or not it was what would win games.

Recently I was on-site training a dealer group and they broke up the sales trainings into two separate sessions. In the first session, it was several newer, younger salespeople. Not near as seasoned. Nobody tenured in and promised anything. The training I delivered was met with enthusiasm, questions, note-taking, acknowledgements, respect, engagement, and excitement to use this new education they’ve been given. They were eager to learn and anxious to take on their new lead handling tasks with tact, precision, consistency, and thoroughness.

Then management brought in group 2. These were the veterans that had several years in their roles under the belts, recalling war stories, issues ultimatums, referencing gripes, and explaining how they do it (and how they believe that should be good enough for them to handle leads). Again, they felt, much like the coach’s son, that they deserved these opportunities – even if they didn’t want to follow the process – because of their longevity with the dealership, and their barely-relevant achievements from years’ past.

One of the earliest complaints hurled right away by group 2 was that a newer salesperson to the floor seemed to be selling more than what they feel he should be. It just wasn’t right.

“Now that leads are flowing to the sales floor, may I ask, is anyone being handed an unfair amount of leads or calls?”
– “No”, they replied.
“Are managers giving them cheese deals?”
– “No”, they once again admitted.
“Was this new salesperson grabbing more ups or skating other agents?”
– “No”, they agreed. “He just stays so busy, it doesn’t make sense.”
“It makes perfect sense to me”, I tell them.

The first team had chortled earlier that what we were asking them to do with internet leads and inbound sales calls, from the methodology of handling customers to the psychology of the communication, from the consistency of calls and voicemails to the video process and more significant utilization of the CRM, may not be as embraced by some others in the store as it would be them. They claimed there are others who spend most of their time in store sitting at their desks, expecting the business to come to them naturally. The people they were referring to were the same people pointing fingers back at them for being too energetic.

In the end, no matter how seasoned a salesperson is, regardless of their time employed at the store, if they are not interested in being on process, they don’t deserve to handle opportunities that require that higher level of work. The veterans can sit at their desks with their OEM plaques for a job well done, and their golf caddy pen holder, but that doesn’t earn them the right to handle these value leads and calls if they’re unwilling to play ball.

On the other side of the showroom, those same rules apply. Age means nothing to me. Desire to learn, execute, and deliver an experience worthy of the dealership (and the customer) is what guarantees you opportunities to work Internet leads and inbound sales calls. Who is willing to do what is asked of them is what’s important.

Those who have been with your organization for a long time, going about their day the same way they have the last decade, absolutely have value. They’re fixtures. Ingrained into the store. They’re the fabric of your experience. They’re loved and valued. That still doesn’t mean they have the right to leads if they’re unwilling to follow the process. A varsity team of seasoned athletes only deliver a losing season if they won’t execute the game plan. And they shouldn’t be handed the ball if they aren’t interested in doing the right things with it.

Those newer team members to your store, eager to make a difference, energized, and ready to follow directions and do what’s right may be considered the Junior Varsity team by others on staff, but if they’re ready to do the right things, the way you want them to be done, let them take the field. You can still win the game with the JV team.