The Lead Jammer

[Derek Sanders]

Recently I had the absolute pleasure of visiting a roller derby event in the beautiful city of Indianapolis. A discision to attend thus said event was made after an exhillerating day at a motorcycle show in Indy. After arriving to the arena, I was very intrigued by the display that unfolded over the course of the evening and reflected on the similarities between roller derby and the sales culture. For those who don't understand Roller Deby, see Google for a quick lesson. The one word I will define for you is "Lead Jammer". When the first jammer makes it through the pack, she's designated the "Lead Jammer" and is the one who scores the points for the team. So, a couple of cold frosties in, I started to visualize these skaters, or jammers, as the employees of our dealerships. What characteristics does the home team have that give them the ability to score effectively, I thought. Well, in comparison to their competitors, they are much more nimble and physically equipped for any and all objections or blocks that are thrown at them. Speed, agility and perseverance also came to mind. The home team, Naptown Roller Girls, crushed their competition that night and the head coach said this in an interview after the event; "You know it was tough out there tonight, the team just dug deep and relied on the basics that we cover each week in practice. When everyone does their part and gives it their all we can win". It might not be that easy for us in the sales arena but I thought one comment was key; "relied on the basics we cover each week in practice". Hmm, do we take the time to practice each week? These girls are out there for free just having fun yet they take the time to practice. I think that we could take a lesson from this and say that if I really want to become successfull, I need to practice. Are our customers doing there homework better than we are? Are we taking ownership of our team? What will we do different from our competition to become the "Lead Jammer"? In today's work enviornment it is very important that we do not become complacent and that we give our employees the tools and the challenge they need to stay motivated and out in front of the pack. For more fun stuff visit: http://v-septconsulting.blogspot.com

[Mel Kleiman]

Derek: A couple of ideas came to mind as I read this.

1. We should not be practicing on our customers they are the real game.
2. It is truly all about the basics. How many sales people keep a list of the objections they hear and practice the answers. If you want to see a true professional at this just go to a timeshare presentation. They pay any where from $50.00 to $300.00 to get you just to listen to their presentation. What would you do it you had to pay every prospect $100.00 hard cash just to give you an appointment to try and sell them.
3. It is not the Fast who eat the Slow or the Big who it the Small. It is the Focused and the Flexible who ear the Unfocused and the Inflexible.

[Derek Sanders]

Good point, I know dealers who are paying for prospects and it isn't cheap. The key to practice is to have the right coach to facilitate the training, we offer a Train the Trainer program that delivers a playbook to the managers enabling them to call the plays and teach the team how to overcome the obstacles at hand. Roleplaying in the dealership is of great benefit to sales personel and should be a part of the daily/weekly routine.