“Dealers come from all over the country to ask me how I sell 1000 cars a month in a town of 6,000?” – Jerry Holz

How does a car dealership sell 1000 cars a month in a town of 6,000 people? Jerry Holz’s store was one of the most amazing dealerships I have ever worked at. As I remember it from around 20 years ago: He was selling around 1000 cars a month with around 50 sales staff. He had an unbelievable repeat and referral rate of 95%. The dealership had almost no turnover, I was the first salesperson hired in 6 years, I had to prove that I had sold over 20 cars a month for the past 12 months before I could even have an interview. They spent a lot of money on employees and customers and hardly anything on advertising.

I tell them it is simple: I want the very best salespeople I can get & I will do whatever to keep them.” – Jerry Holz

Can Experienced Salespeople Help Your Dealership Sell More Cars?
Jerry Holz told me “Dealers come from all over the country to ask me how I sell 1000 cars a month in a town of 6,000? I tell them it is simple: I want the very best salespeople I can get and I will do whatever I need to do to keep them.” All the gifts that came from the manufacturer and vendors were given to the sales team and the pay plan was an inch thick; they paid bonuses and spiffs on everything. Gas & Car bonus based upon the number of cars that each salesperson sold each month. Their payplan payed $50 if a car sells at MSRP, $50 if the salesperson sells the same address, $50 if they the same last name, two cars in one day pays $100, 3 cars pay $150. These bonuses were paid every day that they happen.

Does Your Dealership Have Impossible Spiffs or Impossible Bonuses?
Holz Chevrolet had no “Impossible Spiffs or Impossible Bonuses” they paid the bonus every day that they happened. They figured out everything that they wanted the salesperson to do and then they put a bonus on everything.

We all know what I am talking about, when GM’s or GSM’s say I love to pay spiffs but only If all of these impossible things happen then they will pay the spiff. They then pick one or two days a week or a month and say If we sell “X” number of used AND “X” number of new AND our average gross is over $2k then we will pay the spiff and then it rarely happens, this is very depressing and disheartening to sales staff. True Stories From A Former Car Dealer – Cash Spiffs

“Is your GM only interested in making a profit? Does management cut every possible expense?”

Is Your Boss A Super Frugal Penny Pincher Tightwad?
Is your auto dealership management team stingy? Sometime the management team is only interested in making a profit, so they cut every possible expense because they are paid on the bottom line.

At Holz Chevrolet If you take a car in on trade the original salesperson gets 5% of the profit of that car if it sells in 90 days. The sales team were paid cash bonuses every Saturday at the one meeting a week based on GAP sales, Warranty sales, Tire and Wheel sales etc. Every month they took the top 80% of the salespeople on an amazing trip somewhere, once we got pit passes to the Milwaukee Mile NASCAR Race and once, we went to a Milwaukee Brewers Baseball game.

This is how you get and keep top sales staff, the great salespeople can go anywhere, why not create a place where they are going to be happy and productive. – Vincent Hoss – 25 years as an Internet Manager – This is what I have learned.