Grade yourself from 1 to 10 in the areas of your business listed below. One rule: you can’t use a 7.
Before we talk about customers, word tracks or closing, you have to know where you stand right now. You can’t know that if you give yourself a 7 on everything.
Why the 7 Has to Go
A 7 is where people hide. It sounds fine without being true. It lets you say “I’m doing okay” without ever deciding whether that’s honest.
Take it away and you have to pick a side. Are you a little better than okay, or a little worse? That one decision tells you more than any sales report your dealership prints.
What the Scorecard Measures
The scorecard covers your whole business, not just your closing ratio. How you feel about your future in this industry. How much of your business comes from your community instead of the dealer’s customers. How good your follow-up really is. Whether you understand your customers as people, or just know what they drive.
Most salespeople have never graded themselves on half of these. They know their units. They know their gross. They have no idea why they’re stuck, because they’ve never looked at the parts of the business that decide it.
What the Scores Usually Show
When I’m in a room of people, the scores are added up and I ask for a show of hands, most go down before 80. In a recent room, eight people broke 80. One person broke 90.
That’s not a knock on anybody. It’s a map. Everyone in that room had three or four areas with real room to grow, including the people at the top. The people who break through aren’t the ones with perfect scores. They’re the ones who are honest about their low ones.
Where You Are Is Perfect
Wherever you are right now is perfect. Don’t be ashamed that you sell seven. Don’t be ashamed you’re stuck at 16 when you think you should be selling 20. Where you are is exactly where you’re supposed to be.
Your job is to look at it and ask the next questions. Why am I here? How did I get here? Who do I have to be to make it to the next level?
And understand this. It’s not your dealership’s fault. It’s not your inventory or your manager. Your raise becomes effective when you do.
Try the Short Version Today
You can start right now with three of the areas. Grade yourself from 1 to 10 on your future in this industry, your follow-up and your community business. No 7s.
Look at your lowest number. Be honest about why it’s there. That’s where your next level is hiding.
Go Deep, Not Wide
When people see their scores, they want to fix everything at once. That’s not how it works. Pick three or four things and go deep on them. Don’t go wide. When those improve, take the scorecard again and pick the next ones.
The full ten-area scorecard, and the plan for what to do with every score, is where we start inside the program.
The self-assessment is the first step inside the 100 Car Club. Take the next step here.