Dealership Operations
Sales Management
The desk is where training either shows up or doesn't.
Operating Philosophy
Sales management is daily, not periodic — daily training, daily accountability, daily forecasting. Great producers don't automatically become great managers; the desk requires a different skill set built around coaching, deal structure, and holding a standard consistently, including on the days it's inconvenient. Culture is built in the sales meeting and defended at the desk, every day. “Boom on 3” — Step's team sign-off — is part of that culture.
What I Measure
- Activity standards (calls, appointments, follow-up) by salesperson
- Closing ratio by salesperson and by source
- Average gross per deal
- Manager turn-over (TO) rate and outcome
- CRM discipline / follow-up completion
- New-hire ramp time to standard
How I Manage It
- Daily training built into the sales meeting, not saved for a monthly event
- Manager TO on every deal below standard, tracked as a coaching moment, not a rescue
- Forecasting reviewed daily against monthly pace, adjusted before month-end
- Roleplay and objection handling practiced on a schedule, not only after a slump
- Hiring and onboarding built around a defined ramp, not sink-or-swim
Where Dealerships Lose
- Training treated as a monthly event instead of a daily habit
- Manager TO used only to save a deal, never to coach the salesperson
- Forecasting reviewed once a month instead of adjusted daily
- Promoting a top producer into management with no separate skill development
My Systems & Frameworks
Techo Pitch
Full framework coming soon.
ObjectionIQ
Full framework coming soon.
12–2–4–6 Checkups
A structured cadence of manager check-ins with the sales floor at four fixed points in the day.
Accountability happens on a schedule, not by accident. Built into the daily manager shift routine — opening, mid-shift, and closing managers each carry a checklist — with check-ins anchored at 12, 2, 4, and 6 so a slow day gets caught while there's still time to fix it.
Check-In / Check-Out
Full framework coming soon.
Manager Accountability
Full framework coming soon.
Social Salesman
Full framework coming soon.
Tools & Dashboards
Performance-Based UP Rotation
Replaces a purely passive or arbitrary showroom UP rotation with a system that rewards measurable sales activity and performance. The tool ranks salespeople by a weighted performance score and assigns the next available customer to the highest-ranked rep who doesn't currently have one — connecting opportunity to activity, preparation, and accountability rather than static turn order alone.
Scoring Model
- Units Sold× 1000
- Appointments Set× 100
- Conversations× 50
- Outbound Attempts× 10
- Videos Sent× 5
- Attendance Score× 1
How It Works
- Calculates each rep's total performance score from the weighted metrics above
- Ranks reps from highest to lowest score
- Excludes any rep who currently has a customer assigned
- Designates the highest-ranked available rep as Next Up
- Assigns an incoming customer to that rep by name
- Tracks current customer assignments and stores assignment history
- Returns a rep to the available pool once their customer is marked complete
- Exports the customer-assignment history to CSV
- Supports adding, editing, and removing reps
Related Concepts
- Check-In / Check-Out
- 12–2–4–6 Checkups
- Manager Accountability
- Social Salesman
A working, database-backed version of this tool is live behind manager sign-in — open it above. No dealership usage or production results are claimed here beyond what the tool itself does.
A Real Daily Manager Shift Checklist
An actual shift-responsibility sheet from Step's own dealership operations — role labels shown in place of individual names.
Opening Manager — GM for the Day
- Hold morning meeting
- Call to confirm all AM appointments
- Previous 2 days' CSI calls
- 1-on-1s with a minimum of 3 sales reps
Mid-Shift Manager
- 1-on-1s with a minimum of 3 sales reps
- Call last 72-hour logs
- Previous day's internet leads
- Manage CITs (contracts in transit)
- Previous day's missed appointments
Closing Manager
- Send TRUE log
- Confirm next-day appointments by 5PM
- Ignite deals status
- Manage 12-2-4-6PM check-ups
- 1-on-1s with a minimum of 3 sales reps
Performance-Based UP Rotation
A salesperson-ranking and customer-assignment tool that uses sales and activity metrics to determine the next available UP, in place of a purely passive turn order.
Open Up RotationInsights
Articles, clips, and posts tagged Sales Management on Media & Insights.
View Management InsightsRelated Experience
General Sales Manager — Auto Gallery Auto Group, June 2015 – September 2023
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