Sales Management By CPA?

During my 30+ years in automotive I managed some of the most successful sales teams in Southern California. When it comes to successful dealership management, my top three priorities to build, in order of importance, are CPA: Culture, Process, and Accountability. These elements form the foundation of a high-performing dealership team.

Culture: The Foundation of Success
Creating the right culture is essential, but it doesn’t happen on its own. A positive culture means fostering an environment where your team feels comfortable enough to fail occasionally—because failure is where true growth happens.
Failure isn’t something that should be feared. A willingness to fail is a willingness to try. If a team member isn’t willing to try—whether from fear of being chastised or fear of failure itself—they can’t move forward.
As a sales manager for many years, I encouraged my team to use downtime as practice time. This included role-playing scenarios with each other and brainstorming creative ways to overcome customer objections. I always emphasized that it’s better to “practice” with teammates than to experiment during a real customer interaction. This approach helped build confidence and sharpened their skills without risking actual sales opportunities.

Process: The Key to Efficiency
Every good team needs a process—or even multiple processes—to operate efficiently and achieve measurable results. While processes should be adaptable to changing circumstances, they must also be consistent enough to provide a standard framework for everyone to follow.
There are many versions of the Steps to the Sale, but an early manager of mine once told me: “Simple is always better.” That advice stuck with me, so I’ve always trained teams with these simplified steps:

• Meet & Greet
• Show & Tell
• Demo & Sell

While the actual process often involved more detailed steps, these three phrases kept the team aligned and focused. Simplicity made training easier and ensured that no one overlooked the fundamentals.
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Accountability: A Framework for Growth
During my management years, I developed a simple three-part recommendation for salespeople, which I displayed throughout the dealership:
Be with a customer, be finding a customer, or be improving yourself.

1. Be with a customer: This is the ultimate goal and priority. Engaging with customers is what drives sales.
2. Be finding a customer: I encouraged a strong follow-up and prospecting culture. This included leveraging social media to build and maintain a personal customer base. With clear guidelines, I was comfortable allowing team members to use downtime for activities like creating social media content or connecting with potential clients online. I trusted my team and didn’t view this as “playing around on Instagram,” but rather as a modern sales tool.
3. Be improving yourself: When there are no customers to engage and all follow-up tasks are completed, salespeople should focus on honing their skills. This includes improving product knowledge, refining sales techniques, and brainstorming strategies for future success.

I acknowledged that working eight straight hours of intense focus is unrealistic, but I also stressed the importance of using downtime productively. It was surprising how much “free” time salespeople had—and how much of that time could be turned into value with the right mindset and culture.

My CPA framework helped me build some of the best sales teams in the SoCal automotive space. What are your go-to pillars of success? I’d love to hear your thoughts and strategies!