My LinkedIn updates recently featured a posting concerning a "debate" hosted by the web show Auto Dealer Live between Alan Ram and Phone Ninjas founder Jerry Thibeau. Now I should disclose that I have enjoyed listenting to Jerry Thibeau speak at GM's eSummits for years and once was even privileged enough to share dinner with him, Joe Webb, Eric Miltsch, Allan Cooper and others from Dealer Think Tank. I also used his Phone Ninjas service to train one of my BDC reps and found the service very satisfactory. That being said, I am always a fan of an objective, meaningful exchange of ideas -- especially in regards to automotive digital marketing.
The exchange is the culmination of a feud between the two first sparked by an interview on CBT News wherein Alan Ram, of Proactive Training Solutions, proposed that dealers waste money when employing third party call monitoring services. Phone Ninjas' Jerry Thibeau, as one might expect, took umbrage with this notion and wasted no time in dispatching a rather pointed Dealer Refresh blog entry that featured a redlining "Bullshit Meter".
Hopefully this debate is not the type of ideological fare one would typically expect from the Auto Dealer Live show. The exchange was light on content and saturated with bombast and sensationalism. When filtered down to the basic essentials, the opposing arguments went thus:
Alan Ram, having taken great offense at Jerry's blog insult, posited that it is central to the job of any good sales manager to be monitoring incoming sales calls. He believes that a seasoned ear can quickly spot missed opportunities and thus reach out to prospects before it is too late.
Jerry Thibeau, for his part, believes that the sheer volume of calls coming into a dealership make the idea of 100% instant call inspection unlikely, if not altogether untenable. He believes that third party services such as the one he provides are better equipped to monitor, analyze, score, and coach sales staffs on their incoming call skills.
Had the argument been limited to a serious discussion of these the forum might have provided some useful insights to those trying to maximize their sales teams' effectiveness. Unfortunately, the conversation quickly degenerated into a bombastic and insulting tirade by Alan Ram who bemoaned that he could not believe that he had "put on pants" just for this discussion.
The key to any good planner, manager, leader et al is the ability to humble oneself to the point that one is willing to believe that he/she could be wrong. In its absence how can one be completely assured that our plans and processes represent the very best that there are?
I concede that Jerry Thibeau drew "first blood" by using a "Bullshit Meter" graphic to confront Alan's proposition that dealers divest themselves of third party call monitoring. Alan original point and subsequent counterpoints were drowned out his insulting, loud rant in which he focused on little more than the "third world call centers" and "minimum wage" talking points.
Auto Dealer Live and Alan Ram's related blogs proclaimed Alan the hands down winner, going so far as to claim that he "crushed" Jerry Thibeau. (Alan is a regular contributor to their show.) Jerry's Phone Ninja site and his friends of course countered that it was Jerry who in fact won. The reality is that this entire production was devoid of any meaningful exchange. There was no winner here, but there was a clear loser -- the automotive sales industry itself.
If we expect ourselves to be taken seriously that we should behave as though what we do is serious business. Both of these talented men had a valid point. The hosts should have moderated a debate, and not simply reveled in an Alan Ram insult festival.
Should sales managers monitor their sales calls as Alan Ram suggests? Absolutely. Does the average dealership call volume make this unwieldy? Yes. When an inadequate job is spotted on a recorded call, should the manager just call the customer and not coach the salesperson? Of course not. This is not ultimately an either/or question.
Sales managers should be constantly identifying coaching needs and addressing them, but not just on the phone. They should be coaching their staffs on greetings, product presentations, closing, proper follow up -- all the aspects of the selling process. They are not omnipresent. Quality data helps them to deftly determine their teams' most urgent performance deficits. A third party that can sift through every incoming call, find the sales calls, score them, and ultimately compile the data into easily interpreted reports can be an indispensable partner.
A good sales manager is not someone who can do the work of ten others, it is someone who can elevate ten others to his level. If a dealership budget allows for a good third party tool to help such a manager quickly determine who needs his/her assistance then utilize this tool! If you have a successful manager, you will not have to give him/her permission to monitor random incoming calls on his/her own, as well.
As for online debates, let's debate. If your ideas have merit, don't think that they can only be conveyed via bluster, and that counterpoints must contain childish insults. Haven't we as an industry already caricatured ourselves enough?
Related links:
http://www.dealerknows.com/
http://www.dealerrefresh.com/
http://ericmiltsch.com/
http://cbtnews.com/
http://www.phoneninjas.com/
http://proactivetrainingsolutions.com/
