Auto Dealer Monthly, September 2014

TRAINING STOP PUNISHING YOUR STAFF Sentencing your sales staff to an afternoon in front of the TV or computer is no way to motivate them Meeting with dealers all over the country collection of enough real life illustrate just about any lesson still makes me cringe salesman and a customer lot looking at vehicles Th e knew the salesman was back in the store and his customer was gone What the heck just happened the sales manager asked He was looking for a four wheel drive truck and he didnt have time to shop today the salesman replied Aft er the sales manager gave the salesman a piece of his mind and allowed his blood pressure to drop to a safe level he ordered the salesman to go to the conference room and watch a video on how to conduct a proper turnover Th e salesman walked off and the sales manager turned around shaking his head in disgust Maybe when he learns that he can handle another up today Believe it or not there are still countless dealers and managers who operate their training programs like this If you send your staff to watch videos online or otherwise in a conference room and only when you feel they arent doing their job you are punishing them not teaching them Worse yet you are failing them Newly hired and underperforming sales pros dont need time outs and they dont deserve your scorn Th ey deserve training Videos are a big part of most training curricula and rightly so Th ey can be a fantastic training aid for the following reasons Th ey are cost eff ective Th ere is an abundance of free videos on YouTube including many produced by some of the industrys top trainers You may also fi nd videos intended for other industries that can apply to your processes and goals Th ey are time eff ective Properly preparing for internal training or shooting your own videos requires a huge investment of time and energy Th ey can be inspiring Trainers may have created videos for topics you have never considered But DVD players and YouTube are not teachers and they are oft en a very poor substitute when used alone Aft er all Videos created by a third party arent likely to align perfectly with your dealerships culture mission or policies Th ey may teach some things you simply dont want put into practice at your dealership Playing a video without a trainer or manager present doesnt allow for questions and clarifi cations Few staff ers can watch a video and retain all the information it contains Read write learners and kinesthetic learners may struggle in a video only environment Some employees will simply tune out space out or take a mental break Others will spend the time brooding about being punished So stop punishing your staff You can use videos to improve performance but you must elect a trainer and ask them to follow this four step process 32 AUTO DEALER MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2014 1 Select a video or videos watch each in its entirety and note any lessons that may confl ict with your sales process or your stores culture 2 Create a handout that includes a brief outline of each videos content 3 Watch each video with the staff Encourage note taking Pause the video to share clarifi cations and answer any questions your trainees may have written down 4 At the end answer any remaining questions and encourage the staff to discuss and debate and practice if applicable the lessons presented in the video Training is not a punishment In fact its a reward for the hardworking people who have joined your company and dedicated themselves to the realization of your goals Properly presented videos can go a long way toward making those goals a reality Harlene Doane is COO of DealerStrong and co organizer of the annual Industry Summit She is the former editor of Auto Dealer Monthly and has expertise in dealership accounting and operations HDoane@ AutoDealerMonthly com de Me ing has given me a co examples to illust Heres one that sti on One minute a were out on the l ou next thing we kne thi By Harlene Doane ISTOCKPHOTO COM PESHKOV Videos are most effective as part of a training curriculum that adds context to the lessons presented