Automotive Training and Development

From CarDealerWiki

Are you interested in Increasing your Sales and Profits by 15 to 30 percent?Italic text

Automotive Training & Development provides sales training for automotive, marine, RV, and motorcycle dealerships. Our highly effective and affordable sales training programs can dramatically improve your bottom line.

Training is the most cost effective way to increase sales and profits. AT&D offers three sales training programs that can be tailored to your needs:

· Recruiting and training new sales associates · Retraining for Professional Sales Associates · Management Training and Support

All of our programs come with a guarantee.

Automotive Training & Development offers sales training programs that assist automotive salespeople Increase their sales and profits. Our approaches focus on creating motivated and inspired sales professionals who enjoy their work and are eager to serve their clients. Our methods incorporate the latest ideas in automotive training, sales effectiveness and human development.

Let us help you boost staff morale, improve sales, increase profits, and enhance customer satisfaction.

Our Mission and Core BeliefsItalic text

Our mission is to boost automotive sales, profits and customer satisfaction by providing high quality and affordable recruitment and sales training services for automotive, marine, RV, and motorcycle dealerships.

Core BeliefsItalic text

A highly motivated and effective sales team can accelerate sales and profits. Although product quality and competitive pricing are important, the quality of your sales force can give you a real competitive edge. That’s because between 35 to 37% of a customer’s buying decision is based on the salesperson.

Successful sales people build relationships and add value during the sales process so that customers buy from your dealership, not your competitors. Furthermore, by following up, soliciting referrals, and actively prospecting, they generate repeat business and bring customers flocking to your dealership.

In most dealerships, the sales team needs additional training and development. While 80 percent of customers come to a dealership to buy, the average closing ratio nationally is only 20 percent. That’s because 90 percent of sales people don’t understand or follow the key steps to a sale. Most of these “lost” customers will make a purchase within a week, yet only 10 percent will receive a follow-up call. If they do return to your showroom, 65 percent will make a purchase. Effective sales training programs cover a variety of important topics, not just product knowledge. These include: 1) how to set and meet goals, create and maintain a positive mental attitude, and develop strong personal relationships; 2) the 11 steps to a sale, from welcoming the customer to negotiation and closing, delivery, follow-up, and prospecting; and 3) strategies and resources for continuous learning and improvement.

Even GREAT sales professionals need ongoing training and development, performance monitoring, and a supportive working environment. The industry changes rapidly, and even top performers need periodic refresher programs to stay on their game. By setting clear performance criteria, sales managers can reward success and identify areas in need of improvement. Finally, the best way to retain your top staff and avoid costly turnover is by creating a positive, family-like environment where both sales people and customers feel valued and supported.

Sales Training PhilosophyItalic text

ATD’s philosophy is simple. To be effective, we must make three different “customers” smile--our dealerships, our trainees, and, ultimately, our dealership’s customers. We make our dealerships smile by helping them develop GREAT sales professionals and reduce costly turnover. We also do this by:

· Offering a variety of low-cost services that can be tailored to your specific needs · Providing only experienced sales trainers who want to build a long-term relationship with your dealership · Spending time with your sales manager to go over the sales training program, describe its philosophy, answer questions, and discuss ways to provide ongoing support · Guaranteeing our work

We make our trainees smile by enhancing their productivity, increasing their income, and improving the quality of their lives. In addition, we treat them fairly by:

· Telling them about all the costs and potential benefits up front, without over promising. · Using highly interactive training methods that engage trainees, ask them to role play various sales strategies, and encourage them to assume the mindset of their customers. · Providing them with a detailed training manual and suggesting other resources for continuous learning. · Using positive methods that serve to strengthen their motivation and self-confidence · Teaching them the knowledge and skills they need to build relationships, add value throughout the sales process, and continue to learn and sales process, continue to improve over time.

We make your customers smile by making sure that your sales people:·

       Are personable, build immediate rapport, listen actively to their customers’ wants and needs, and respond to their “hot buttons.” 

· Find your customers the right vehicle for them—one that they want and is within their means—and demonstrate its real value. · Negotiate in a principled way that creates in a win-win situation for both the dealership and the customer. Provide a perfect delivery and regular follow up so that your customers not only smile, but come back over and over again and refer others to your dealership.

Sales Training MethodsItalic text

A Positive ApproachItalic text

Automotive Training & Development uses a positive approach to sales training that inspires and motivates our trainees and produces results. We teach our trainees how to add value throughout the sales process, from the initial welcome, through negotiations and closing, to delivery and follow-up. Our training content and methods are designed to accelerate sales, profits, and customer relations. We know we’ve succeeded if our trainees, their managers, and their customers all smile.

Multiple Tools and Interactive StrategiesItalic text

Our training methods use a variety of tools and interactive strategies that are drawn from the literature on effective sales training and adult learning:Italic text·

Active engagement. We engage trainees in role plays, visualization exercises, secret shopping experiences, and other interactive activities designed to promote enthusiasm and foster leaning. · Use of case examples. We bring in real-life cases and examples to illustrate what does or does not work. We ask our trainees to share their own experiences as well. All of us have come across GREAT sales people who built trusting and personal relationships and made us feel comfortable with our purchase. We’ve also run across sales people who failed to smile or make a personal connection, showed little interest in helping us, and didn’t listen or respond to our wants and needs.

       Teamwork and cooperation, not competition. Our training focuses on generating self-confidence, motivation, and inspiration. We encourage our trainees to work together, learn from one another, and provide each other with constructive feedback. Creating a network of support during and after training is an important part of our training methods.
        Focus on strengths and assets, not weaknesses. We don’t embarrass our trainees in public. We model effective leadership and salesmanship by focusing on trainees’ strengths rather than their weaknesses and mentioning progress where we see it. Of course, constructive feedback is always helpful if framed in the right way.  

Continuous learning. We emphasize the importance of continuous learning throughout the training itself and after the training sessions end. We provide tools, resources, and concrete exercises so that trainees can sustain their positive mental attitude and enhance their knowledge and skills over time.

Why Use an Outside Trainer?Italic text

Recruiting, selecting and training the right sales people is one of the most important tasks facing automotive dealerships! Two Fortune-100 companies surveyed their customers to see how much value their salespeople contributed to the sale. They discovered that the salesperson accounted for 35-37% of the value that customers receive.

A principal cause of poor performance is hiring the wrong people for the job. But, as obvious as it seems, many dealerships still have ill-defined processes and woefully low standards for whom they hire and how they initially train new employees. Often, they rely on chat-style interviews with a handful of candidates, a technique that is both time-consuming and a poor predictor of success.

Few dealerships have the time or staff resources to provide intensive and ongoing training to their new recruits and seasoned employees. Even the best sales managers can get caught up in day-to-day operations. Others simply assume that sales people will learn on the job.

As a result, sales employee turnover at the typical new car franchise dealer is about 50%. That's a problem in an era of thinning margins, when retaining customers is more important than ever. Many dealerships assume that constantly hiring new salespeople is just part of doing business, without ever trying to change the norm. That's a costly mistake.

Competing for talented salespeople requires that dealerships cast a wider net and set higher standards for hiring.Italic text The problem is most dealerships just run classified ads in the newspaper and keep getting the same people applying for the job. Often dealerships hire their competitors' failed salespeople, many of whom come with bad attitudes and bad habits learned by some 8 car guy. With Automotive Training & Development, you can be assured that your salespeople will be carefully screened and expertly trained.

The automotive sales war is heating up, and your competitors are always looking to attract better talent.Italic text Partnering with an outside firm can help you recruit and train outstanding sales professionals that produce results.

Why Automotive Training & Development?Italic text

• We are client-centered. Too many automotive training companies offer limited packages, with very little flexibility. We’re not simply a “canned” system. We believe in a more personalized approach, so we work with our dealerships to tailor our training programs to meet their needs.

• Our approach is value added. Value-added salespeople sell three things—the product, the dealership, and themselves. This three-dimensional approach not only produces immediate results, but also creates customers for life.

• We teach the psychology of sales, not just the sales process. Most automotive training companies focus almost exclusively on the “ten steps to a sale.” Selling vehicles requires a lot more. Top salespeople are highly motivated, have clear goals and expectations, are extremely self confident, and enjoy building relationships with their customers. That is, they have what we call a “positive mental attitude.”

• We don’t believe in one-shot training. Many organizations simply fly someone in for a training session and then leave. Often, you don’t even know who you’ll get. Our goal is to build a lasting relationship with your dealership. That’s why we assign a highly qualified trainer who can not only recruit and train new salespeople, but also retrain your current sales associates and work with your management team over time. We also provide tools and resources continuous learning.

• We focus on results. Our goal is to improve the lives of the sales people we train, add value to your dealership, and, in turn, serve your customers well. That’s why you can expect to see a 20 to 30 percent increase in sales and profits immediately!

Programs and Services Italic text

1. Recruiting and Training New Sales ProfessionalsFirst, we place one of our proven ads to attract a large pool of applicants. After carefully screening those who apply, we select a limited number for intensive training. These candidates receive 24 hours of hands-on training including the psychology of selling, the key steps to a sale, and the importance of continuous learning. At the end, you have the opportunity to interview the trainees and select those you want to work for you.

2. Advanced Training for Seasoned Sales Professionals. We customize our programs to meet your needs. We offer 12- or 16 hour refresher courses, as well as ongoing classes and seminars. Topics include: How to Create and Maintain a Positive Mental Attitude; How to Build Customer Relationships for Life; Advanced Selling Techniques; Prospecting; and Continuous Learning. We can train a small number of staff or your entire sales team--half on one day and half on another. Whatever you choose, we will make sure that your sales professionals have a positive and invigorating experience that improves sales, profits, and CSI.

3. Management Development Our management training focuses on how to inspire and motivate people to be their best. We teach the qualities of great leaders—developing a clear vision and strategy, communicating that vision, empowering staff, team-building, generating short-term wins, providing positive feedback, and promoting lifelong learning. Bottom line—great leaders produce great results!

Program Benefits Italic text

• Improved morale and lower staff turnover. In the end, this will reduce your costly need to place help wanted ads, recruit, interview, and train new people in the future. Stopping the open door policy, thereby creating more sales, better working atmosphere, thus increasing job satisfaction.

• Increased sales, gross profits, and closing ratios. Your small investment will quickly pay for itself, with the first or second incremental sale.

• Better customer relations. As word spreads to family and friends, your customer base will further multiply.

• Additional prospects. Your sales people will bring in new clients as they follow-up with past customers, contact orphan owners, and develop their own leads.

• Positioning for the future. As the economy improves, you will have a motivated and skilled sales force ready to take advantage of the customers flocking to your dealership. RESOURCES

	NEWSLETTERS[Italic text] GO to [1] and download any of our free newsletters.  

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