If you got a cool new toy, like a drone, and you had never used one, you were probably dependent on reading the manual to get started.  (Just kidding, no one reads the manual.)  And you wouldn’t ask Tom to make a cheesecake without providing the ingredients or telling him what kind of cheesecake you wanted, would you? 

It would make it easier and faster for you if you had someone show you how to use your new drone or if Tom had step-by-step directions (a recipe) to make a cheesecake.  Similar scenarios play out at dealerships daily when managers ask employees (new or experienced) to do something without providing enough training or refresher training.

If the goal is to have a high-performing workforce, we need to be in a continuous, consistent training mode to develop employees’ skills.  While reviewing Profit Blueprints trend analysis reports for the past few years, I noticed some departments spend nothing on training, while others well exceeded the target percentage.  What I couldn’t confirm for many dealerships was a direct correlation between training (or not) and the net profit. 

I hope that when you invest in training your staff, you are able to measure its impact.  An additional measurement, besides increased net profit or better CSI scores, is the employee turnover rate.  If you’ve invested in training, your employees the turnover rate should be reduced from the previous year.  See the last paragraph for the math on that equation. 

You know you’ll invest time in training new employees as they learn about your company, your policies and procedures, and their roles and responsibilities.  But don’t forget aboutwith your existing employees – refreshers on how to best perform their jobs and to learn new skills to aid them in their career growth.  Receiving continuous education also means they’re always on top of industry developments.

Create an annual Training Calendar. Begin with the factory-mandated training.  If you have a time choice with factory training, don’t select from May-August as you will already be challenged with vacations.  Look at your roster of employees who will benefit from training.  Determine what topics you want to review or train on with the employees.  Decide if you want to hire a professional trainer or if you’ll do it in-house.  For a list of pros and cons for both, email me at Brooke@profits4dealers.com.

After training review with employees what they learned.  A 2015 study for the Harvard Business School found that “participants who were asked to stop and reflect on a task they’d just performed improved at greater rates than participants who just practiced a task.”  Your post-training review should reflect on what employees have learned and how it benefits them (and the dealership).  Your reviews help you gather information to continually improve your training program.

Use the following techniques for your in-house training or to supplement with third-party training:

1)  Use two videos with a “before” and an “after” scenario.  Create a video of the wrong way to do something, such as a Service Advisor writing up a new Service Customer.  Ask folks from Accounting or the Sales department to be the actors.  During a Service meeting or training session, play the video and ask the attendees to critique the performance – what could the fake Advisor have done better?  Make a list of the ideas for improvement, augment them with your ideas if needed. 

Later use a Service Advisor to create a new video on the proper way to greet the Customer and write up two repair orders – one Customer with an appointment and one without an appointment.

You can use these videos for one-on-one training for new Advisors.  Use videos for training Technicians on performing a Multi-point Inspection or for a Salesperson highlighting features of specific vehicles or to learn how to use those features.

2)  Let them teach themselves. Self-teaching is not a substitute for more formal training, but it works to supplement a skill set or knowledge base. 

There are many things your employees can learn best on their own like the benefits of regular vehicle maintenance items or for Salespeople to learn the difference between your vehicles and the competition’s vehicles.  Encourage employees to use materials at the dealership (service menus, factory information), to search the Internet for the answers, or to speak with other employees. 

The advantages of self-learning include the “student” may gain a broader view of the topic versus what you have ready to teach.  This knowledge will stick with the employee longer; it teaches self-discipline and responsibility. 

Set timeframes for the employee to learn.  When they finish, have them share with you, or with the other employees, what they’ve learned.

Create internal “courses” for consistent training.  The courses could cover product features, business processes, DMS protocols, etc.  Create quick reference sheets (laminated) for easy access during the learning period.  For high-turnover positions (employees who stay less than a year), break the training down to the smallest learning points to create efficient and effective training.  Think McDonald’s.

3)  Use stories to help employees to remember. Storytelling is a strategic learning tool that conveys action – not static information.  For example, you could tell Technicians and Service Advisors the importance of completing thorough Multi-point Inspections and reporting ALL of the findings to the Customers or you could tell the story of the New Jersey dealership that paid out a $5,000,000 lawsuit settlement.  All because its employees were lax in doing their job, plus the lawsuit exposed that the dealership was making fraudulent claims about how the dealership inspected Customer’s vehicles.  Here’s how this came to light:

A tire blew out on a Customer’s vehicle and the vehicle rolled over. According to court documents, that happened three days after the Customer visited the dealership for a pre-vacation Inspection and services.  The Advisor failed to notify the Customer about the Technician’s concerns about a serious problem with the rear tire, along with the prior service records and Inspection reports that showed problems with tread depth and wear patterns.  I bet they’ll remember that.

Encourage employees to share stories during staff training meetings on how they’ve applied the knowledge they’ve gained.  As part of ongoing training, stay alert for stories that reinforce skills or knowledge and write the stories down to share when needed.

Keep a notebook of your stories that will reinforce a learning point.  How Kari sold a customer who said they were just looking.  How Miguel got a perfect CSI score from an upset customer.

Incorporate a variety of training methods to give your employees the skills they need for their success. Richard Branson, Virgin Group founder, sums it up: “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”

Calculate Employee Turnover.  Use your W-2s (US dealers) for this exercise.  You can also do this for each department.  Determine how many employees you issued W-2s to who are no longer employed. Determine the average number of employees for the year (add the number of employees at the beginning of the year to the number of employees at the end of the year, divide by two). Take the number of employees who left and divide it by the average number of employees for the year.  Multiply that by 100 to get your percentage of employee turnover.  Example: 40 employees are no longer at the dealership. The average number of employees during the year was 80. (40/80) x 100 = 50% turnover rate.