Monday, September 22, 2008
The Profit Pitch – the value of Independent Training
Being an independent training company has its advantages and disadvantages over other training providers owned by banks, finance houses and vehicle manufacturers.
The disadvantages are very clear. There are no guarantees as to where your next deal, job or client is coming from, and you have no captive audience compelled to use you for training and development purposes.
But luckily for us at Profit Training we consider the ups outweigh the downs. As an independent training company when we meet with a dealer client we have to introduce ourselves and our offering, qualify, sell the benefits, trial close, handle objections and close the deal. We then have to do what we promised to do, ensure the client is happy with the results and their return on investment, and then we have to make sure we get paid. I am sure every one of you reading this article will recognise the similarity of our sales process to your own on the sales floor.
But these aren't the advantages of being an independent training company. The real advantages are the simple, uncluttered ability to offer unbiased recommendations without evasion or reservation of any kind. We can offer our dealer clients a cast iron guarantee that any recommendations made or advice given is delivered without any politics or third-party agenda.
Our aims are to deliver a measurable return on investment for clients, to improve their businesses profitability, to improve their income per retail unit, to improve their sales processes, and to ensure that everybody in their sales function has a clear understanding of the businesses objectives, aims and aspirations.
At Profit Training we tend to summarise this process with two important key words:
Confident Competence.
Way too many training providers deliver training courses to dealer delegates that only satisfies the competence aspect of development. The vast majority of these training providers are manufacturer or finance house linked. Critically, their primary agenda is the transfer of knowledge to prove competence in a specific area, an example of which would be a manufacturer running a training course on a particular model roll out or event, or a dealer group buying half a dozen CD-ROMs to ensure their staff have provable technical competence within the guidelines of the FSA to sell general insurance products.
The section that is missing from most of these training courses is confidence, and sadly all too many delegates leave training courses with new knowledge, skills, or abilities that through a lack of confidence they will never use. It is this sort of training which presents independent training companies with an unfair negative image, and a clear and open marketplace.
It is no coincidence that the dealerships or dealer groups that are most profitable have a clear focus on delivering professional independent training to their selling teams, ensuring that all delegates that attend regular training programmes are confidently competent in the areas in which they are expected to sell.
We have recently delivered a training programme for a large dealer group that was a rerun of a failed programme delivered by another provider. When we interviewed the sales staff at one of the group’s dealerships it immediately became apparent that the training had been 100% effective at imparting knowledge, and 0% effective at imparting skills or confidence in delivering that knowledge to clients.
In a nutshell, the delegates knew their stuff, they just weren't sharing it with customers, and the impact on the businesses F&I profitability was clear to see. We were able to enthuse, energise and encourage the sales teams to use their knowledge to sell products, and improve their income per retail unit from ancillary sales.
I remember when I first came into the motor industry, and F&I profits were often considered to be the icing on the cake, but times have changed and this revenue stream is no longer an option, but a ‘must have’ to ensure ongoing business viability and profitability.
The inordinate amount of regulation via the consumer credit act, the data protection act and the insurance mediation directive (FSA), along with a whole host of associated bureaucracy and red tape has all but suffocated that traditional revenue stream. But those dealers and dealer groups that understand, value and deliver professional independent training are still enjoying a healthy return, good finance profitability, FSA compliance and happy F&I provider partners.
So, in summary if you want your sales teams to understand the products they sell then get those product providers into your business to deliver training. But if you want to profit from your business, and you want your sales teams to have the skills and confidence to work around regulation, understand the requirements and deliver profitable product sales compliantly, then get in touch, we will be delighted to help.
The disadvantages are very clear. There are no guarantees as to where your next deal, job or client is coming from, and you have no captive audience compelled to use you for training and development purposes.
But luckily for us at Profit Training we consider the ups outweigh the downs. As an independent training company when we meet with a dealer client we have to introduce ourselves and our offering, qualify, sell the benefits, trial close, handle objections and close the deal. We then have to do what we promised to do, ensure the client is happy with the results and their return on investment, and then we have to make sure we get paid. I am sure every one of you reading this article will recognise the similarity of our sales process to your own on the sales floor.
But these aren't the advantages of being an independent training company. The real advantages are the simple, uncluttered ability to offer unbiased recommendations without evasion or reservation of any kind. We can offer our dealer clients a cast iron guarantee that any recommendations made or advice given is delivered without any politics or third-party agenda.
Our aims are to deliver a measurable return on investment for clients, to improve their businesses profitability, to improve their income per retail unit, to improve their sales processes, and to ensure that everybody in their sales function has a clear understanding of the businesses objectives, aims and aspirations.
At Profit Training we tend to summarise this process with two important key words:
Confident Competence.
Way too many training providers deliver training courses to dealer delegates that only satisfies the competence aspect of development. The vast majority of these training providers are manufacturer or finance house linked. Critically, their primary agenda is the transfer of knowledge to prove competence in a specific area, an example of which would be a manufacturer running a training course on a particular model roll out or event, or a dealer group buying half a dozen CD-ROMs to ensure their staff have provable technical competence within the guidelines of the FSA to sell general insurance products.
The section that is missing from most of these training courses is confidence, and sadly all too many delegates leave training courses with new knowledge, skills, or abilities that through a lack of confidence they will never use. It is this sort of training which presents independent training companies with an unfair negative image, and a clear and open marketplace.
It is no coincidence that the dealerships or dealer groups that are most profitable have a clear focus on delivering professional independent training to their selling teams, ensuring that all delegates that attend regular training programmes are confidently competent in the areas in which they are expected to sell.
We have recently delivered a training programme for a large dealer group that was a rerun of a failed programme delivered by another provider. When we interviewed the sales staff at one of the group’s dealerships it immediately became apparent that the training had been 100% effective at imparting knowledge, and 0% effective at imparting skills or confidence in delivering that knowledge to clients.
In a nutshell, the delegates knew their stuff, they just weren't sharing it with customers, and the impact on the businesses F&I profitability was clear to see. We were able to enthuse, energise and encourage the sales teams to use their knowledge to sell products, and improve their income per retail unit from ancillary sales.
I remember when I first came into the motor industry, and F&I profits were often considered to be the icing on the cake, but times have changed and this revenue stream is no longer an option, but a ‘must have’ to ensure ongoing business viability and profitability.
The inordinate amount of regulation via the consumer credit act, the data protection act and the insurance mediation directive (FSA), along with a whole host of associated bureaucracy and red tape has all but suffocated that traditional revenue stream. But those dealers and dealer groups that understand, value and deliver professional independent training are still enjoying a healthy return, good finance profitability, FSA compliance and happy F&I provider partners.
So, in summary if you want your sales teams to understand the products they sell then get those product providers into your business to deliver training. But if you want to profit from your business, and you want your sales teams to have the skills and confidence to work around regulation, understand the requirements and deliver profitable product sales compliantly, then get in touch, we will be delighted to help.
