New Age Training? Automotive Dealerships Investing In Electronic Training Methods On The Rise

July 12, 2012 - PRLog -- With so much competition how does a small to medium sized business like an automotive dealership stay competitive and focused on sales and customer satisfaction?

Through electronic training delivery systems says one company, DealerPro Training Solutions.

In the fast paced competitive world of retail automotive sales and service there has been an explosion of electronic and software based products designed to increase the dealers market share. Everything from used car inventory to website optimization.

And while there has been an emphasis on profit realization using software and computers, it has taken awhile for the idea of remote training through computer applications and video training to really take off.

There is one company that has invested in computer based video training to meet the growing need, DealerPro Training Solutions based in Gahanna, Ohio.

"We have had more requests for video and computer based training this year than ever before" says Leonard Buchholz, Marketing Manager for DealerPro.

In response to the increase DealerPro has taken an aggressive approach and added additional subjects to the content library based on requests from Dealers looking for new training material not readily available elsewhere.

"We've added new training modules in Leadership and Profit Generation" says Leonard "And the site has been upgraded with a new navigation interface that makes it easy to use."

While most dealers agree training is important and necessary to their success, finding the time to train is always a problem. Retail automotive dealerships are personnel dependent and taking someone away from their work station for an extended period of time is not possible for most dealerships.

"We have found that training modules that address dealer specific concerns and don't take a lot of time to deliver are the most effective" says Leonard. "In fact, most of our modules are less than 10 minutes which means a manager can train any employee on something like "Handling Objections" and get them back to work before anyone notices them missing."

With an emphasis on ROI, dealerships have been searching for ways to get training on subjects that matter most to them while staying within a budget that does not break the bank. Many have turned to alternative training methods like computer based training to meet that need and the trend has continued to grow.  

Additionally, there has been pressure in the retail automotive industry to keep more training "in-house" due to fears of culture differences and training that does not reflect the dealership's values. This has led to an increase of manager led training that is not always effective in getting the results that the dealership expected.

"It's not the managers or the dealerships fault." Leonard reports. "What we have discovered is that most managers are capable and competent when it comes to knowing what to do. It's just that they have trouble finding the time to train and show someone what to do. DealerPro VT is the tool that allows them train in their dealerships on their schedule and on the subjects that matter to them the most."

What can automotive dealerships expect in the next few years? A continued trend towards in-house training with an emphasis on computer based training modules reports Leonard. "We will see more dealers go away from traditional training methods and move towards a hybrid training curriculum. A mix of computer based training followed by in-house follow through training will become an industry standard within a few years."

For more information on automotive retail training and computer based delivery methods available you can contact DealerPro Training Solutions at info@dealerprotraining.com or call them at 888-553-0100.