Virtual and Digital Sales

The automotive industry is rapidly changing, forcing dealerships to modernize their selling techniques, customer retention strategies and F&I operations. And while new technologies are helping to streamline this optimization process, some of the biggest industry challenges continue to weigh down dealerships’ profitability and growth:

• Declining profit margins on vehicle sales
• Increasing competition from online retailers
• Shifting preferences about the retail experience
• Lack of consumer F&I awareness

To stay relevant in this highly fluid marketplace, you must constantly refine your sales practices and personalize the buyer’s journey in new and exciting ways. This requires a holistic approach to employee training and development that gives equal weight to in-person and digital retail activities, including:

• New and used car sales
• F&I products and services
• Fixed Operations offerings

The Nuts and Bolts of Auto Sales Training

Whether utilizing internal or external resources, or a mixture of both, auto sales training typically falls into two categories.

#1 New hire training programs that explain a dealership’s core products, processes and technologies, which benefit employees by:

• Building a strong foundation in automotive sales and F&I products
• Providing an overview of basic product and service knowledge
• Detailing the sales process and key product life cycles

#2 Reinforcement and professional development that continuously elevates what employees learn as new hires. Dealerships should create a documented onboarding plan that outlines specific learning objectives for employees’ entire first year, while also providing one-on-one coaching for goals outside of monthly sales. These efforts can help seasoned sales and F&I professionals by:

• Offering upskilling opportunities across business units
• Expanding product knowledge and F&I awareness beyond the basics
• Improving sales and communication competencies both in-store and online

Investing in your staff, no matter their tenure, has a direct and immediate benefit to your dealership’s performance.

Specific Tools for Specific Problems

Understanding the basics of auto selling is undeniably valuable, but there is significant buzz about how to appeal to today’s consumers. The key to success is less about flashy conversion techniques and more about creating streamlined purchase pathways. Modern training programs provide actionable tools and techniques that enable salespeople to effectively navigate today’s dealership environment, such as:

• Helping informed car buyers through the in-store retail transaction
• Using the proper communication methods for consumers of different generations
• Aligning the dealership’s business practices including sales, F&I and the service drive

Today’s consumers are spending less time in the market before purchasing a new vehicle, so dealers have fewer opportunities to convert shoppers into buyers. This makes a strong training program essential to the long-term profitability of dealerships’ variable and fixed operations.

 

Car buyers are now spending 96 days in market – down 22 days since 2017.²

Personalizing the Buyer’s Journey

Making a lasting and positive impact with consumers is one of the best ways to turn car shoppers into lifelong customers. While this may seem obvious on the surface, this challenge (or opportunity) should always be top of mind for your Sales, F&I and Fixed Operations professionals.

Every shopper comes from a unique background and has different preferences and goals. To truly offer a personalized buying experience, your staff must be able to form a deep connection with people, not “buyers.” In addition to developing key interpersonal skills, dealership training can help your workers assess the exact needs of individuals and communicate more effectively in sales conversations.

Beyond the interpersonal, dealerships can create a better experience for consumers and open the door for an upsell by:

• Streamlining sales processes
• Building trust through product knowledge and customer service
• Putting customers’ needs first

Acknowledging Customer Research

Thanks to the wide availability of online resources, today’s car buyers have a near limitless amount of information at their fingertips. Research from Cox Automotive found that 80% of all car buyers visited at least one third-party website during the shopping process.²

When consumers visit a dealership in person, they likely have a good idea of what they want and how much they’re willing to pay. As such, sales reps have less wiggle room during negotiations and must have a strong command of product-related knowledge.

Consistent employee training and development can help salespeople and F&I professionals:

• Understand different types of consumers
• Acknowledge the causes of buyer resistance
• Target customers’ buying motives
• Build credibility at the point of sale and beyond

The average consumer spends just under 14 hours researching and shopping for vehicles online before making a purchase.²

Regardless, consumers have their own reasons for passing up on a fair deal. Understanding common causes of buyer resistance like individual needs, a lack of urgency, distrust in the product and overall price can help your reps finalize car sales and identify specific F&I products and Fixed Operations services customers may benefit from.

Alternatively, car buyers have specific motives for investing in a new or used car. Salespeople who are able to read these motives and adjust accordingly are better equipped to negotiate a price and build lasting relationships.

Remember, trust and transparency are the pillars of customer service.

Building a Culture of Collaboration

We know margins on vehicle sales are shrinking, which is why collaboration between departments is essential to your success. Removing silos from your business operations and creating an environment of mutual dependence between sales professionals, F&I managers and Fixed Operations departments can make a huge difference in bottom-line profit and customer satisfaction. Business training can help salespeople, F&I professionals and Fixed Operations specialists:

• Introduce F&I products earlier in the buyer’s journey
• Offer specific products/solutions to address customers’ needs
• Streamline point-of-sale conversions through team-oriented engagement

One of the core benefits of dealership training programs is that each department can position the others as part of a wider team, helping promote collaboration and build more productive relationships. Successful dealerships understand that F&I products and Fixed Operations services are key revenue streams that should not be neglected in favor of boosting sales revenue, as they often go hand in hand.

Fundamental Strengths

Secure Long-Term Profitability

For over 40 years, we have worked alongside dealerships to prepare Sales and F&I professionals for the future of auto retailing. Our massive catalog of training programs and support services are designed with today’s car buyers in mind and offer actionable solutions to some of the toughest challenges in the industry. Our clients’ successes tell the story of how business training can directly support your short-term revenue goals and long-term growth.

Attending the Skills for the Business Manager course has helped F&I managers increase their overall PVR by enabling learners to maximize customer retention, making it less likely for visitors to choose an independent service center. The training also worked to decrease turnover by enhancing employee confidence and results delivery.

The future of auto retailing isn’t as dark as many experts believe, as long as you have the talent, resources and experience to adapt to industry changes. If you’re looking to transform your F&I department into a profit-generating powerhouse, our modern training courses can help guide the way.

At JM&A Group, our training experts have extensive retail backgrounds and are well versed in sales, finance, fixed operations and total dealership management. Through the Performance Development Center (PDC), our in-house auto retailing university, your dealership staff can gain access to cutting-edge and highly interactive training techniques that are proven to boost participant performance and maximize retention.

PDC has supported the training of F&I departments for over 20 years and has continuously refreshed its courses to keep pace with the shifting needs of modern dealerships. Offering both instructor-led programs and online webinars, the PDC team is at the forefront of auto retailing, financing, management and leadership training.