There is no finish line in life, and no matter how good your car sales team is, there are always new skills to learn and old tricks to perfect. With the constant evolution of products and customer habits to contend with, it may seem like the only way to stay ahead of the game is with expensive and time-consuming training.
Fortunately, that’s not always the case! The right training video paired with a flexible consulting partner can be all it takes to tweak a new team member’s perspective or remind a veteran salesperson of the fundamentals. But with the mountain of videos both new and old out there, how can you tell what’s going to resonate with your people and deliver the quality information they need? We’ve mined a few gems that will help to hone your team’s skills.
1. Lead with Comedy
Sometimes the best icebreaker is humor, and in a workplace of experienced professionals, it can impart information in an engaging way that is also non-confrontational. After all, comedy is a tremendously effective way to open the door to self-reflection and improvement.
This video of “Ron the Terrible Salesman,” put together by Phone Ninjas, is an excellent example. It’s a real sales call presented with humorous commentary, and it highlights things every car salesperson has said before… and never wants to say again! For a skilled team member, something this awful going on in their workplace would be infuriating, but presented in a training session, they’re chuckling from start to finish.
As this video progresses, they will notice little ways in which they may have committed some of these sins now and then. Combined with snacks and a short group discussion afterward, it feels less like training and more like lunch with friends. It’s the perfect way to slip a few car sales training tips in under the radar.
2. Make Connections and Sell Solutions
Here’s a wonderful video featuring Mike Hoyser talking about connecting with customers who have financial or credit problems. Financing is a perennial pain point in car sales, and how to discuss it compassionately and productively is always worth reviewing.
This is a great source of car sales training tips because it’s extremely clear and easy to digest. Instead of listing tons of steps and procedures that have to be memorized to solve a problem, it focuses on a simple perspective pivot that allows your team members to turn a possible impediment into a closing advantage.
3. Don’t Neglect the Front-of-House Team
So often in any training program, the focus is on sales or management. But your receptionists and showroom team are often the first contact for customers, and how they do their job can set the tone for your entire company.
You’ve got great people answering the phones, and keeping their skills sharp is all about reminding them how much of a difference the little details of phrasing can make. Jerry Thibeau has put together this amazing video that will touch on car sales training tips for your reception team.
4. Refreshing Your (Customer) Service Department
It can be easy to fall into the trap of assuming your service department will require only technical training. It is, after all, a huge part of what they do to contribute to your dealership’s success. But Nicole Marcellino reminds us in this series of videos that customer service training is just as important for your service team as any mechanical how-to materials. These evergreen tips will make sure the great phone assistance your customers get on the sales side is consistent across your business.
5. Overcoming Objections Is the Key to Closing
After watching the hilarious “Ron the Terrible Salesman” video we discussed above, the ice has been broken and direct training can be more impactful. While there are any number of excellent topics to cover here, one critical area for salespeople to overcome is handling customer objections.
After all, they’re going to be hearing these all day long! You’re selling vehicles worth tens of thousands of dollars, and that’s a lot of money for anyone. Every customer will look for reasons to drop the price, and getting to closing means turning negatives into positives and finding a value equation that works. This series of videos covers ten techniques your staff can use to continue moving toward closing.
6. Don’t Neglect Phone Techniques
Given how critical your dealership’s phone and internet game has become with the explosion of the internet, it makes sense to offer training videos that remind your team members of the fundamentals of incoming phone calls.
These days, the telephone is the first and best opportunity your people have to get customers into the showroom. Most dealerships only convert about 20% of these incoming calls into live, in-person appointments. With the right training, that rate should easily be over 60%.
Here’s a great short video series presented by Nicole Marcellino that offers rock-solid car sales training tips that will help you reach this number.
Find More Great Videos at Phone Ninjas
Our featured video hosts, Nicole, Jerry, and Mike, are all core team members here at Phone Ninjas. We offer our time-tested scripts and a number of our training videos completely free of charge to start improving your team today, but that’s just the beginning. The paid portion of our business focuses on coaching your team members in weekly one-on-one sessions to turn them into phone and internet experts that will boost your customer contacts into live appointments at rates 3-4 times higher than the industry average of 20%.
If you like what you’ve seen so far, our coaching program is the real gold mine. It’s a powerful tool that will transform your business and give you a real edge over your competition. Reach out today for a demo and two free mystery shops to take your dealership to the next level.
As the COO | Partner of Phone Ninjas, Chris delivers leadership, coaching, and mentorship to 55 team members providing software sales and phone skills coaching. He fosters powerful partnerships and collaborations with leaders across various business sectors, establishing expectations, communicating vision, and escalating performance to maximize productivity and effectiveness.
Chris is an innovation-driven business executive with over 25 years of experience delivering leadership to teams of up to 75 overseeing development, launch, and sale of website lead acquisition, reconditioning process software systems, and technology that support automotive dealerships across the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
