Should You Invest in Car Sales Training for Your Sales Team?

Your dealership is only as good as the sales team it creates, and that means empowering them with the skills and knowledge they need to capitalize on their opportunities. Talented salespeople often have a highly developed skill set and a natural ability to work with people—but is it enough to compete in today’s environment?

In the vast majority of cases, the answer is… nope! The business has evolved considerably even in the past few years, and it takes a lot of homework to stay ahead of the curve. However, training is also an expensive investment, and the industry-specific skills required for a great trainer are difficult to come by. Any solution needs to help your people work as a team to master each part of the sales journey—from calls to appointments to closing a deal.

That’s why you can’t afford to give your team generalized sales training and one-off lectures. Getting on top and staying there is an ongoing process of pursuing excellence. We’ll give you the hard facts to show you why it’s a necessary investment, as well as equip you with the knowledge to choose the right sales training partner.

What Actually Pays Off in Car Sales Training?

There’s no shortage of generic sales advice out there, and a lot of it comes in slick packaging that looks and feels promising. But how often have you had high hopes deflated—along with your bottom line— by training that lacks actionable advice, game-changing insights, and concrete strategies that make a dent in the numbers?

When you’re looking at training partners, you should see the following topics presented front and center as the foundation of any results they’re promising. Each of these points represents a current and future business strategy that’s at the leading edge of today’s automotive sales industry. 

Phone Script Delivery

Sales scripts can have a bad reputation in any industry, but that’s a faulty perception that’s often driven by poor delivery. The reality is that the art of using scripts to maximize every revenue opportunity with an engaging and natural delivery is well understood by the top automotive consultants. 

When delivered well, sales scripts are an integral part of any next-level dealership strategy. Here’s how sales training with expert coaches improves the effectiveness of any script:

• Scripts are largely memorized, which dramatically improves the naturalness of delivery and transitions between different sections as the conversation branches.
• Ongoing coaching continually improves a sales rep’s ability to deploy scripts in a conversational way so customers feel at ease. 
• Scripts clarify the progression of a sales call, helping your team stay on message and driving toward closing.
• Employees are highly trained to present crucial items like asking for appointments, giving directions, getting contact details, service recommendations, and add-on sales opportunities.

Dealership Benefits

The most important thing sales training improves is your appointment set rate from phone traffic. Most dealerships convert only  28% of these calls to appointments on average, but the top teams leveraging great training come in around 60-80%. That’s a huge competitive advantage that speaks directly to your bottom line. 

Another advantage is reliable and accurate CRM data entry. Almost 80% of calls never make it into the CRM, or the inputted data lacks crucial information. How do we get this number? An astonishing 50% of all customers are never asked for contact information, making it impossible to enter anything useful into the system. 25% of customers are then mis-transferred, with the last 5% hanging up in frustration. Proper training in conjunction with great scripts eliminates all these problems.

Customer service/experience is another area that sees huge benefits. Without solid scripts coached by a great training partner, employees are left largely to their own personal experience, talents, and intuition when interacting with customers. Sales training eliminates the enormous variability in quality and consistency this approach produces. 

Finally, brand messaging is also homogenized. The result is that every time a customer calls (or is called by) your dealership, they instantly know they’re talking to you and have a positive emotional reaction from familiarity developed over time. It’s also crucial for customers to experience continuity as their sales journey leads them from your online content to phone contact and in-person experiences on the sales floor. 

In-House vs. Outsourced Training

In many cases, choosing between in-house and outsourced training comes down to understanding the relationship between an initial investment and the return it delivers. In-house training has been much more popular in the past when sales dynamics were comparatively simplified compared to today’s environment which is dominated by online content and appointment setting. 

While there will always be some in-house work that goes on, there are many key sales training aspects that are simply better handled by experienced professionals. Here are the pros and cons of each approach when you’re deciding how to strike the right balance. 

In-House Solutions

Pros

• You control all aspects of the process.
• Tweaks and changes are implemented more quickly because there’s no third party involved.
• Your solutions are proprietary and your own.

Cons

• Very expensive, as the department requires constant attention from leadership.
• No access to new and fresh ideas from outside your dealership.
• Hiring expert coaches is expensive, as is training inexperienced people.
• Turnover in your training department can result in delaying necessary training for current staff.

Outsourced Solutions

Pros

• Dedicated training partners are able to focus on small details that can make a big difference in outcomes. 
• Automotive training consultants have a deep understanding of industry trends and a variety of markets. They typically have a lot more experience than an in-house team could ever accumulate.
• All aspects of sales training are handled by the agency, meaning you are free to focus 100% on what you do best—run your business.
• Good agencies conduct their own mystery shops to ensure all training is verified, and areas needing improvement are identified.

Cons

• Not every training partner specializes in the unique challenges auto sales present— choose wisely!
• Avoid one-size-fits-all consultants.
• Some only offer long-term contracts.

Car Sales Training Is Worth the Investment

Professional consultants like Phone Ninjas can provide all the benefits of an in-house training department on top of industry expertise that only a specialized training organization can deliver. We have a deep understanding of the modern industry’s sales environment and have tailored our sales training system to give your team the hard and soft skills it takes to excel. 

Our expert coaches work with each team member individually in short, high-impact sessions, and then our Phone Ninjas use mystery shopping to ensure it sticks. We follow up with more coaching if areas for improvement are identified, leaving no one behind.

And because this is our bread and butter, we take care of all aspects of the sales training process, leaving you free to run your dealership. We present you with data-driven reports and utilize highly efficient training methods that empower you to make the best possible business decisions without interfering with your day-to-day operations. 

Let us help your sales team triple or even quadruple the appointment rates over the competition. Reach out today for a free demo and two free mystery shops, and find out what a difference a dedicated training expert can make.