Sales are the lifeblood of any dealership, and this means you need a comprehensive sales training program that really supports these efforts.  The Wall Street Journal reports new-vehicle sales declined in the first half of the year and is expected to extend through the rest of the year. This will tighten budgets across the board, and your team needs to work now to counter the negative impact.

Here are four sales training techniques to keep your dealership team working strong for the years to come.

1. Align Sales Training with Business Strategy

Your sales training will ultimately need to arm employees with the tools to succeed at following your business’s strategic goals. Yes, you want more revenue, but is that going to come from new car sales, upsells, better marketing and collection efforts, or what?

A successful sales training program has end goals laid out, along with quantifiable steps leading to those goals that everyone on the team can collaborate on achieving.

2. Know Your Customer

The way people buy cars is changing, and Cox Automotive’s 2018 Car Buyer Journey found buyers spend less time on the market than in previous years, and 60% of this time is spent shopping online. The study also found the volume of people who return to a dealership they previously bought/leased from rose to 31%, while fewer people are shopping around.

Understanding these trends gives you direction on how your employees can reach your customers to make more sales.

3. Build on Existing Processes

Your dealership didn’t get to where it is without some type of process in place. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when you can just build on what’s already working. Talk to your staff to figure out who your subject matter experts (SMEs) are and tap them to incorporate their knowledge into sales training.

It’s also worthwhile to talk to your staff about what’s not working in existing processes to discover ways to improve.

4. Use Available Technology

If there’s technology available, then there’s no reason not to use it. Not everyone has a massive vending machine-like Carvana, but that doesn’t mean you can’t leverage the same online and mobile marketing tools. Customer relationship management (CRM) software should also be implemented if you don’t already have one.

Everything from tracking leads to following up post-sale should be backed with data. We have more access than ever before to technology, so you should be using it.

Bonus Tip: Consult the Experts

Not every business has the capability of developing a solid sales training program that brings everyone up to speed with your top sellers. We understand that.

Contact one of our professional consultants today to learn how The ACE Group’s sales training courses can jumpstart your dealership.