Helping Customers Every Day

Getting clients into your dealership to buy a car when they call to ask questions can be an art form. Your sales team needs to be able to anticipate the needs of the caller, make them feel comfortable with your dealership, and get the caller to come in for further interactions. To help facilitate this, you should make sure your phone team is as trained as your floor team. But training your phone team is not a simple, one-time event. You need to constantly think of ways to update their skills and keep your team fresh. Below are some ways to make your regular phone sales training more effective. 

Have an Outside Expert Conduct Your Training

Even if you have a great sales record and are a good trainer, there are benefits to bringing in an outside expert to conduct some of your sales training. While your employees see you on a daily basis, a new person will be interesting and better able to capture their attention. Additionally, this will give your employees tools beyond the ones you are able to teach them while they are working. Finally, an outside trainer will give you and your team something to discuss over the weeks following the training, which will help your team develop critical thinking skills about their approach to phone sales. 

Create a Training Plan for the Year 

Phone sales best practices should be reinforced throughout the year with mini-training activities. These can be small activities that take an hour or less out of your day, but they are important when it comes to keeping your team fresh and helping them stay excited about their job. Additionally, little trainings throughout the year will allow you to adjust the trainings to fit the specific needs of your team as you see problems develop. 

Integrate Your Team With Joint Training 

It is common to separate your team and give specialized training to fit the needs of each branch. For example, your floor sales may be trained separately than your phone sales or receptionists. However, you should have 1-2 integrated trainings throughout the year to make sure everyone understands the sales funnel completely and can maximize their position within the funnel. 

Target Your Training Efforts With Mystery Shoppers 

A mystery shopper can bring many benefits to your business, especially when it comes to evaluating sales techniques. While many people work with mystery shoppers on the floor, they are less common when it comes to phone sales. However, they can be valuable resources when it comes to figuring out where your phone team needs more training and what their strengths are. 

Use Different Methods of Training

While in-person trainings led by an outside expert can be the most beneficial for your team, it is important to offer a variety of training methods throughout the year. This way you are not only meeting the needs of your overall team, but you are also strengthening the skills of your employees as individuals. Some employees may feel more comfortable with an internal training, led by the sales manager, and others may like the personalization of a learn-at-your-own-pace online training course. Offering each of these throughout the year will engage all of your employees and give each individual the opportunity they need to learn new information in a way they are comfortable with. 

As a sales manager, offering tips and guidance every day is important. However, it is also important to maximize formal training time and come up with a plan that will help your phone sales team reach their maximum potential. If you need more training ideas or want to pull in an outside expert, find someone who specializes specifically in car sales phone training for the best results.