Frequently Asked Questions

Because every opportunity to do business counts! Every time someone at a dealership communicates with a customer, and they don’t know what to say or they say the wrong thing, it costs everybody money. In the past, dealership phone calls have been handled poorly at best. I’ve had dealers tell me that the only reason that they listen to their call monitoring is because it feels so good when they stop. As an industry we have selectively followed up our unsold customers and paid lip service to maximizing our repeat and referral business through client base management. Many dealerships have been successful despite their lack of training, accountability, and processes. Those days are done. Your people need to get good at their jobs. As an industry, business gets better when our people get better! Did you really need me to tell you why you need to train your people?!

Let’s just talk phone-ups for a second; the average dealership without specific training and processes in place gets 8-10% of their phone ups in the door. Since most of you think that you’re better than you actually are, let’s say you think you get 15% of your phone-ups in the door. Let’s say that you’re an average size dealer and you get 500 inbound sales calls per month, that’s what, about 15 calls a day? So if you’re getting 500 calls per month and 15% of them show up you’re going to have 75 people show up as a result of inbound sales calls. Of those 75, since they’re phone-ups, you’ll close what? About 35 deals?! With just a fifteen percent increase in efficiency, in effectiveness, to 30%, so I’m not telling you that you’re going to get to 90% because you’re not, but with just a 15% increase to 30% coming through the front door, which I can help you with almost overnight, now you have a hundred fifty phone-ups walking through your front door every month. Of those, now you’re selling about 70, a difference of 35 units a month, with just a minimal 15% increase in efficiency and that’s just phone-ups! That’s doesn’t take into consideration how much we’re going to help you in sold and unsold outbound follow-up, in Internet conversion, or in calls to your service department. Call us and we’ll make this the biggest no brainer you can imagine. (866) 996-4665!

First off, what most dealers have called training over the years really hasn’t been. Sending your people to an eight-hour seminar at the Marriott and expecting their behavior to change is the equivalent of watching a day of golf at the Masters and expecting to leave a much improved golfer! We do not conduct “pump up” sessions. “Training” is a process comprised of several elements. If any of these elements are lacking in any program you select, your results will be short term at best. Everything that we do incorporates Education, Simulation, and Accountability. Anything that you ever buy that is represented as training needs to have those three elements, Education, Simulation, and Accountability or you’re wasting your time and your money. Call us today and we’ll show you how to train more effectively and in less time than you ever thought possible. Best of all we can show you a solution that comes with a 30-day money back guarantee. Our number is (866) 996-4665!

Not necessarily. In discussing “Business Development,” results are the goal whether they are achieved on the showroom floor, or in a “Business Development Center” environment. Each dealership presents different challenges and each dealer has different goals. What works for one dealer may not necessarily work for another. Our experience allows us to make specific recommendations based on your individual situation and goals. For any additional questions call us today (866) 996-4665.

Yes, we do. As poorly as most dealers realize their sales calls are handled, holy cow your service calls are handled even worse! Many of you have a bigger opportunity in service than you do in sales. Whether you have your service advisors handling calls or some type of business development center situation, I promise, we can help. My service telephone training was actually vetted by Jeff Cowan, who is considered the automotive industry’s best service trainer. For any additional questions, please call our office today at (866) 996-4665.

It’s not an expense. It amazes me that dealers will listen to call after call after call get mishandled to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars a month, their Internet leads go unanswered, and then you send them an invoice for 500 dollars and they’re puking in the trash can. Ask yourself honestly how much it is costing you every day, every week, every month, to have your people clueless as to what to say and what to do to get customers into the showroom. Lights left on in an empty restroom are an expense, uneaten donuts in your service department are an expense, I’ve got dealers that will tell you, I will tell you, that without my training their business would go down 20%. Call me, I’ll give you their names, and you can call them yourself. My training isn’t an expense; it’s the best business decision you’re going to make. Don’t hesitate to call us today at (866) 996-4665; missed opportunities to sell more cars, that might be your biggest expense!

Many sales managers become managers simply because they were top salespeople. However, more often than not, these people do not receive actual management training. The skill set necessary for selling at a dealership may not translate directly into management skills. Some of the key responsibilities for sales managers include closing deals, desking deals, hiring, and firing. However, the two most important responsibilities, especially in the current business environment, are training the sales staff and acting as a sales activity manager. That is, determining whether your sales staff is doing the right things, the right way at the right time to drive traffic. No team is successful despite having a bad coach. Either you have good managers, or you make them good. Please make sure to check out the Management By Fire video on our home page. Send me a good manager, I’ll send you back a great one! Call us today to book your seats at our next Management By Fire event, (866) 996-4665.

ADAPT VT is easy to use, incredibly effective and most of all a SUSTAINABLE solution, that’s the key, sustainability. Because the platform is online, it’s available 24/7, delivering the most current and up to date sales and management training available in the automotive industry today. Unlike a seminar, everyone can train at their own pace. Some people hear something once and they understand it, while others may need to hear the same message several times in order to retain it. Also, rather than managers having to take the sales staff hostage in the conference room for hours on end, which, by the way, we all know isn’t going to happen, or sending them to an offsite workshop, your people can simply train in increments and during down time. Fifteen to twenty minutes a day is all it takes to change your people’s behavior. We’ve got this down to a science; ADAPT VT provides the repetition that is necessary to learn. Training isn’t something you did, it’s something you do! For more information on ADAPT VT, call (866) 996-4665, and make sure to ask about our 30-day unconditional money back guarantee.