Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/326874
July 2014 | Boating Industry | 27 [ Build your sales training playbook ] www.BoatingIndustry.com i t's a common refrain in the marine business that everybody had to get smarter to survive the bad years. Progressive dealers upgraded their customer relationship management software, brought industry trainers into their dealerships, attended educational seminars, joined 20 groups and focused on the nuances of selling to improve the customer experience at their stores. With the recent proliferation of sales training opportunities, exposing your salespeople to quality training is easier than it ever has been. The best dealerships in the Top 100 demonstrate the key to making significant gains in profits and customer service is creating a training plan that your sales team can build upon in the coming years. Once a plan is in place, it's easy to make changes on the fly to suit your current needs or to take advantage of pop-up opportunities. To help your sales team get on track with quality training, we spoke with five sales training experts who advocate starting with the basics, harnessing the power of repetition, improving customer follow-up and avoiding com- placency as the market rides a welcome wave of growth. Learn from the best Less than an hour north of Denver, Colorado Boat Center follows a me- ticulous training program derived from the philosophy that the store didn't have to give customers the typical anxiety that comes to mind when most people think of dealerships. The 2013 recipient of the Boating Industry Best Training Program award, Colorado Boat Center provides every one of its employees with an expansive training program that sets the multi-line dealership apart from its peers. Co-owner and vice president Nancy Smith said training has been a big part of the company's focus since she and her husband, Tom, started the business in 1990. "We just knew we wanted to do business differently," she said. "Con- sumers relate their boat-buying experiences to their car-buying experiences and, as we all know, most people have had not-so-pleasant experiences with the car-buying side." Doing things differently has meant translating the Smiths' personal phi- losophy into training coursework designed to put their customers at ease, foster a happy, knowledgeable staff and establish trust in the community. Smith said that while training has always been a constant focus, it has become even more important in recent years as consumers have be- come savvier and more attuned to evaluating the sincerity of companies they patronize. For its sales training program, Smith keeps a file for all employees, and creates charts that outline the store's customer service priorities as well as situations that negatively impact the customer experience, like slow service, lack of acknowledgement and perceived rudeness. "We have a specific training plan that's consistent for every single person in our dealership," she said. "Depending on what their position is, they all get training in customer service and then they each get individual training specific to their department and their positions." Colorado Boat Center's program has included bringing in trainers like Sam Dantzler, bi-weekly staff meetings that always include training compo- nents, workshops from Spader Business Management, an in-house training DVD library and attending the Marine Dealer Conference & Expo every year with four to five staff members. Smith recommends dealers looking to formalize their own sales training start with the basics of general customer service practices and then zero in on more specific topics with whatever opportunities are available. The dealership has increased staff enthusiasm for implementing new practices with its Red Carpet Service program that awards employees gold coins for providing excellent service that can be redeemed for gift cards to stores of the employees' choosing. "We really try to bring that into an entire group atmosphere so that it's not only good for the employee who's getting it, but also the other employees who see, oh, there's a benefit here," she said. "We review all of the customer surveys in our staff meetings, so they get to really understand the importance of ... customer satisfaction." The long-term focus on sales training has resulted in CSI scores that consistently exceed 99.5 percent, as well as the satisfaction of seeing happy customers interacting with happy, well trained staff. Smith added that the amount of training that's now available in the marine market is amazing, and getting better every year. "You can't get everything in [during] a year, but just try to go and do as much as you can, whether it's in-house or off-site. Our budget for [training] probably a lot more than most dealerships, in fact I know it is — we do spend a lot on education and training, but it has come back to us tenfold." Colorado Boat Center posts notes on what makes great customer experiences, keeps training files for every employee and has brought industry trainers like Sam Dantzler in to motivate and educate the team. P26x31-BI14JUL-TrainingPrograms.indd 27 5/28/14 12:04 PM