No matter what your dealership’s situation – business as usual or otherwise – in most places around North America, traffic is likely to be slower than normal for a while as the COVID-19 crisis runs its course. While it’s certainly not the time to take your eyes off of finding revenue, there’s always time to train your team and today’s slower environment may offer you the perfect opportunity to do just that.
In our efforts to help dealers strengthen their teams and come out of this slowdown stronger than they were when they went in, MRAA has made all of its standard educational courses at MRAATraining.com FREE to any dealership personnel – MRAA Member or not — through the end of May 2020. We believe if your team taps into these courses, which have received world-class net promoter scores, you’ll be able to ramp up more quickly when the economy begins to rebound. (Learn how to access the courses on the home page of MRAA.com)
Theresa Syer’s Customer Experience Workshop from Dealer Week 2020
is one of the top-four most purchases courses at MRAATraining.com
So, to help you get started, here are the four most popular courses dealers are watching on MRAATraining.com as well as the four courses I personally think they would find equally, if not more valuable. (Please note: In order for the links below to work, you must be signed in at MRAA.com).
Here are the four most-popular courses right now:
If ever there’s a time that your attitude is critical, it’s in the midst of a crisis. Sure, there’s a lot on your mind today, but if you’re walking around letting fear or anxiety show up on your face, that’s not going to work for anyone. A crisis like this calls for a leader with a positive attitude and lots of optimism. Tap into this course to learn how the beliefs and attitudes of you and your team members will directly impact the rest of your team, your customers and your company’s bottom line.
Many brick-and-mortar boat dealer locations these days are operating only their service and parts departments. And there are times where it looks like the service department is the best opportunity to drive revenue in today’s climate. So getting your service department to operate at its highest level of effectiveness is critical. Check out this course to learn how master service advisors build rapport, identify needs, make recommendations address concerns and reach agreement with their customers, one write-up at a time.
Service CSI & Upselling: Not an Either/Or Proposition
Today’s intense focus on driving service revenues and profitability has many dealers turning to this great course by service expert Valerie Ziebron. When done right, a service department’s CSI and profitability go hand-in-hand. This course will give you insights into the strategies that top service and parts advisors use to improve both metrics at the same time, and you’ll learn the key elements within an advisor’s control that can keep the customer loving your dealership with each service and parts experience.
Supercharge Your Customer Experience Workshop
One of MRAA’s newest courses, this in-depth workshop shot at the 2019 Dealer Week, will share 7 Key Emotional Motivators that can shift the tide emotionally for customers. Noted customer experience expert Theresa Syer will also show you how to develop your own Key Emotional Drivers that will affect those Emotional Motivators and keep your dealership’s customers coming to you, working with you and ultimately buying from you.
There’s no denying that those are four great courses that you could learn a lot from. But here are four courses that everyone should be watching to help them navigate today’s market place:
The Agile Dealership: Confidently Responding to Change & the Unknown
The original description for this said, “no one knows exactly when the next recession will hit…” So, let’s start with an update: It’s quite likely we’re in the midst of a recession as I type this. And this course was designed specifically to help you through such a scenario. It will help you identify, monitor and respond to the key issues you face now and into the future. It covers the characteristics of agile leaders, concerns employees have during change and indicators you can use to ensure your business is on track.
Buyer Motivation: The Key to Building Value
In any sales environment, the key to closing the deal is building value. In today’s abnormal marketplace, it’s even more critical that you understand buyers’ personal motivations. Through this course, you’ll learn the four main buying motivations that govern most purchases, how to translate features into personalized benefits to those motivations, and the six magic words to use as a transition statement for personalized presentations. Now’s the perfect time to refine this critical sales technique. And you’ll be impressed with the format and comprehensive approach of this course, which mimics our Dealership Certification continuing education.
In the new work-from-home world we’re living in, particularly with health concerns surrounding us, there may no better time to learn how manage both your time and your stress. In this course, you can learn how to gain control of your day, manage stress that can improve your job performance and satisfaction and avoid the most common dealership time crushers – even if you’re not quite back into the dealership full time yet. Please note that in addition to this great course, we recently published a guide to working from home, complete with resources that will help you manage your time.
Increase Closing Rates with Content Marketing
As dealers look for ways to cut costs with the sudden market slow down, they typically look to non-revenue-producing departments like marketing to make that happen. Experts like highly regarded Marcus Sheridan advises differently, and in his course here you will learn how content marketing can be the greatest sales tool in the world. In the ever-blurring lines between sales and marketing, you need this course to help you learn the powerful effect that great content has on the buying process, as well as how it impacts leads, appointments and closing rates.
Tap into these courses — FOR FREE — to help you power through this downturn and into a brighter future.