Bootcamp
My first introduction to automotive sales was through a three day automotive bootcamp put on by Cliff Rice of TKworldwide.
I was a little leery going into this introductory training. Cliff was, of course, very high energy and an expert speaker. Cliff conducted the interview process for the training course. The impression he tried to convey during the interview process was that he was being highly, highly selective in the process.
Later, when the class was introduced, my impression as that this was largely true. Most of the candidates were absolutely top shelf applicants and only one or two seemed to be a little questionable when it came to their willingness to get involved in the training or speak out in class (which is important in a sales class...you have to be able to speak in front of people).
One quirk of the interview was Cliff rushing through mentioning that there was a fee for attending the class. I had a feeling this was going to come back up but decided to attend the first day to see what the class had to offer before I made up my mind.
Ultimately the basic training course, required to land the job interview had a -cost- to those of us who attended of well over $200.00 each. Crazy. If the training the first day had not been absolutely excellent and the potential job and benefits decent I would have walked out.
Under the terms of the agreement with TKworldwide the dealership is required to pay us back the cost of our training class after we pass our 90 day mark at the dealership. In retrospect I can see how this is a useful tool for the dealership. Learning to sell cars is no picnic. It is a fairly high pressure job with demanding hours and an equally demanding work environment.
Am I satisified that I made the right decision in going through the basic training (cost and all) and starting my new position in car sales? Only time will tell. Ask me again after I have been in the job for ninety days.
On a positive note I have some incredible classmates. They are all absolutely first rate individuals and I am fairly certain that every one of them will be successful in car sales if they decide to stick with it. Six of us made it out of the three day training course with our diplomas and ultimately five of us found positions at the dealership.
My guess is that most of the people who did not make it past the first day simply did not have the resources to pay for the class. This is understandable as, after all, they were all there because they needed a job in the first place and the cost of the course was pretty much sprung on us at the end of the first day.
In Bootcamp we simply learned the basics of how to meet and handle customers in a respectful and professional fashion. An automobile purchase is, after all, one of the largest and most important purchases an individual will make...generally second only to the purchase of a home. Customers expect to be met and served by professionals who know the business and know their vehicles inside and out. Bootcamp gave us a basic framework to launch from although I have to tell you that the volume of material we are learning now in the weeks following bootcamp is enormous.
After three days of the basics and getting to know some of our future co-workers we found ourselves booted onto the sales floor for more training, some good advice from experienced co-workers and a whole lot of good old fashioned OJT (on the job training).
Sad to see that there are no deep dark secrets of automobile sales to reveal yet?
Happy to report that much of what we learned in basic training was fairly straight forward and common sense. Still, it was excellent to practice it all and get some framework for starting out rather than being thrown into the mix blind like many of our predecessors.
Ed
I was a little leery going into this introductory training. Cliff was, of course, very high energy and an expert speaker. Cliff conducted the interview process for the training course. The impression he tried to convey during the interview process was that he was being highly, highly selective in the process.
Later, when the class was introduced, my impression as that this was largely true. Most of the candidates were absolutely top shelf applicants and only one or two seemed to be a little questionable when it came to their willingness to get involved in the training or speak out in class (which is important in a sales class...you have to be able to speak in front of people).
One quirk of the interview was Cliff rushing through mentioning that there was a fee for attending the class. I had a feeling this was going to come back up but decided to attend the first day to see what the class had to offer before I made up my mind.
Ultimately the basic training course, required to land the job interview had a -cost- to those of us who attended of well over $200.00 each. Crazy. If the training the first day had not been absolutely excellent and the potential job and benefits decent I would have walked out.
Under the terms of the agreement with TKworldwide the dealership is required to pay us back the cost of our training class after we pass our 90 day mark at the dealership. In retrospect I can see how this is a useful tool for the dealership. Learning to sell cars is no picnic. It is a fairly high pressure job with demanding hours and an equally demanding work environment.
Am I satisified that I made the right decision in going through the basic training (cost and all) and starting my new position in car sales? Only time will tell. Ask me again after I have been in the job for ninety days.
On a positive note I have some incredible classmates. They are all absolutely first rate individuals and I am fairly certain that every one of them will be successful in car sales if they decide to stick with it. Six of us made it out of the three day training course with our diplomas and ultimately five of us found positions at the dealership.
My guess is that most of the people who did not make it past the first day simply did not have the resources to pay for the class. This is understandable as, after all, they were all there because they needed a job in the first place and the cost of the course was pretty much sprung on us at the end of the first day.
In Bootcamp we simply learned the basics of how to meet and handle customers in a respectful and professional fashion. An automobile purchase is, after all, one of the largest and most important purchases an individual will make...generally second only to the purchase of a home. Customers expect to be met and served by professionals who know the business and know their vehicles inside and out. Bootcamp gave us a basic framework to launch from although I have to tell you that the volume of material we are learning now in the weeks following bootcamp is enormous.
After three days of the basics and getting to know some of our future co-workers we found ourselves booted onto the sales floor for more training, some good advice from experienced co-workers and a whole lot of good old fashioned OJT (on the job training).
Sad to see that there are no deep dark secrets of automobile sales to reveal yet?
Happy to report that much of what we learned in basic training was fairly straight forward and common sense. Still, it was excellent to practice it all and get some framework for starting out rather than being thrown into the mix blind like many of our predecessors.
Ed
posted by Edward at 6:18 AM
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