Strong sales training ideas can be hard to come by.

The typical sales meeting is long and tedious, an annoying Friday morning commitment.

Often stretching to an hour in length, the content of the sales meeting can lose all purpose by the fifteen-minute mar

The sales managers repeat the same mantras:

“Bring every deal to the desk!”

“Say hello to every customer.”

“Don’t hide from floor ups.”

It’s not exciting stuff. So why do we still do it?

The answer is mostly community. The sales meeting gives us a chance to meet up and have a routine that grounds us. It’s an important platform to share information about upcoming sales and specials. It can be valuable.

Your sales training ideas need a kickstart. I’ve included plans for group training and one on one coaching below.

 

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Jumpstart with Sales Training Ideas

 

 

There are thousands of available resources online to help you develop sales training ideas. This post’s focus is sales training ideas for the dealership environment, although you could repurpose some to any sales organization.

Sales Training Idea #1: 5 Star Experience

Somebody has perfected just about everything. Car sales is no exception. For your team, the world can be your classroom. Car sales is about people- how you treat them and how you convince them. Customer service is a choice.

In that spirit, one of my favorite sales training ideas is the “5-star experience”.

Find places in your neighborhood that offer an unbeatable experience and take your team. Scope out the site first, keeping an eye on the employees. If the employees are people that you would hire, that’s probably a right spot!

Rather than having a sales meeting in the general manager’s office that week, take your employees to the spot that you’ve selected. Before heading over, prep them to keep an eye out for which employee they would want to work with.

This observation of excellence will plant the seed of engagement in your open-minded employees. When I see someone that is great at their job, I am inspired.

I know it’s a bit of a tangent, but I get inspired watching people who are insanely good at their jobs. This Youtube video is one of my favorites (turn your volume down before clicking, it’s loud!).

Real Life Example: Mendocino Farms

Last week I visited a sandwich and salad restaurant called “Mendocino Farms” in my neighborhood. My girlfriend’s side hustle is mystery shopping, which pays her to go to local stores and review the customer service and overall experience.

She reviews everything; we get free food. It’s an excellent setup.

I knew as soon as I entered that this was a perfect candidate for a “5 Star Experience”. The first employee to greet me made me feel at ease immediately, bringing me to the front with an open posture and a huge smile.

He knew everything on the menu (posted as a huge sign at the entrance) and asked questions to figure out what we would like.

Check out his first three questions:

1. “WELCOME! My name is Patrick, what’s yours?”
2. “Awesome Andrei, welcome! Have you been here before?”
3. “Fantastic! Happy we can create a new fan. I hope you’re hungry. Anything catches your eye on our menu?”

You could replace a few words, and he would be halfway down with an automotive meet and greet. The guy was on fire, making my girlfriend and I feel welcome while getting information and sharing his knowledge of the menu.

The rest of the experience followed his lead. The servers delivered the food quickly and neatly, and the store was clean. The employees checked in to make sure we were happy but didn’t bother us.

Over Delivering On Value

The best part? The food was reasonably priced (although, full disclosure, we secretly were refunded by the mystery shop company!).

The fact that I could get that level of service for that price is an excellent example of over-delivering on value.

If you sell sandwiches, you need to know what is par for selling sandwiches. What does your customer expect when they walk into your sandwich store? Now take that average level of service and exceed it.

Done. You have now over-delivered on value. You have started on your way to creating a fan.

Car sales are no different. Your customers have expectations when they walk in. If you can exceed them, you will win.

That’s why the “5-star experience” is one of my favorite car sales training ideas.

Sales Training Idea #2: The Sit-Down

The “Sit-Down” is the only one of the sales training ideas that is strictly one-on-one!

The idea for the sit down is that you (the sales manager) can go to the desk of the salesperson and sit with them, reviewing their workflow at their place of work. While the message given in the sales office can be left at the door, you can get hyper focus on individual solutions while at the salesperson’s desk.

A couple of rules for using this idea.

First things first, make sure to give notice to the salesperson that you are going to be jumping into their office to review their workflow at least a few hours before you do. That way your salesperson won’t feel surprised and will have time to clean up their work area. You are looking to build a stronger team, not resentment.

Secondly, make sure to pick a time that the salesperson will not be working with customers. Check their calendar and choose a quiet time.

Even better- share that you will be starting the one on ones with the team. Mention that you will be using their CRM appointment calendar to schedule. What better way to increase CRM compliance?

Finally, your job is to observe and listen when you conduct your one on one. Start by having the salesperson open up their CRM. Have them review their workflow. Encourage them to share any difficulties they have. Listen to how they structure their day. Don’t nitpick and don’t share feedback until the end. Ask probing questions.

Real Life Example: Al’s Update Days

Al is an up and coming start salesman at my dealership. Young and well dressed, he has the potential to dominate the sales leaderboard. Customers love his demeanor, and he was instantly one of the most popular guys at the dealer.

Popularity is a gift and a curse in sales. While popularity makes work more fun, it also makes getting the boring stuff done harder.

Al had recently transitioned from my assistant to full-time sales. His first month on the floor he made me proud, crushing his quota and earning himself a healthy first paycheck. I could see his eyes light up when he realized that he had 4x his income in his first month.

The second month showed the first signs of a problem. While his fresh-up business was still active, he didn’t seem to have many 1+ week be-backs. His customers either bought same day, the second day, or not at all.

Come Friday morning, I saw him entertaining the sales floor, and I pulled him aside. I asked him to take a break from socializing to sit down together at this workstation and share his CRM. His eyes looked down, and he obliged, meandering back to his desk (this was when I learned to give notice!).

As I had expected, his CRM was a mess. He had logged 50 customers since starting, and none had email addresses. His average update date was over 15 days (meaning he hadn’t reached out for more than two weeks- on average!). His notes were sparse.

It was a learning experience for him, and luckily he took the feedback well. I listed off the things he needed to work on and told him I’d circle back in a month. His attitude remained positive, and his sales improved.

Sales Training Idea #3: Encourage Exercise

Physical fitness is critical to performance.

Exercise helps you feel good about yourself. It helps build self-confidence. It even enables you to survive cancer.

Your salespeople who are in a good mood will treat their customers better. Exercise will help them be in a good mood.

So encourage your salespeople to have gym memberships. Get them to share their success stories in the meetings. Get them to talk about their hobbies. Consider having your sales team form a local sports team. Get them moving!

Although getting your blood pumping is optimal, even a short walk can refresh your mind.

Real Life Example: Let’s Take A Walk

It was about four months ago, on an overcast and quiet morning at the car dealership. Everything was pretty quiet, but only one person was late to work.

Matt walked in 45 minutes after we opened, eyes dreary. His posture was hunched and his expression muted. I didn’t mention anything as he walked to his desk, just observed his attitude.

Managing requires observation above all else. Acting without proper consideration can seed resentment.

After letting him get settled in, I went over to Matt to check in. He assured me that everything was fine, but I could tell he was avoiding my eye contact.

“Let’s take a walk,” I said, hoping that he would follow.

We headed into the nearby neighborhood. I shared. First, a simple recap of a deal that I was pleased with that had gone through the night before. After ten minutes of walking, I told him that I noticed he was looking disconnected at work.

He took a deep breath and opened up. He had fought with his family the night before, and his depression was mounting. Struggling to keep it together, he shared that he had no one to talk to about his problems since his family members wouldn’t speak to him.

I just let him share, and as he talked, his pace sped up. He listed off everything that was on his chest. After 10 minutes he took a deep breath.

“Yeah, that’s about everything,” he said, and he let out an embarrassed laugh.

Recap of #3

Exercise is a crucial facet of health. Encourage activity. When one of your salespeople is seeming down, don’t berate them. Instead, take them for a walk and see if the truth rolls out. Often just talking about their problems can help them move past them.

Sales Training Idea #4: Cross Department Q&A

“Cross Department Q&A” is one of the more essential sales training ideas.

You can only learn so much inside your bubble. During your weekly sales meetings, invite someone with authority from another department. Have them do a Q&A to answer common questions.

You’ll be surprised by what people don’t know!

You need to have your sales department understand the different departments at your store!

At the car dealership, you should encourage communication between sales and all the other parts of the store. Parts, Finance, Used Car, BDC, Service, Business Office… Get everyone involved.

Your sales team can foster communitcation. Often just having different departments in the same room during the meeting will reveal significant hold ups that are hurting your store’s efficiency.

Real Life Example: Collin Pays A Visit

Collin is a six foot four finance manager from our store. A gentle giant, he is generally a quiet force of good in our store. He is always friendly, incredibly helpful and has an excellent reputation with most everyone.

The relationship between the finance department and the sales department can be strained. Deals that are stuck in funding are blamed on each other. Customers that are waiting in the lounge for finance grumble and tensions can run high.

Not only that, a significant amount of misunderstanding on the purpose of some financial products can lead to inefficiencies. Little understanding of each other’s roles and a little fear of the unknown holds different departments apart.

Your salespeople can be great funnels for finance products, using their in-depth knowledge of the customer’s automotive history to identify where the products can be solutions.

Collin stood tall in the meeting and shared about the new products being offered in the finance department. Little nuggets of knowledge bounced around in the room, and everyone left knowing something they didn’t before.

Sales Training Idea #5: Highlight a Special Customer and Foster that Relationship

Sales meetings can invite jokes about the worst that customers have to offer: the devils, the evil, horrible customers that wasted time and insulted employees. They always make for good stories, stories that often get shared. Trash talking customers is not one of the sales training ideas.

If you focus on negativity you will breed negativity. While it can be useful to get things off your chest, it is more beneficial to focus on happier things at work.

How often does a positive customer experience come up in the sales meeting? Well informed and kind, fair and honest? They exist, why don’t they get celebrated?

So in your sales meeting consider asking your salespeople for examples of good customers.

 

Then put action to it. Remind that salesperson to thank that customer for being something special. If we see something positive in this world, the key is to reinforce it!

Example Email To Send

Here is an email that could work for saying thanks. Consider even having them send a text, which can be more personal.

SUBJECT: Sincere Thanks

Dear FIRST NAME,

Just wanted to reach out quickly. The awesome experience of interacting with you came up in my sales meeting. I really enjoyed working with you and I hope to see you again at the store.

My general manager encouraged me to reach out and thank you, and I’m glad that I am. As a thank you from my GM we wanted to extend to you a free detail and tank of gas.

Sincerely,
SALESPERSON

Recap of #5

Some good customers are oblivious, and some are good intentionally. Focusing on the positive experiences that you have with them is good for everyone involved.

As a manager, consider having unique gifts for the best customers. Don’t concentrat only on the customer that buys the most expensive car, but also the customer that is great to work with. See the section about “Just a Lazy Gift Card” on my article posted here.

Sales Training Idea #6: Call Your Lost Customrers

As important as it is to focus on the positive, learning from mistakes is excellent too. This is one of the only sales training ideas that has a few parts.

Step #1: The Hot List

In the sales, meeting make a big list where the salespeople can put their hottest prospects. Try to get three out of each salesperson, first name and the model they are interested in.

Step #2: The Lost List

Every week revisit the hot list. Congratulate them on their successes, but star the lost deals.

Now, try and find out why the deals were lost. Often you will find that the salesperson just knows that the customer is out of the market.

Time to investigate. As a sales manager, jump into the CRM and give them a call after the meeting. If they pick up and are game, quickly ask them what your store could have done better.

Start to get a general outline of why your store loses business. Is it price? Inventory? Or is it some facet of your customer service/sales experience that needs tweaking?

Step #3: Revisit

Take this new knowledge and circle back next sales meeting. Start with what you are going to change price/inventory/experience wise to encourage more conversions.

Then flip it on the salespeople. Share with them anything they can do better.

For example, if you lose a lot of cross over SUV business to a close competitor, try loading the lips of your salespeople with some pertinent information.

What makes your car better than the car you are losing business too? A few simple seeds shared can help a ton!

If I was losing Audi Q5 business to the BMW X3, I would find out the key things that the Q5 excels at above and beyond the X3.

Do your salespeople know that the X3 makes you pay $1700 for leather? Do they know that the BMW X3 doesn’t have Android Auto?

Sales Training Idea #7: Encourage Style

Of all of the sales training ideas, this one can need to be handled carefully!

The car dealership uniform can be hard to enforce. Slowly shirts and ties give way to shirts, which give way to polos, then… sales meeting! Back to shirts and ties.

What if instead of having the uniform be a dreary requirement of work you encouraged style in the workplace?

Sounds contentious right? I think it can be done well.

How We Encourage Style

When employees think they look good, they tend to feel good.

Step one, find out where your employees shop for clothes. Now, some of your employees are going not to be interested in personal style, and that’s ok. Don’t ostracize them. Share with your team that you are going to be having your next spiff be to the local Banana Republic or similar clothes store. Something agreeable.

Then, start to dress better yourself. Focus on fit and professionalism. By starting the wave of style, the dealership will start to buzz. Those interested will jump in, not wanting to get left behind.

Real Life Example: Steve’s Style

It all started a year ago when Steve was hired. Steve’s sharp dressing was noticed immediately at the store. He had an eye for style and prided himself on his clothes.

Customers respected him more for it, and his coworkers started to emulate. The good news was that Steve was giving with his expertise. He would help anyone that wanted to update their style.

Within a month of Steve starting, the whole dealership looked better than ever. Personal style was a mark of engagement that was clear to see.

Engagement can be hard to encourage. Who knew one guy with an eye for style could change everything.

Note!

This is one of the sales training ideas that have major traps. You don’t want to idolize attractiveness at your dealership. You want to emphasize style (for those that want to partake!).

Sales Training Idea #8: Consider Outside Help

There are tons of resources online that can help kick-start your team. Finding sales training ideas isn’t difficult, but implementing them can be. Considering outside help is a noble idea.

First, when selecting an outside trainer to come into your dealership, make sure they pass the sniff test. Look for content and value that they have brought to the industry you are in.

Next, make sure that you like the content that they are going to be sharing with your team. Review their slideshows or videos that they use, don’t rely just on your impression of them. Many trainers are great salespeople. That doesn’t mean that they are great trainers!

Review: 8 Ideas to Kickstart Your Team!

Let me know what you thought of my 8 ideas. Do you have any unique sales training ideas that may have been a good fit for this list?

Comment below!