COVER STORY: MULTIPLE CHOICE – Getting the Training You a Customers Really Need

In a market that finds many businesses struggling to generate revenue dollars and profits, it is far too easy to see training as a value-added that can be pushed to the back of the shelf.

Yes, everyone agrees a customer base untrained and uninformed in the changing technical needs of automotive repair is not likely to purchase many replacement parts. But what type of training to deliver–hard skills, technical training, or focusing on so-called soft skills of communication and management–and when to deliver it is a question that too often remains overlooked.

A survey of more than 100 jobbers revealed that many have addressed the training issue. About three-quarters say they conduct training for their staff and customers at least twice a year, with nearly half reporting “several times a year.”

About two-thirds say they have provided soft-skills training to their staff, while only about one-third offered the same type of training to customers.

This despite the fact that two-thirds of respondents stated that such soft-skills training was nearly as important or just as important as hard-skills tech training.

“A lot of jobbers get caught in the syndrome of putting on a motivational sales seminar, and they call it training,” says Bob Greenwood, who has been delivering training in person and online to Canadian automotive service providers for more than twenty years. “Some of them have called it business training–which it isn’t–and jobbers are having a tough time bringing shops together under one roof. Everybody has an excuse as to why they can’t come; but in the past shops felt they were misled. The jobbers really have to show what one is going to learn at the training.”

Greenwood, who will deliver the keynote address at Automechanika Canada this June, says that while jobbers often deliver training to secure the loyalty of their customers, they do not always provide training that meets customers’ needs, and therefore it fails to result in the kind of loyalty they are looking for.

“There is a disconnect in the sense that when jobbers put on the course, 95% of them have not attended it first. If you haven’t gone to it, why are you promoting it?”

Too often, he adds, jobbers instruct their staff to “sell” the training course, instead of first determining what’s needed– hard-tech or soft-skills training, internally and externally.

“A lot of people believe that management and leadership is soft skills. I call it hard skills,” says Chuck Udell, senior partner with Essential Action Design Group, a Kansas City, Mo.-based training organization. Training shouldn’t be about cookie-cutter solutions, he says.

“It’s really about what the client needs. What are they going to do? What is their performance gap?” It is not about making choices between hard-and soft-skills training, he says. “Focus on what the knowledge gap is, and fix it. Is it a sales solution or an HR solution? Is it marketing?”

He says that a professional trainer is best able to offer this the program is the evolution of a project created at the request of Canadian Tire.

“In 2002 I went to CARS and asked if they could develop an assessment tool for me,” said Phil Myers, manager automotive education, Canadian Tire Corporation, at the launch. What resulted was an extensive advisory council process, working with individuals from across the country, that produced the current 100-question assessment questionnaire. The questionnaire takes about an hour to complete and costs $20 per assessment.

“Every company is different and you can modify this tool to fit your needs,” said Myers. “You can reduce your training bills, and focus on what that person really needs. When they go to the courses they need, they will stay focused on what they need to do.”

Rob Hutchison, program manager for ACDelco Canada, says that a multifaceted approach has been successful in providing training to ACDelco’s network of 1,500 Total Service Support (TSS) service-provider members, with a strong web delivery focus.

“We are finding there is more of a willingness to train at home [or] at work. You can access this on your own time.” There are literally hundreds of courses to choose from, he says.

“Having said that,” he continues, “the hands-on training is still the most popular. We have 45 sites offering six different courses.”

So with all the training areas available to offer, how do they decide what to offer their TSS members in a given training season? They ask.

“We do a survey. They tell us what they want to know. We want to offer them what they want.” On tap for this season is a slate of six: automotive emerging technologies; computer-controlled charging and starting; wiring system diagnosis; hybrid vehicle training; vehicle communications systems; and vehicle braking system operation and repair.

He says that, of the six, the inclusion of hybrid training–rated second-highest of all topics offered–might have been the biggest surprise.

“What they are seeing, right out of the chute, is hybrids are coming in for maintenance.”

Despite the low number of hybrids on the road, he says that the concern is that shops should be able to communicate with authority to the hybrid owner. Learning the systems and safe maintenance practices–as there are signifi- cant safety issues with the vehicles’ high voltage systems– help them do that.

ACDelco isn’t alone, of course. Organizations like Affinia have a whole slate of information and learning opportunities.

“We can put training on after hours, programs with jobbers, and other methods too,” says Affinia’s Ted Zahara. From high-tech developments in ABS to reiterating the basics, it is all available, he says.

“And there are some excellent training videos,” he adds. “No matter how seasoned a tech gets, he can start taking short cuts.” And short cuts can result in incomplete or problematic repairs. “Videos can get them back on track.”

Despite the promise of remote training, however, the programs still need to be connected to the technicians working in the bay and those who manage the business. That connection has to be made with more than pizza and door prizes. And that goes for a jobber’s own staff, too.

“They aren’t up to date with the changes in technology,” says John Thody, president of chassis parts supplier XRF Inc. “It takes a very special jobber store to take the time to train a counterperson.”

For those who do take the time to train their staff appropriately, there is a payback. Thody recalls one jobber store owner in the U. S. who brought his experience from the

health care industry– where regular training is at the core of what the organization does–and put that philosophy in place at the auto parts store. Insisting that all staff understand the products they sell ensures they will have a response when someone asks about the products.

“This guy’s business, which was doing maybe $100,000 in chassis a year, is doing that much every month now.” That is at least partly because the staff can engage the customer, not just take the order.

It is notable that more than half of the jobbers surveyed for this article rated both technical and non-technical as “good” at best. At the very least, this is an indication that training sessions seldom exceed expectations.

The solution, offers Bob Greenwood, may be better planning.

“The jobber has to start interviewing clients well before he books any classes,” he says. “What are they looking for? Do a complete survey. You have to find out the issues and start classifying clients. Some are looking for growth. Other guys are looking for how to retain staff. And others are looking at how to make more money.

“And then once you bring in training, you have to have a follow-up plan.” Most people don’t retain much after a week back on the job. For training, especially management training, to be effective, it has to be a continuous learning process. The approach works, he says, but it is not an overnight pro
spect.

“So, there is a lot of opportunity for a good jobber who wants to get involved and has respect for his customer, but he has to put the whole package together.”

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Web Training Arrives with CARS OnDemand

Delivering the right training in a way that meshes with a jobber’s customers’ availability has brought Internet-delivered programs to the forefront.

Yves Pelletier of Pieces d’Auto Chambly Richelieu, in Richelieu, Que., and Eric Knogler of Sutherland Auto in Saskatoon, Sask., are just two jobbers providing their customers with access to CARS OnDemand.

CARS OnDemand, developed by the Canadian Automotive Repair and Service (CARS) Council, offers a curriculum of more than 300 individual training programs, offered in French and English, and available anywhere 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

More than 1,000 collision and automotive repair and service sites across Canada are regular participants in the CARS OnDemand training service.

“We believe in training,” says Knogler. “If we don’t have a customer trained up to date, we won’t have a market in the future. We’re the people who need to be pushing the training.”

Knogler further underscores the importance of promoting training by noting that in his view the competition is not other jobbers but the dealers, who have the advantage of proprietary, system-wide training.

Both Knogler and Pelletier agree that the extensive selection of training offered through CARS OnDemand complements their ongoing classroom-based training activities.

A computer with high-speed Internet access is all that is required in the way of equipment. Training participants use a secure login ID and password to access the entire CARS OnDemand curriculum from their workplace, their home, or wherever they have online access.

Qualified professional trainers deliver the courses in two-hour sessions, with detailed demonstrations on vehicles in a real garage environment. Participants use student guides and exams help them track their progress online.

For Yves Pelletier, the main attraction of a service like CARS OnDemand is the support it brings to his customers and the loyalty he receives in return.

“We offer this to maintain our clientele,” he explains. “It is now an integral part of the service we offer. Furthermore, it is inexpensive and offers the latest technology training with a wide range of courses.”

Both Knogler and Pelletier agree that training with CARS OnDemand simply couldn’t be more user-friendly.

“I find it very easy to use,” notes Pelletier, “and I like the fact that you can train at any moment, anywhere.” And that, he says, makes it indispensable.

More information about CARS OnDemand and the CARS training curriculum can be obtained from the CARS website at www.cars-council.caor by contacting CARS directly.