HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — Proactive Dealer Solutions, The BDC Experts (PDS) will launch the industry’s most comprehensive, versatile, and dynamic automotive retail training platform — Biz Dev University — Jan. 1, 2019, which will provide every member of the dealer’s operation a robust, interactive education for both professional and personal growth.
Biz Dev University (BDU) is designed to build top performers in sales, service, and customer care, resulting in improved sales and customer satisfaction. Once managers and team members complete the 10-12 hours education depending on the curriculum, they will earn the status of a Certified Customer Care Specialist in their respective position at the dealership.
PDS serves North America with a sophisticated employee performance and training platform and supports more than 3,000 automotive retailers. Considered the pioneer in the BDC process, the Huntersville, N.C.-based firm has served the industry for more than 25 years. The company’s experts regularly work with automotive manufacturers to develop call management best practices for their respective dealer bodies.
“Proactive is committed to building a culture of business development for our clients,” said Lawson Owen, Proactive Founder and Managing Partner. “We know through the collection of years of data and analysis that training and educating everyone who comes in contact with the customer, setting goals, and holding everyone accountable is key to selling more vehicles and improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.”
Dealers who have a BDC, Internet sales department, or utilize the traditional method of having sales and service representative field inbound and make outbound calls can all benefit from BDU’s robust platform. The university includes more than 300 video training modules with more than 20 hours of sales and service content. Each student must complete and successfully pass each course before moving on to the next. Only with successful passage of each module can the student earn certification.
Modules include: Phone Skills; Business Development 101; Chat Skills Mastery; Text Skills Mastery; Handling Incoming Calls; Theory of Appointment Setting; Customer Follow-up; and dozens more.
“This is a heavy-duty platform for those willing to put in the time to do some heavy lifting,” said Jason Beckett, PDS General Manager. “While the videos are concise, they contain a lot of information and there are a many skills and a lot of information the student must master before moving on to the next module.”
The platform is fully integrated with PDS’s BDC Central platform, so it will also employ artificial intelligence to monitor the students’ progress and report back to managers, but also track the efficacy of their training in real-world interactions with customers.
“Even though a student has earned certification there’s no guarantee he will maintain a certified status,” Beckett said. “If our system detects the sales or service rep underperforms at setting appointments, or following up with a customer, for instance, that person will be directed to take additional courses to hone his or her skills.”
Any university worthy of the name also enlists some fun to make the educational process more engaging. BDU employs some “gamification” elements into the platform. Students earn badges for successfully completing modules, and top performers both in-dealership and across the platform are updated daily.
“We’ll have a leaderboard and challenge students to take the top spot,” Beckett said. “Dealers can set up their own rewards program, and we’re considering one nationally as well.”
Mike Overy, PDS Managing Partner, said this unique program is designed to educate everyone at the dealership with engaging, challenging training that simply isn’t available elsewhere.
“We know we have to enhance the skills of employees to drive more traffic to the dealership, and keep our customers satisfied so they will return to buy or service their vehicle again and tell their friends.”
Overy said he was especially proud of the way in which the system both trains and then monitors the students’ progress, so that it always recommending continuing education.
“Our platform supercharges employee performance and training through digital learning, motivation, and real-time feedback,” Overy said. “Biz Dev University was designed and built so we can manage the dealership’s training, so the team can focus on closing deals.”
The platform is available to all dealership managers and employees for $695 per month. Training modules are constantly be added, and the AI aspects of the program are constantly working to ensure continuous improvement for the students and for the platform as well.
About Proactive Dealer Solutions
Proactive Dealer Solutions, The BDC Experts, based in Charlotte, N.C. is an international firm working with more than 3,000 automotive retailers across North America. It is credited with developing the BDC concept for retailers more than 25 years ago. For more information contact Barrett Schrader VP of Business Development O: 704.896.1447 x3452 bschrader@bdcexperts.com
