Life in the Fast Lane: Training for the Automotive Industry

The Automotive industry has undergone substantial changes in the past several years with the introduction of advanced robotics and other manufacturing technologies. Add to that ever-evolving safety and environmental regulations, on which workers require regular training to remain informed and compliant. As a result of these ongoing changes, the global Automotive workforce has developed an unprecedented need for training, just to stay on top of interacting with a digitally transformed production line, while maintaining compliance with a highly regulated industry.

And, that’s just in regard to non-customer-facing teams. In the front of the house, car salespeople, financial advisors, and other customer-facing roles are challenged to stay up-to-speed on increasingly complex vehicle systems, detailed financial contracts, and an intensely competitive market.

Car sales demand that all parties at the dealership perform at their best because every deal is a major life purchase, fused with emotion. People invest a great deal both financially and personally in the car that they drive, sometimes even identifying a part of themselves in the brand that they choose (e.g. “I’m a Toyota guy”).

Sales are made or lost on customer experience – how did the customer feel on the showroom floor? In the sales office? Interacting with finance? It doesn’t take much of a misstep for the prospect to suddenly feel uneasy and walk out the door. And in the car business, that means they’re heading straight over to the competitor offering a more comprehensive experience and a brand they’ll proudly sport while behind the wheel every day.

Training is Key to Maintaining a Topnotch Staff & Satisfied Customers

Clearly, Automotive companies face some of the most difficult requirements for creating and delivering training. They face the challenge of providing employee training across very different roles, whether that’s safety training to the manufacturing staff at the factory or sales training to the team at the dealership.

There’s also the challenge of offering customer training. Given the technological sophistication of today’s cars, most customers need training just to operate their own vehicles. These courses need to be accessible 24/7 on any device and engaging enough to keep customers coming back for more to deepen their loyalty and commitment to the brand.

To deliver on all cylinders, Automotive companies need a powerful LMS and access to industry-specific off-the-shelf content to complement their proprietary courses. Here’s a great example of an organization making use of both.

Automotive Training Success Story: Arnold Clark

Arnold Clark is Europe’s largest independently owned car dealer, selling more than 280,000 cars a year. Indeed, they have outstanding salespeople, but the company sees all employees as playing a critical role in their success. In fact, customer experience is woven into training across job functions and levels because the company understands the connection between well-trained staff and customer satisfaction. They’re committed to providing a smooth customer journey from the moment someone enters the dealership all the way through to post-sale customer service and support, as well as actively putting customer feedback into action when customers offer suggestions.

Before implementing a centralized, online training platform, managers at Arnold Clark struggled to deliver consistent messages to their teams across different branches. Training was delivered in-person, which was expensive and inconvenient. Plus, they knew that customer experience could be damaged if sales and service teams weren’t communicating the same brand promise to customers and providing equivalent levels of service across locations.

Once identifying these critical issues, they sought an LMS to support the delivery of global messages to staff, track progress, and produce comprehensive reports – and have all of it accessible 24/7 from anywhere, on any device. Additionally, they needed a solution in which salespeople could take exams to ensure their knowledge of key information on products, services, and brand messaging.

Ultimately, Arnold Clark chose Litmos Training as their LMS because of its ease of use for admins and learners alike. They create a good deal of learning content in-house, but also rely on Litmos Training Content for off-the-shelf courses. Now, their teams no longer have to travel outside of the business to participate in training, which has lowered costs and produced higher exam results. This continuous training is driving employee engagement and motivating everyone to perform at optimum levels.

Inspired by this story? Take a minute and watch this video to see how Arnold Clark utilizes Litmos Training.