“The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.”
— Peter Senge, "The Fifth Discipline"
Everyone in the automotive aftermarket talks about the need for training, but few position training as a survival skill. As competition has become greater to service the needs of jobbers and repair shops, more and more aftermarket companies see training as a means to stay ahead of and exceed the competition.
Training for distributors is a value-added benefit they can offer to their shop customers, but also a way to keep their personnel working at peak performance.
“Training is a competitive advantage,” acknowledges Bill Maggs, president of the National Pronto Association.
Almost every program group offers some form of training to their members, which they can, in turn, offer to their employees and customers. At the counterperson level, training is key for imparting product knowledge and interpersonal skills that can make or break a company. At the technician level, training consists of technical and product information, as well as business management training.
Distributing the knowledge
A vast array of training is available from program groups, manufacturers and third-party sources for WDs and jobbers looking to enhance customer relationships and business management.
CARQUEST associates are offered a broad range of training, from technical skills to interpersonal skills, primarily through the training programs offered by CARQUEST University. Additionally, CARQUEST Driving Force is a monthly audio sales tool for CARQUEST jobbers and SalesPros, featuring new product information and interviews with storeowners, salespeople and vendors.
The Automotive Distribution Network, which consists of Parts Plus and IAPA, also offers several programs for jobbers/WDs through Parts Plus University, according to Gil Gunn, head of training for the program group. Mike Sires, the president of Parts Plus University, does most of the training. The fee structure is a daily rate plus travel expenses (no matter what course they schedule). Gunn says 40 percent of training is customized for the warehouse or jobber from Parts Plus University courses. Sessions include:
“Feet on the Street,” a new three-day seminar for salespeople from a jobber or WD. This interactive, hands-on course is designed for the salesperson who wants to develop relationships with technicians. The focus is not just on selling but uncovering the needs of the shop;
“Knock Out Customer Service,” designed for anyone who interacts with customers either in person (counter) or over the phone;
“Sales Builder Performance Manage-ment,” for a warehouse or store that wants to increase installer sales or start a service dealer program; and
“Professional Training Service (PTS),” a course geared toward jobbers.
Additionally, Bob Barstow, director of marketing for The Network, conducts a one-day “Jobber Financial Class,” which goes over fundamentals of GMROI and how to read a P & L statement. Barstow is also available for jobber evaluations, where he will come to a jobber business for two to three days to evaluate operations and then submit a plan to help turn things around.
Federated Auto Parts offers training programs for WDs and jobbers, with specific concentration on the professional technician. Mike Schultz, executive vice president for Federated, says their most successful program is the ASE certification training, which offers preparation for the final test.
“Because counterpeople want to be ASE trained, our members work with manufacturers to offer basic technical training programs,” says Schultz. “While this training isn’t hands-on like professional technician training, counterpeople are trained, for example, on reading catalogs accurately and speaking techniques.”
The Alliance offers three levels of training for its members and their customers, says John Wick, vice president of sales and training for the group.
Wick emphasizes the importance of ongoing training for counter staff. “A well-trained counterman is worth his weight in gold. If people see others being promoted and money being put into training, they look at this as a business worth working for.”
The first in the Alliance training tiers is an online program ran through their Extranet site, designed for counterpeople, store managers, service writers and service dealers.
“This Web-based educational tool is designed to help Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper warehouse distributors, parts stores and certified service centers better meet the educational and training needs of their associates and owners.”
About 1,000 to 1,500 people take courses and pass the tests per month. The focus is on sales and management training such as how to interview people and how to motivate employees. A bonus is that store managers and supervisors can log on and see what courses their drivers or counterpeople have taken, along with their results, says Wick.
ACDelco offers courses for its Dedicated Distribution Groups and Alliance jobber stores. The courses provide comprehensive product line information (on topics such as brakes, steering and suspension systems) and valuable sales tips. Classes are taught by an ACDelco instructor at a training center or a distributor location and are typically two to four hours long.
Several other leading manufacturers, including Federal-Mogul, also offer tailored training programs for counter staff and technicians. For example, not only is a section of the Carter Fuel Delivery Products website (a division of Federal-Mogul) dedicated to store personnel training, they offer a training CD that gives parts pros general information on fuel pumps, an overview on Carter products and answers to frequently asked questions. Joe Stephan, direct of marketing for fuel, chassis and brake products for Federal-Mogul, explains that counterpeople benefit from the program’s selling tips and technical features. There is even a Carter Counterman Training Certification Quiz — 20 multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions to help the counterperson gauge their knowledge in the category.
Salespeople who participate and pass the test receive a certificate and a Carter cap. Stephan says that besides CD-ROM training, they also have a presence in the field, providing on-site training wherever necessary to help jobbers and distributors maximize their counter skills.
Honeywell Friction Materials (Bendix) offers a similar setup for counter staff, tailoring programs to the needs of each customer. According to Jay Buckley, the Bendix answerman, it’s a three-hour course that covers product knowledge, friction selection via the use of a training DVD and wraps with a breakdown of some of the best brake job tips a counterperson can offer to a technician customer.
Tech training: Takin’ it to the streets
Being able to offer courses to technician customers is also key for parts distributors, say most that we spoke to. If they do well, the industry does well. For that reason, there is no shortage of programs available to help the technician excel at what they do. Here is just a smattering of what is being offered today:
Back in 1998, CARQUEST decided to change the way it did technical training, forming what it calls CARQUEST Technical Institute (CTI). Mike DeSorbo, national director of training for CARQUEST, says the program group saw a real need for a structured program. “Instead of a vendor being nearby to do a clinic and only reaching a few people through a shotgun approach, we wanted something that was more pinpointed,” he relates.
CTI offers training via a season ticket, which allows a shop to send up to six technicians for one package price. DeSorbo says classes are held every other month within the training year. Depending on a technician’s location, there are five two-night technical courses and either one one-night technician productivity course or one two-night business management course.
CARQUEST has some 175 regions in the U.S. where they offer training, with some regions now in their seventh year of CTI. Classes incorporate the latest presentation technology to help meet the “hands-on” needs of today’s technicians. DeSorbo relates that CTI’s Virtual Hands-on Training methods allow all technicians in the class to see and analyze scan data, waveforms and other test information in a way that replicates the actual test tool being used. This eliminates the group from having to crowd around the instructor to see the live information. CTI Virtual Hands-on Training also ensures that the vehicle needed to make a point or to demonstrate a technique is available in every class.
Providing a similar type of training experience for The Network is Injectronics, a Canadian and American company that has been developing and delivering technician training since 1988.
Over 50 topic-specific courses are available, all developed internally and supported with their own training manuals for each class. Custom built simulators and labscopes enable the instructors and students to have a hands-on experience within each class. John Vandenberg, president of Injectronics, says most courses are four hours long and are limited to a class size of 30 to allow better interaction with instructors.
According to Vandenberg, a licensed automotive journeyman technician with an electronics degree, instructors don’t enter the class with the attitude that they have to teach the technicians how to fix cars; they already know how to do that.
Rather, their training is for experienced technicians looking for knowledge to help them work smarter and faster.
The Network primarily offers Injectronics training through Parts Plus, but Gunn says all training that either group offered before their merger is now available to both groups.
He adds that the training has been successful because it helps identify and solve issues that are sending cars back to dealers.
Melissa Jolls, marketing director for Auto Pride, says basic programs like brakes and air conditioning clinics still work for their members. For the past three years, Auto Pride has sponsored a national contest that sends 25 technicians for training away at either Federal-Mogul or Raybestos. The group covers the entire cost of airfare, hotel and training, and the program lasts from Sunday through Friday.
In terms of what they offer to participating repair shops who join their Total Service Support (TSS) program, there is no arguing that ACDelco has most of the same benefits as the program groups with credit cards, signage, employee retention tools, technical support and training.
ACDelco training is free to TSS participants and, according to Steven Sigg, company spokesperson, it covers six major service technical areas for “all makes/all models.” The areas include: engine electrical, fuel controls, air conditioning, electrical and electronics, brake systems and diagnostic systems. The company operates some 150 training locations, most within driving distance for technicians, and employs over 25 technical instructors.
The Alliance offers some technician training as well. “We still feel the need for hands-on training in this area,” says Wick. They limit the size of the courses to about 10 to 15 techs.
For some of the other program groups, technical training consists of offering training through their manufacturer programs.
Management part of the equation
Keeping shops and parts stores in business with the right technical information and parts knowledge is only part of the equation.
Almost all of the program groups we surveyed offer business management training. Engine Pro just developed a program for its members to offer their rebuilder and machinist customers. The group pays for instructors and a nominal charge is assessed to those attending.
What motivated the training? “Higher shop failure rates,” explains Engine Pro President Greg Dunlap. “With mounting customer failures, we wanted to provide training that will help our customers survive.”
The training is provided on a regional basis, and Dunlap says follow-up training is done using “webinars” offered over the Internet. “Most of these shops are one to five individuals with very skilled machinists,” says Dunlap. “Unfortunately, most have never had any business training.”
Gunn of The Network believes a change in the business climate with increased insurance and fuel costs is making it harder for companies to stay in business. With little training, the industry “must be smarter about business.”
Through Mike Sires and Parts Plus University, The Network offers courses in customer service, sales, service writing and employee management.
The Alliance’s second level of training mostly focuses on business management training, from HR to customer service skills, and is made available to everyone from shop owners and technicians to warehouse distributors.
“Across the industry, people have been scaling back on their human resources departments and training. We believe that you can save money in the short term but in the long term, you pay the price,” says Wick. “At the Alliance, we have been putting a lot of resources into training believing in the long term benefits that can be gained such as a happy, well motivated sales force. We also see an increase in sales and morale.”
ACDelco offers three courses in front-shop management skills that can help a shop improve its day-to-day operations and bottom line profitability. All classes are taught by service business professionals using adult learning interactive techniques.
CTI Business Solutions is the business management training arm of CARQUEST. The group has partnered with Horizon Training Group to offer independent repair facility owners, managers and service consultants comprehensive, up-to-date management techniques. CTI Business Solutions courses are primarily instructor led but are also offered online and in self-paced video training.
DeSorbo says the latest offering from CTI Business Solutions gives the shop owner the ability to join a region that consists of three two-day in-depth management courses that cover shop operations, workflow, service selling and marketing.
“We want to help techs move toward preventative maintenance and away from ‘broken car repair,’” says DeSorbo.
Too cool for school?
The amount of training that is available is staggering, though many, like Auto Pride’s Melissa Jolls, acknowledge that the 80/20 rule seems to still apply, where only 20 percent of those available actually take the training.
“For whatever reason, we can only draw so many to training,” she says. “But from those, we have people who are really interested and we think it is worth it, even if only a few show up.”
Schultz of Federated says one of the challenges they have faced is how to get people to attend clinics. “While we know the clinics are interesting and beneficial to professional technicians, they want to know in advance that what they will be learning will be valuable enough for them to give up their evening to attend.”
Buckley of Honeywell’s Bendix team says they have two full-time trainers in the field, offering six different courses from “basic hydraulics” to “complex electrical systems.”
Buckley is discouraged by the lack of turnout at the seminars. “I hear shop owners say they need training, but we don’t seem to get people to turn out for the classes.” He says, unfortunately, most training is held in the evening and many will not attend. “More and more technicians are saying to us: ‘I want to go to training and I don’t want to waste my time.’”
But he adds that those who take Bendix training repeatedly say to him: “I can fix many more things than I could before taking the class.” He is convinced that the training benefit for both management and technical classes is that when someone finishes their course “they can make more money for their business.”
DeSorbo says those who attend their classes “don’t want a sales pitch and want to learn something that they can apply immediately to their job.”
He says application-based training is the key. More aftermarket companies should model themselves after national chains that tie pay raises for technicians and counterpeople to training completed, he adds.
Robert Luna, president of APPI (Automotive Parts Professionals, Inc.), says the struggle for business should motivate the aftermarket to take part in training. “With the growth of competition, especially from chain operations, our independent shops need to keep up.”
He also cites technology changes and car dealer competition as additional reasons to receive training. “It will only get tougher in the marketplace.”
Mitchell 1 agrees that dealer competition is increasingly becoming more of a concern for the industry, one reason they just launched their first official training session for their shop management software program, Manager, a tool that provides shop owners with some of the same capabilities being used by dealerships.
“Shop owners need to be able to compete with some of the same tools that dealers have,” says Nick DiVerde, director of marketing for Mitchell 1.
One of the session’s trainers, John Dwulet, senior product manager for Mitchell 1, says that if a shop owner can “speed up their shop operations with management software, they can also become more profitable.” Based on the outcome and success of the training program, they are planning to offer more in the future. Several attendees agree that it was helpful to learn more about the system.
Schultz also believes in the need for training. “With today’s cars being as technically advanced and computerized as they are, you have to have training or you can’t operate,” states Schultz. “It’s that simple.”
Incentives may retain employees
“One of the biggest challenges the aftermarket faces today is the training and retention of quality employees,” says David Maas, who is responsible for buying and training for Corral Jobber Warehouse. The company is located about 90 miles north of Amarillo, Texas, and has seven stores.
Maas relates that too often employees are hired and trained and then lost a few months later. “I believe that the excuse we use of, ‘Well, we just can’t compete with the major chains on benefits’ is bogus,” explains Maas. “I believe that what is happening is we hire employees and then train them just enough for them to do the job. Then we ignore any further training.”
Like car dealers who reward their technicians for continuous training, Maas believes the aftermarket needs to do the same to help retain employees. He is in the process of developing an ongoing training program for Corral’s employees. “People like to learn or the community college would not have continuing education courses.”
Maas also says that part of the training process is getting employees more involved in the business. “They are not just counterpeople,” he proclaims. “We go over vendor lines and seek their input for adjustments.”
At South River, N.J.-based Strauss Discount Auto, continuous training is important, according to Rich Oliver, director of training. He says Strauss has been transforming its training platform from a classroom setting to Internet-based training.
Oliver says they are trying to break the training into smaller pieces so employees can absorb information a little bit at a time. “Areas such as additives and air conditioning are constantly being updated so it makes sense to put information into smaller pieces,” says Oliver.
Strauss gets involved in three types of training: 1) regular training for counter and sales associates 2) management and 3) technical. He says the company provides a lot of training in-house but will also reimburse employees for courses taken at a seminar or community college.
Oliver has people on his staff dedicated to developing courses on their Intranet site. In addition to training on their company’s internal site, Oliver says, “We have a nice blend of classroom training in the field and at central store locations.”
To help his associates stay current on products, Oliver says he is constantly asking vendors to provide training. “Teach me to sell your product because it is in the best interests of everyone,” he says. “I’m not necessarily concerned about which brand they sell, we just don’t want to lose any sales for lack of training.”
The virtual classroom
As the Internet becomes a common tool, movement toward Web-based training will increase. ASA reports that institutions currently offering Web-based training include, but are not limited to, AYES, Delphi Service Solutions, Melior, Inc. (see sidebar) and Snap-on.
LuAnn Brown, president of eTool Developers, managed a team of developers who did work for HP and Meijer (Michigan-based food chain) to develop online learning. She started her own company a few years ago and has begun to specialize in the automotive aftermarket having recently helped PWA develop their website. She estimates that the aftermarket is about 10 years behind other industries in terms of online learning.
Right now she says only the companies with deep pockets can afford to develop these courses, which typically start at $100,000. She also says there is some intimidation with technology that prevents companies from going in this direction.
“Unfortunately, some companies are not doing anything for fear of making the wrong decision and wasting company money,” says Brown.
She says eventually the savings realized with online training such as lower or no travel costs will help push the acceptance of the technology.
Oliver of Strauss says his company is pushing manufacturers to provide more “on demand” training that goes beyond classroom overheads and flipcharts. He realizes the difficulty and cost for vendors but is hopeful that the day will come when online training is the norm.
Many who were contacted for this article see face-to-face training still being the most effective technical training. Conversely, they see greater acceptance of online courses for jobber and counterman training. Everyone agrees that as the skill set of technicians changes and advances, more and more training will be done over the Web.
Maas of Corral says his company has utilized online training from IAPA (part of The Network). He says it is training that resides on the back screen of his employees’ computers. “They utilize the training when there is downtime between talking to customers.” Self-paced courses like this will continue to be the wave of the future, we’re told.
Overall, having a well-trained workforce will continue to be a priority for those in the automotive aftermarket who want to not only survive, but thrive. And as more aftermarket companies see training as a competitive advantage, appropriate resources will be diverted to training so companies can retain and attract both employees and customers.
