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Put real time and effort into your Buy Here Pay Here training program and you’ll invest wisely in your dealership’s success
Whether or not you’ve worked at both Buy Here Pay Here (BHPH) and traditional auto dealerships, you know they’re different. In general, BHPH dealerships cater to lower income individuals with less-than-ideal credit who are unable to obtain financing from traditional dealerships. The down payments are bigger, interest rates are higher, and most BHPH dealerships require customers to appear in person to make their monthly, bi-weekly, or even weekly payments in cash.
Both types of dealerships obviously sell cars, but the path to getting customers into cars is different. That means whether you’ve hired a seasoned salesperson with years of experience in a traditional dealership, or a fresh-faced newbie with no sales experience whatsoever, you need a reliable Buy Here Pay Here training program to get everyone on the same page.
Important points your Buy Here Pay Here training should cover
1. Educate your sales team about the basics
You’re the BHPH expert, but your new salespeople aren’t (yet). Start with the fundamentals and give your team a solid foundation upon which you can build. In your training, break down the differences between BHPH and traditional dealerships, so they fully understand. Share the history of BHPH, key facts about the industry, who your customers are, and the role your dealership plays for those customers.
Additionally, because BHPH dealerships often have to work against an unfavorable reputation, teach your salespeople about common BHPH myths. That way, if anyone brings up incorrect information that makes your dealership look bad, your salespeople will know how to answer in a productive way.
2. Empathy is crucial
BHPH customers are not the customers that excitedly walk into a traditional dealership to buy a brand new car with pristine credit. By the time they get to you, they may have already visited a few different traditional dealerships and learned they could not receive approval for financing. Or, the car they’ve always relied on to handle transportation to work has finally broken down, and they’re desperate to find a vehicle they can afford.
Your Buy Here Pay Here training needs to teach salespeople to be empathetic and kind to these customers and to remove all judgment or language that could make them feel worse.
3. Ensure a full understanding of legal obligations
Auto dealerships, in general, have to deal with all sorts of compliance issues, but BHPH dealers have to be even more careful. Make sure your staff understands their obligations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the most recent payday regulations, and how to handle customer complaints before they escalate.
You should spend a significant amount of time on compliance in your BHPH training and provide refresher courses regularly. One misstep from a new salesperson could sink the dealership you’ve worked so hard to build.
4. The focus is more on finance than inventory
At a traditional dealership, a salesperson starts the conversation by learning about what type of car the customer is looking for. At a BHPH dealership, though, the money talk comes first. Your salesperson should be trained to get customers into cars that they can afford rather than pushing the latest and greatest model on the lot.
5. It’s not about the hard sell
When a customer comes to a BHPH dealership, they aren’t usually shopping around or thinking about buying a car — they need purchase a car. Your sales person shouldn’t be using hard-hitting sales tactics to close a deal. They need to pay close attention when figuring out finances, provide an empathetic ear, and help the customer find a car they can afford and rely on.
How to make sure your Buy Here Pay Here training sticks
Starting a new job is hard. There are names to learn, internal dynamics to understand, and a ton of information to absorb. Don’t just spend 45 minutes talking at a new salesperson and then expect them to remember everything you told them. Take the time upfront to train your new employees correctly, and it will pay off for you in the long run.
Effective Buy Here Pay Here training never stops, and it’s your job to keep coming up with innovative ways to fine tune your sales team. Hold weekly sales meetings where you touch base with your employees, tell them about new developments in the field and reinforce what they were taught in their training.
If you start your new salespeople off on the right foot and provide regular Buy Here Pay Here training, you’ll find you have a sales team you can be proud of that gets positive results and makes your dealership money.
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