2:50 am, December 22, 2010
DEALERS and staff have taken part in training analysis to aid the Mazda Academy launch new training modules.
156 dealers and more than 1,350 customer-facing staff including sales, service and parts personnel took part in the analysis. This allowed the Academy to identify a series of optional and recommended training modules.
‘We now have six to eight learning models per job role tailored to individual requirements because the network informed us what they really wanted their training to do,’ said Mazda Academy director Bram van den Berg (pictured).
This analysis also provided dealer principals and owners with an important insight into the strengths and needs of their own staff, he explained.
Ashley Robinson, sales manager, Bristol Street Motors Redditch said: ‘The new training needs analysis is a great way of identifying which areas of training can be focused on which in turn will increase sales as well as the customer experience.’
The Academy is now embarking on customer service areas, known as mystery shopping, Van den Berg explained: ‘This has always been seen as very negative so the Academy wants to turn it round by allowing the dealers to review their own results and decide what they want to do.
‘We can then put the right learning module in that dealer’s development plan so we have tailored learning for the network.’
This move has also been welcomed by the dealer network. ‘It is very important to keep on top of your game to help deliver that outstanding customer experience,’ said Robinson.
