24 February 2014

Is the auto retail industry missing out on the best management because of a lack of training? It’s something I’ve been thinking about following a meeting I had with Steve Nash, the chief executive of the IMI.

Steve commented that, in auto retail, the more senior a person, the less likely they are to attend training courses. Some are too busy, others think they know it all and a few are afraid training will highlight a weakness.

However, one person’s weakness is another’s area for improvement. Let’s consider fundamental ‘streams’ in an auto retail business and the way careers progress. It splits into new cars, used cars and aftersales, it’s common for managers to come up through one, or possibly two, of these streams but often to have missed the third.

This means you can end up with executives running a business who have a gap in their skills and experience.  Often as not new and used car sales managers end up running the franchise and it’s the aftersales knowledge that’s missing.

I’m not saying that these retailers are running their businesses poorly. But imagine how much better the business could run with a full understanding of how all three auto retail streams operate.

Perhaps training is the answer.

Tristan Young

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Tags: aftersales, management expertise, new cars, Retailing, training, used cars