If you’ve ever been to an industry conference or have been doing this as long as I have, at some point I’m positive you’ve had the opportunity to meet Jennifer Suzuki in person and have maybe even the opportunity to catch her speak.
With over 15 years of Internet sales experience, Jennifer and her consulting company E-DealerSolutions, have been working with dealerships across the country. Her philosophy focuses on process that can further raise the performance and profit bars for your dealership.
I’ve always been a fan of Jennifer and her eDealerSolutions training and philosophy and she’s about to introduce a new Sales Training System for dealers – “Converting The Internet Shopper To A Dealership Buyer!”
Beings that I like Jennifer so much and the fact that much of her training aligns with my own personal training, I wanted to extend some DealerRefresh real-estate to Jennifer with a quick interview and introduction of her new Training System.
Here we go..
Jennifer, how exactly did you get started in this wonderful business?
I got a job selling cars at a huge Toyota dealership in 1994. I sold cars for several years and even during my college years at Northwood University. I landed a job with Autobytel.com in their early years and was responsible for selling internet leads to dealers. After that, I held the Internet Director position for a top 25 dealer group.
How did you get into training?
When I was an Internet Director for over 20 dealerships, I trained all the Internet Manager’s on sales processes to convert the leads into sales. After perfecting a propriety model, I started e-Dealer Solutions so that I could share my knowledge with more dealerships and salespeople.
What types of dealerships do you work with?
I have clients that sell 20 new cars a month and over 300 a month. The processes work for franchise and independent dealerships.
What does your training program do in a dealership; what does it look like?
I do all my in-house training live in dealerships. I bring in the digital presentations as well as detailed, adult-learning, training manuals. I lay out the foundation for all internet and incoming sales call processes. All salespeople develop their own personal phone call guides that allows for personalization while the core structure they learn is incorporated.
I don’t believe in scripts but I believe all salespeople should be professional enough to have a guide that is well-thought out. We cover effective voicemails that increase call backs as well as email correspondences that engage and encourage responses.
A clear follow up process is outlined as well as the CRM and daily operating procedures. It’s pretty intense and at the same time, it’s fun! The following days of my visit are my favorite! We hit the phones! I take the incoming calls as well as work the internet sales process they learned in our class. I implement everything I trained on and it gets pretty excited because it works…every single time! I set appointments, people show up and they buy! Then the salespeople get a chance to implement all processes while I am there so by the time I leave enhanced methods and processes are in play. It’s pretty exciting to watch the whole thing go down in just a week!
How can a small dealership take advantage of your training content without hiring you to come to their store?
We just releases a replication of my in-house visit to a complete DVD package. The users watch me train on all the processes as well as get real life examples of the phone call, voicemails, emails, etc. They can take online tests as well as keep the training content alive by jumping on a weekly webinar that goes a bit more in depth on the most important aspects of 21st century selling.
What follow up programs do you offer dealerships after you finish your in person training visit?
I have an amazing team! We have all worked together for about 6 years now and each dealership receives an Account Manager that listens to call tracking every week and provides recommendations for improved outcomes. They also log into the CRM and report on the processes the salesperson learned in my training class. It’s all designed to maintain improving upon processes and ensuring accountability to the training information. Dealerships can take advantage of a personalized Account Manager and the reports through the DVD training too!
Dealers have options for training, what sets your training apart from the others?
The difference in e-Dealer Solutions is that I approach training salespeople from an auto salespersons perspective. It’s the only business I know inside and out from various dynamics. I am sympathetic to the workload, the stress and the daily fires. I speak to people as an equal not as a superior. I ensure that salespeople receive multiple “live” examples so that they can further understand the educational content and be able to implement an improved approach and process.
I’m not a trainer that says this is what you should do, I actually take incoming calls with the sales team and I call internet leads back…I put myself out there on every dealer visit because I will set appointments and they will show up and they buy cars! It works! I’m not afraid to do the job in which I am training on! My team at e-Dealer Solutions have all sold cars and they provide recommendations based on salesmen calls and emails that are from an auto salespersons perspective which helps the salesperson succeed.
What upcoming events will you be speaking at or be attending?
We will be launching the DVD training package at the Digital Dealer conference in Las Vegas, October 5-7, 2011. I have also been selected to be a NADA speaker at this years NADA convention also being held in Las Vegas, February 3-6, 2012. Come see my class on, “Use Phone Calls to Set Appointment That Show.”
Thanks for taking to time to answer a few questions Jennifer and I look forward to seeing you next week in Las Vegas.
Small Anouncement:
Jennifer has invited all DealerRefresh readers to attend a party for the launch her Sales Training System.
