How to Use Video Training Properly

There are enough real life examples to illustrate about any lesson. Here’s one that still makes me cringe.

Salesman had Mr. Customer on the lot looking at vehicles. The next thing you know the salesman is back in the store and the customer is gone. What the heck just happened? Sales manager asks your salesman where his customer disappeared to and he says, “He was just looking for a 4 wheel drive truck, and didn’t have time to shop today.”

After the sales manager gave the salesman a piece of his mind, and managed to bring his blood pressure down, the sales manager told the salesman to go back to the conference room and watch training videos on how to conduct a proper turnover. Maybe when he learns that, he can handle another up today.

Believe it or not there are still dealerships that exist and operate their training programs like this, even today. If you send your staff to watch videos (online or otherwise) in a conference room by themselves only when you feel as though they aren’t doing their job, you are punishing them, not teaching them.

But beyond punishing them you are failing them! Yes, I said YOU are failing them. First of all, I can’t say it loudly enough; video is NOT a substitute for training. Yes, I know I risk ruffling some feathers with this considering how many trainers in our space have video training but hear me out. Video can be a fantastic training aid, but it is not a substitute for teaching or training.

Why it’s not a substitute for training:

• Videos created by someone else aren’t likely to align perfectly with your dealership culture, mission or policies. Therefore they may teach some things you don’t want to be taught.
• Only a portion of the population can watch a video and retain the information. Read/write learners or kinesthetic learners may struggle to retain video training.
• Similar to the substitute teacher in high school who showed up to play a movie for class, which you tuned out and failed to learn anything, your employees will quickly tune out the video used for punishment.
• Using video without a trainer doesn’t allow for questions to be asked or clarifications to be made.

Reasons why video is a fantastic training aid:

There is an abundance of short training videos on YouTube, in many different industries whose messages can be applied to automotive.

Many trainers in automotive have video training programs.

Using video already created saves you valuable time and energy in prepping your internal training.

You can find topics for training you might not otherwise think of.

Stop punishing your staff! Instead use the video resources available to provide a better learning experience.

How to create a better learning experience with video in four steps:

Trainer should select video, watch in its entirety in advance and note any exceptions or clarifications to the video that reflect the dealership mission, culture or process.

Trainer should create a short agenda/handout for staff to read and take notes during or after the video.

Staff should watch video with trainer present. Trainer may stop video at key spots to emphasize points for the dealership (which may be totally different than the key points in the video)

At completion of the video, trainer and staff are to discuss the video content and if applicable demonstrate the lessons of the video.

So, stop punishing your staff now and instead create a learning environment with video that will improve retention.