A new online video education series for automotive retailers, PDS on the Rocks, has attracted the attention of thousands of car dealers, managers, and employees across the country all hungry for valuable information on how to improve business processes, sales, and create a culture of business development.
PDS on the Rocks is an unscripted video education series covering all aspects of business development from Proactive Dealer Solutions, The BDC Experts (PDS). The Huntersville, North Carolina-based international company has assisted more than 3,000 dealerships in creating business development centers over the past 25 years and is often credited as being the first to create the Business Development Center concept.
Now in its fifth installment, PDS on the Rocks offers insights into industry best practices and success stories. Top executives and trainers at PDS, with more than 100 years of combined experience in the retail automotive industry, offer their insights during short panel discussions on a variety of automotive retail topics.
The high-quality video and audio education sessions are produced at PDS’ state-of-the-art studios here. These facilities also serve to generate hundreds of training videos for PDS clients that cover a complete range of BDC, sales, service, communications, and business development culture topics.
“We created the series in response to the need we see in the marketplace,” said Jason Beckett, general manager of Proactive Dealer Solutions. “We hear directly from manufacturers and dealers throughout the country and they tell us they need greater business development insights to improve their competitiveness. We know from our experience that video training is by far the best and most successful platform to accomplish this.”
PDS on the Rocks provides high-altitude looks at industry issues such as Episode 3: Is a BDC Right for You? and granular detail as in Episode 5: 5 Easy Steps to Master a Call.
“We wanted to talk about what is happening in the industry in terms of business development,” said Barrett Schrader, PDS vice president of Business Development. “We created a series of videos where we could discuss important topics and issues, but in a conversational style. The videos are concise, stay on topic, and importantly communicate a wealth of insight that can improve your business practices and make or save you more money.”
Tiffany Peeler, PDS Success Manager Director, in Episode 5 offers her expertise on how to train staff to master a call. Peeler leads a team of success managers that work directly with a dealer’s sales, service, and BDC teams on a daily basis. Over the years she has gained valuable insight into the issues that lead to successful phone interaction with clients and prospects.
“It’s vital to smile through the phone when answering a call,” Peeler tells the viewers. “In many cases, this phone call may be the first interaction a customer has with your dealership. They need to hear a warm, friendly voice on the other end of the line. Whoever takes the call, receptionist, manager, sales or service representative, needs to interact with an inviting tone, repeat the name of the dealership, and ask how he or she can help the customer today.”
Peeler said while this may seem like common sense, it’s vital this is done on every call regardless of time of day, mood of the employee, or any other issues.
“It’s cliché, but you only get one chance to make a good first impression,” she said.
The videos are available on PDS’ YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/channel/UCV-REtiNChLXOtHI7Olclbw.
Hundreds of dealers have subscribed to the channel, and PDS has marketed the videos on Facebook and LinkedIn.
“We’re seeing a ton of organic growth from these videos,” Beckett said. “Dealers are sharing the videos with managers, and managers are sharing the videos with their teams.
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