Free educational webinars for the auto trade

Auto Media Group, the publisher of AutoTalk and EVtalk, is partnering with key industry experts on a new service, providing educational webinars under the name AutoTalk Talks.

With level three restrictions requiring sales to be largely contactless, the way dealers do business in New Zealand is set to change dramatically across all sectors – sales, logistics, finance and insurance and service.

Group managing editor Richard Edwards explains, “This is a new world, and dealers are going to need to rapidly rethink how they do things, and retrain their teams accordingly – in a hurry and remotely.”

“Our industry partners have already been thinking of what the new market will look like, so we figured we can play a role in bringing that information to traders,” Edwards says.

“We are hugely thankful to them for taking part.

“Professional development like this is something we have always had an interest in, and now is a great time to launch,” Edwards says.

The webinars will initially be held twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They will be free for all.

“We would encourage dealers to register all appropriate staff for each webinar,” Edwards explains. “We want the automotive industry to survive in the best shape possible, so for the time being will be keeping the sessions open and free.”

While some of the sessions will be run by suppliers of products and software for the dealer trade, the lessons will be largely product-agnostic.

The first, to be held next Tuesday, April 21 at 2pm, will be hosted by Matt Darby, Jackie Hingston and Mike Pratt of AutoPlay – who will discuss ’Nurturing leads in a post-COVID world’.

“The AutoPlay team is excited and honoured to be first cab off the rank with AutoTalk Talks,” Darby says. “We’re really looking forward to having some timely discussion about our industry and we’ll do our best to grow some ideas around how dealerships can leverage tech to make the most of the post-COVID ‘new’ normal.”

The second, which starts on Thursday, April 23 at 2pm will be hosted by well-known sales trainer Graham Taylor-Edwards, who will provide simple tips on dealing with staff working remotely.

The webinars will be streamed live on the popular Zoom Webinar system, which is free to users. Recordings will be available later on the AutoTalk.co.nz website.

Please send your name, title, phone number and email address to deborah@automediagroup.co.nz to register.

Details and links to the webinar will be sent prior to the event.

Session 1 – April 21 at 2pm

AutoPlay presents: Nurturing Your Leads in a Post-COVID World

Matt Darby (AutoPlay national product & operations manager), Jackie Hingston (AutoPlay customer experience manager) and Mike Pratt (Marque Group business development director)

• Why lead response times are critical
• How many customers buy from the dealership that responds first?
• Strategies and tactics to improve time taken to respond to dealership enquiries to get ahead of the game
• Best practice for lead visibility
• How to know more about all of your leads –who are they and where did they come from?
• Benchmarking for lead conversion: know how your dealership stacks up
• What is lead nurturing and why is it so important?
• Quantifying the value of proper lead management through customer touchpoints
• Salvaging the sale: when ‘lost’ customers aren’t actually lost
• The danger of marking leads as ‘lost’ too early
• How to proactively remarket to these leads to incrementally increase your vehicle sales

Session 2 – April 23 at 2pm

GTE Training presents: Managing Virtual Teams

Graham Taylor-Edwards offers simple tips for dealing with staff working remotely

• Know the keys to establishing a virtual team
• Learn how to hold effective meetings and group sessions
• Learn effective ways to communicate with team members
• Use tools to build trust and confidence among employees
• Know how to handle poor performing employees
• Know how to manage a virtual team during any project