Training Your Employees Via The Internet
By Wayne A. Fortier
With the demands of today's economy, dealerships need their employees to continually learn, grow, and add value to the dealership. Investing time and money to train employees is a fundamental part of business, but with new technology and the advent of web-based training, it does not have to be a financial burden. By investing in employee development, not only can an employee's personal goals be achieved, but the dealership's goals and profit margins can be reached as well. Key considerations to investing in employee development are the cost, scheduling of employees away from the job, and availability of the training. In today's work environment, it is sometimes necessary to bring the learning process to the workers. Web-based training is an ideal means for doing this.
By 2002, analysts estimate that 2.5 million North Americans will be online students. Not only is it a cost-effective way to deliver training to employees who work or reside in different locations, but it also accommodates those employees who lack the time for traditional classroom training.
Some of the most important benefits of web-based training include:
- Lower training costs due to fewer travel expenses, less time spent away from work by the employee, and no requirement for a live classroom instructor
- Training product is available when and where the student needs it
- Potentially better outcomes than traditional training: numerous studies have shown that material presented via interactive learning systems has a 15% better retention rate than with other teaching methods
- Material is presented in a consistent format assuring that all students are taught in a similar fashion
- Self-paced instruction
Online learning uses new and innovative ways to deliver its course material, making it potentially more effective than traditional classroom learning. Industry data indicates that about 8% of all work force training is now conducted on the Internet. By the year 2002, this figure is expected to be up to 40%. The estimated cost of web-based training is approximately 50%-70% less than traditional classroom training.
Today, the highly competitive nature of the automobile market places ever-increasing demands on the automobile dealer. This competitiveness has stretched far beyond the sales transaction that takes place in front of the customer. Administrative duties play a very important role in the success and profitability of the dealership. Until now, limited training has been available to these vital positions in the dealerships.
Some of the key automotive industry players in offering this state-of-the-art training to your dealership are Reynolds & Reynolds Certified for Control program and a new training program for the online automotive seller MSN CarPoint (www.carpoint.msn. com), Dixon Odom's Dixon Odom University (dixonodomuniversity.com,) and ADP's Dealersuite.com,
Reynolds & Reynolds currently offers a dealer training program which focuses on online car selling. The program includes online seminars and live classroom settings. Reynolds & Reynolds also offers a CD-Rom training module for the business office called Certified for Control. This training is an interactive CD-Rom training course followed up with live classroom instruction. This course is a well-designed training product for the controller who needs a review of the capabilities and utilization of the Reynolds & Reynolds system along with training on their new windows based EraLink report writer.
Dixon Odom is a public accounting firm that specializes in automotive accounting and consulting. Their online training product includes a School of Automotive Accounting tailored specifically to dealership accounting employees. This product teaches the specific processes of each job, develops a solid foundation of accounting concepts specific to dealerships and acts as a catalyst to enhance cross training within the office. A difference between this online tool and those offered by the computer vendors is that it is not specific to a certain computer system and provides detailed instruction on the various desks within the accounting office. Currently the School of Automotive Accounting offers seven courses including:
- Car Deal Desk
- Title and Registration Desk
- Inventory Desk
- Accounts Payable Desk
- Payroll Administrator
- Accounts Receivable Desk
- Warranty Desk
ADP has developed a product called Dealersuite.com, which provides products and services needed to operate a dealership, including education and training. Extensive online training is provided for ADP's computer applications with other training available on some Microsoft products such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. These services allow training for specific computer applications and can be followed up by classroom instruction in many cases. ADP also offers soft skill management courses, through Motivational University, on several topics including:
- How to be a better manager
- Conflict resolutions
- How to handle employees
Outside of the automotive industry, some leading online training sites are www.elearningcenter.com and www.smartplanet.com. For technical training, try http://wwwmhonlinelearning.com/ and for business management courses, many of the major universities like UCLA offer online versions of their traditional classes. http://www.unex.ucla.edu
Wayne A. Fortier is a CPA and senior manager at Dixon Odom PLLC. wfortier@dealeronline.com
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