[S2!!!]

Individuals looking to pursue their career as a sales consultant at automobile dealerships, now have a dedicated training course to look forward to. Global Academy of Automotive Retail Excellence or GAARE is the newest institute that promises to deliver trained manpower to automobile dealerships across the country. This institute, located in Pune, has been established with the aim to bridge the gap between skilled/trained sales manpower and the automobile industry growth.

This advance diploma program will be spread over a period of 6 months (including 1 month on-the-job training). The curriculum is designed to follow a pedagogic approach with a mixture role plays, case studies, interactive sessions in addition to theory. Students are trained in fundamental automotive technology including latest features to ensure appropriate product knowledge.The six subjects include:

• Automotive Technology
• Communication Skills
• Selling Skills
• Personality Development
• Customer Relationship Management
• Sales Business Management

Prospective students need to be graduates in any discipline or diploma (in Engineering) holders with minimum 50% marks in the final exam. Those with over 1 year of work experience are exempted from these criteria. Applicants must be of 27 years of age or below to be eligible for this course.

This course guarantees students 100% job placement. The first batch will commence in July 2015.

For more info visit their website.



*Image for representation purpose only

[Senna4Ever]

Good, an institution like this was needed, especially keeping in mind all our great sales 'executives'.

Finally no more statements like 'Saar, it comes with 15 inch rims and 14 inch tyres.'

[S2!!!]

Originally Posted by Senna4Ever

Good, an institution like this was needed, especially keeping in mind all our great sales 'executives'.

Finally no more statements like 'Saar, it comes with 15 inch rims and 14 inch tyres.'

I'd just say that this is a waste of 6-months of a candidate's life. If you'd ever check, all auto dealerships have the same (as above) criteria to select you for a job. I'd say that it is the responsibility of the dealerships and the company to provide the requisite training to the staff rather than a separate institution. I know for a fact that VW do update their sales staff periodically and provide them timely training, not sure if other manufacturers do the same.

I'm just thinking that probably this institution could have tied up with the companies to provide training to their existing staff than to extend this for a period of 6 months.

[drsingh]

This smells exactly like the MBA scam many private institutions run promising 100% job guarantee. Most jobs are sales associate jobs in insurance /banking which do not require MBA.

Any prospective sales agent should join a dealership directly.

This would have a role if dealerships sent fresh hires here for a short training course.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by S2!!!

I'd just say that this is a waste of 6-months of a candidate's life.

Can't make GAARE guilty without a trial . As of now, we know nothing about its quality of training.

If the training is good, I'd say it's worth the 6 month investment (as any training / education program is). GAARE isn't backed by nobodys either. The founders have extensive experience with the likes of Mercedes, including in dealer development. Take a look at the management profiles here.

The generally poor quality of sales personnel is a bane in the auto industry. I welcome such initiatives which have the potential to churn out better trained salesmen.

On a lighter note, check this thread out .

[blue_pulsar]

I have to agree with S2. The course doesn't add much value IMO. The other skills apart from "Automotive Technology" are all a part of a course like BBA. Am sure there are numerous unemployed BBA graduates. Dealership can easily train them for a month and deploy them on the job.

On more thing, in India, as of today, being a Car Sales Associate is not an aspirational profession. Most car sales personnel pursue their job as a stop-gap till they get a really good job.

[Viju]

I started my career at the dealership level and twelve years later, as a customer, I feel that this school is a good initiative. Car dealerships are mushrooming across the country and although most major OEMs train sales and service advisors, I don't think it is effective enough. Whatever is taught during training programmes is soon forgotten, and the company's values remain only on boards in the showroom.

After moving from dealership right to a major OEM's design department (and soon after buying my first new car from the same OEM's dealership), I realised that no matter how many years of thinking, effort and reiterations go into designing the best value product than an engineer could, an uninterested / non-motivated sales advisor can kill it all for the end-customer. After all, it is not the top-management or the R&D team or even the CEO of the dealership that sells the car!

It was alarming to note that many times, the simple courtesies - smiling and greeting a customer as soon as he enters your showroom, making him (and especially his wife and kids!) feel comfortable, answering his questions patiently and not trying hard to shove a sale down the customer's throat - were sorely missing!

When I go car-shopping, this is what I expect:
(1) A courteous welcome into the showroom.
(2) A test-drive, or at least an appointment of a test-drive of my desired model (and getting that test-drive without follow-up).
(3) A sales advisor who can actually advise me (for that, he should be more knowledgeable than me about the product he is trying to sell me) about the product features, prices, variants, fuel efficiency etc.
(4) Follow-up from the sales advisor within the promised time, rather than me chasing him. This goes for before, during and after the sale.
(5) Thorough professionalism - not back-stabbing any other OEM or competing dealership of the same brand.
(6) Transparency - in letting me know of the right vehicle details (like manufacturing date), available offers etc.

When I think of sales-persons, these are the famous words that come to my mind: "A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so."

Recently, we went to buy a new Alto for my wife to take our daughter to school (here in Japan). The sales advisor told us that getting a new Alto from Suzuki will take at least 60 days. He also mentioned that we should not hurry into a car purchase as we are spending a lot of money. He advised us to also go to the Daihatsu showroom and check-out the Mira which is the JDM Alto's direct competitor (!). I was not too keen on the Mira. We did go to some other independent dealers though. In the meantime, I had noticed a few display / test-drive cars with the Suzuki dealer and had casually enquired about the prices.

After a day's thinking, we went back and bought a 2013/Dec Swift from the dealer with 4500 km on the clock for around 60% the price of a new Swift. The entire sales experience was so smooth and the advisor seemed to be so committed to his job that I know I could run back to him if at all I have some trouble.

[Altocumulus]

Nowadays you have schools and institutions for every thing. So why not for this when this is a requirement when seen from a customer's point of view. Also am sure the jobs in Gulf will attract a lot of takers.

[S2!!!]

Update:

Admissions for the Advance Diploma in Automotive Retail Sales program at the GAARE institute in Pune have begun. The first batch is scheduled to begin on July 15, 2015.

The formal inauguration of GAARE is likely to be on June 11, 2015.

For details regarding the admission and selection process, you could get in touch with them via email on info@gaare.in or call on +91 7030 299 299.

Do visit their website for more details.