Fixed Ops Journal - April 2021 - F18

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

Germain Toyota sales staff took part in
Quantum5 training. Service advisers are next.

QUANTUM
LEAP
AI, gaming supercharge training to boost its long-term effects
s dealerships accelerated digital retailing during the pandemic, giving
customers the ability to conduct
entire transactions electronically,
David O'Brien saw a critical element of the
sales process rapidly slipping away: the human interaction that builds relationships.
O'Brien, who has worked in various roles in
dealership training for more than 20 years,
saw another flaw in a system he helped perpetuate. People like him fly into a city, spend
two or three days giving intensive training to
service advisers, and then they leave. Soon after, the training often comes to a halt, and
what was learned may soon be forgotten.
Those observations led O'Brien to co-found
Quantum5, a training company based in
Scottsdale, Ariz. It uses artificial intelligence
and other technology - as well as person-to-person training - to help teach traditional sales skills, such as recognizing the
needs and desires of customers to find what
motivates them to buy products and services.
Quantum5 offers training in person or via
Zoom and follows up by giving service advisers an app they can access through a phone or
computer at any time to review and strengthen what they've learned.

Bite size
The content on the app is delivered in bitesize pieces - " snackables " in Quantum5 parlance - that can be digested in a minute or
PAGE 18

RICK POPELY

foj@autonews.com

" Nobody wants to sit for
20 or 30 minutes and
stare at a screen, so we
broke all of our content
into snackable content. "
DAVID O'BRIEN, Quantum5

two. O'Brien says that is how some advisers
prefer to learn because they are often pressed
for time.
" Think of how peoples' patience is now, " he
says. " Nobody wants to sit for 20 or 30 minutes
and stare at a screen, so we broke all of our
content into snackable content. Then we used

[online] game content professionals to turn it
into questions, answers and games where you
can earn points for [incentives] we know you
care about. "
Through the app, advisers can take quizzes,
listen to audio clips and act out scenarios with
customers in video clips.
Brian Kramer, general manager of Germain
Toyota of Naples, Fla., part of Germain Automotive Group based in Columbus, Ohio, had
his sales staff take the Quantum5 training. His
service advisers will take the training in the
second quarter.
Kramer says the sales staff, especially those
who are younger, like the ongoing lessons on
the app.
" They think it's the best thing ever because it
doesn't take hours, " he says. " They can do it in
15 minutes, which is about how long their attention span is. They do it at home, at odd
hours, in their free time; they can jump into it
at any time. "

An opportunity
Though customers have embraced the ease
of booking service appointments online,
communicating by text and even paying remotely, many still want to talk to someone,
O'Brien says, so the training focuses on connecting with customers.
" People kept calling dealerships, " he says.
" Even though they liked that technology was
making it easier, they still picked up the
see QUANTUM, next page

APRIL 2021

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4/5/21 11:34 AM

Fixed Ops Journal - April 2021

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