Our 250th episode! For over 5 years, we've been the No.1 podcast for automotive sales and management training. In total, we’ve delivered 5 days, 3 hours, 55 minutes and 33 seconds of advice, news and stories from some of the biggest names in automotive.

Today, we’re back for part 2 of my conversation with Chris Cormier, Mercedes-Benz Head of Sales. We’re talking about what keeps customers coming back for their 2nd, 3rd and 4th car, and how to lead a veteran team without burning them out.

We discuss radical transparency on numbers, a culture of two-way feedback, and “wow” test-drive moments that buyers never forget.

We also get honest about AI. Where it helps (data in, insight out), and where humans still win (trust, handovers, accountability).

If you’re stepping into your first leadership role or looking to get the most out of a seasoned team, this one’s a must-listen.

Episode highlights:

• Celebrating a 25-year service award and multi-purchase customer relationships
• Making performance visible by sharing budgets, weekly results and auction data with the whole team
  Creating “wow” moments
• AI in the showroom. Useful for analysis, not a replacement for people (yet)
• Culture > meetings. Scrapping Monday sales meetings and easing into the week
• Coaching for loyalty. Star-expert handovers, name-on-the-wall deliveries, and earning forgiveness when hiccups happen
• Leading without ego. Servant leadership, psychological safety, and inviting constant feedback
  

About Symco Training:

Symco Training was founded in 2000 by Simon Bowkett and it was his belief that the business had to offer its clients something different. That difference was clear to Simon from his days in the dealership when he experienced many sales trainers who had all the answers, but were unable, unwilling or both to actually show the delegate how they could be implemented. It remains the ethos of the business today. You see, Symco only employ trainers that are committed to delivering not only in spiring and insightful training, but are equally as happy to demonstrate these skills and techniques with real customers in your own showroom. We believe in order for sales training to be effective and in Simon’s words ‘real world’, it needs to be tried and tested in the only place it matters the showroom floor. There is no room for theory when your goals are for your team to sell more cars, hours or parts and retain more profit. In dealerships around the world the focus applied by many of the sales executives is to try and sell a deal. Symco specialise in getting your teams to focus on selling themselves, the product and then supporting this with the deal.

To find out more visit: www.symcotraining.co.uk

Inside Mercedes-Benz Brooklands. Test tracks, heritage floors, AMG experiences and all. Chris Cormier breaks down the leadership techniques he uses to keep a prestigious site performing. From apprentice technician to head of sales, Chris shares the non-negotiables (effort, accountability, humility), why “what you tolerate, you condone,” and how to create a culture where performance feedback is safe, specific and data-led.

We dig into hiring for attributes over CVs, the difference between motivation and discipline, and the story of building a whole sales team from industry newcomers, what worked, what didn’t, and how they tuned the model as the market shifted. If you lead a sales floor (in autos or anywhere), this is a masterclass in fair, calm leadership that still delivers.

About Symco Training:

Symco Training was founded in 2000 by Simon Bowkett and it was his belief that the business had to offer its clients something different. That difference was clear to Simon from his days in the dealership when he experienced many sales trainers who had all the answers, but were unable, unwilling or both to actually show the delegate how they could be implemented. It remains the ethos of the business today. You see, Symco only employ trainers that are committed to delivering not only in spiring and insightful training, but are equally as happy to demonstrate these skills and techniques with real customers in your own showroom. We believe in order for sales training to be effective and in Simon’s words ‘real world’, it needs to be tried and tested in the only place it matters the showroom floor. There is no room for theory when your goals are for your team to sell more cars, hours or parts and retain more profit. In dealerships around the world the focus applied by many of the sales executives is to try and sell a deal. Symco specialise in getting your teams to focus on selling themselves, the product and then supporting this with the deal.

To find out more visit: www.symcotraining.co.uk

I sit down with Symco Training’s Operations Director, Andrew Clark, to tackle the question every dealer is asking…

Where do we find clean, well-specced 3–4-year-old cars when auctions are thin and prices are high?

We unpack the post-COVID supply hangover and share a simple, repeatable playbook to source the right cars from your service lane, without burning your database or relying on “beer & pizza” events.

You’ll get the exact word tracks, the timing that doubles pickup rates, and the incentives that get your team fighting over the service diary.

About Symco Training:

Symco Training was founded in 2000 by Simon Bowkett and it was his belief that the business had to offer its clients something different. That difference was clear to Simon from his days in the dealership when he experienced many sales trainers who had all the answers, but were unable, unwilling or both to actually show the delegate how they could be implemented. It remains the ethos of the business today. You see, Symco only employ trainers that are committed to delivering not only in spiring and insightful training, but are equally as happy to demonstrate these skills and techniques with real customers in your own showroom. We believe in order for sales training to be effective and in Simon’s words ‘real world’, it needs to be tried and tested in the only place it matters the showroom floor. There is no room for theory when your goals are for your team to sell more cars, hours or parts and retain more profit. In dealerships around the world the focus applied by many of the sales executives is to try and sell a deal. Symco specialise in getting your teams to focus on selling themselves, the product and then supporting this with the deal.

To find out more visit: www.symcotraining.co.uk