Balance virtual and in-person training

In the 1960s, Pat Ryan & Associates popularized finance and insurance training. Auto dealers grew accustomed to sending their F&I managers to a rigorous two-week, off-site training course to sharpen their skills.

Today, dealerships are looking for ways to keep their top-earning employees well-educated on their trade — but in the store as much as possible. To meet that demand, many F&I training companies have added or expanded the digital components of their programs, offering training that F&I professionals can participate in without leaving the dealership.

Though some parts of the training translate well to independent study, many F&I professionals believe virtual training has its drawbacks. F&I training companies are looking to strike the right balance by increasing the availability of educational materials online, while finding ways to meet with F&I managers in person.

F&I training company EFG Cos., of Irving, Texas, for instance, has had an uptick in requests for in-store training and to put more information online. The Association of Finance & Insurance Professionals, a nonprofit group that offers training and certification for F&I managers, told Automotive News that more dealerships have been requesting in-person training.

Tony Troussov, owner of Minneapolis F&I training company Mezen Dealer Services, said in-person training remains the most effective.

"You remember your trainer," Troussov told Automotive News. "It really is that personal, because the impact that you make on [the trainee] generates a ripple effect on not only their lives but the lives of their family members — and, ultimately, everybody at the dealership."

That said, the days when a dealership employee leaves for weeks at a time are in the past, Troussov said. In-person or remote, F&I training can be accomplished in small, consistent bursts throughout the year, say, "two to three hours every other month, or once a month," he said.

"There's just not a lot of value in the long-term, five-day training," Troussov said. "Today's generation wants very short but impactful training. You can call it snackable training."

Dave Worrall, senior director of global training and development at Assurant Global Automotive, a unit of New York's Assurant Inc., said digital training is good for cognition, though it's difficult to determine how successfully the student responds to the material.

In class, "we can actually measure the results. We can take a baseline in class. We can watch their [initial F&I] presentation. We can watch their presentation at the end of class and measure the difference," Worrall said.

While face-to-face education is most stimulating, Troussov said having a library of videos to return to when an F&I manager has a question can help skill retention.

Up-and-coming dealership employees have grown up with a training tool previous generations haven't: YouTube tutorials. Training should adopt similar principles for specific skills that dealership employees can reference, or even show customers, at any time on their phones, Troussov said.

"It's on demand. When I need it, I want it there," he said.

On the other hand, getting F&I professionals out of the dealership is good, says Ritch Wheeler, vice president of training at F&I product and training company American Financial & Automotive Services Inc., of The Woodlands, Texas. Removing distractions and real-life pressures from F&I training is beneficial when a young professional is getting started, he said.

Wheeler also stressed the need for training to resume in the dealership after the trainee graduates from the class.

"You need somebody coming in from the outside and bringing you a larger vision of what's going on in the industry. Then, you need somebody inside the dealership who can pick up that ball and run with it," Wheeler said.

Peer-to-peer training is also beneficial. Wheeler said that in some F&I classrooms, first-time managers can be paired with 30-year veterans. While each has a view of auto retailing and what should happen in the F&I office, each also needs to work with customers from multiple generations.

Thus, when a newbie rubs shoulders with an old dog F&I manager in an F&I class, and vice versa, "they never even dreamed of that perspective," Wheeler said — and each can learn.

Hannah Lutz contributed to this report.