Dealer Comp Survey Results Underscore Importance of Competitive Strategy
The report on Solomon Coyle’s YE2018 Compensation and Practices Survey, released in November, indicates “strong ...
Growing your business sustainably. Protecting the bottom line.
Our education program focuses on critical paths of professional development, with a project management course focused on increasing and preserving margin and a sales management course that supports business growth by helping the dealer create both a selling organization and a culture of accountability. The Solomon Coyle team is also available for presentations and workshops for which we will customize topics to your organization’s needs and interests.
Protect margin by managing the client, contract and project
Spring Enrollment
We offer PM Training in spring and fall for Haworth, Herman Miller, Kimball Select and Steelcase dealers. Courses for Allsteel, Knoll and Teknion LLC dealers will run early May to mid-July in 2020. Get on the mailing list now for announcements about the Spring 2020 courses. Select "Project management training" at our Contact page.Project Management TrainingINSTRUCTOR: SCOTT JAMISON
Through a series of 10 interactive webinars, dealer staff members are guided through information, tools and best practices that will help your dealership avoid costly mistakes, reduce margin erosion, and sustain and deepen customer relationships. The course instructor is an expert in dealer operations and an industry leader in project management training.
The Solomon Coyle Project Management Training program is a highly cost-effective way to help your entire project management team hone their ability to deliver smart project management solutions with higher quality, better accountability and greater value.
Classes are available for staff at Allsteel, Haworth, Herman Miller, Kimball Select, Knoll, Steelcase and Teknion LLC dealerships.
Attendance is easy. Participants log into the webinars from wherever they have Internet access and a phone. The training sessions are 90 minutes long. The initial class meeting is a 45-minute online orientation.
We supply session handouts and workbooks plus forms, checklists and other field-proven work tools. A final exam and tests along the way provide feedback on the participant’s understanding of the material. Solomon Coyle issues a certificate of completion to individuals who fulfill the program requirements.
Click the topics below for a session-by-session outline of the curriculum. Download our program brochure for a more detailed look.
Session 1 - Dealer Economics and Principles of Project Management
Session 1 - Dealer Economics and Principles of Project Management
- Dealer economics and margin erosion
- 4 key causes of margin erosion
- Project manager (PM) roles and responsibilities
- 7 key concepts
- Best practices
Session 2 - Quote-to-Invoice Process
Session 2 - Quote-to-Invoice Process
- Sales order process and the PM's role
- Best practices to prevent margin erosion
- Work order process overview
- Best practices for efficiency
Session 3 - Installation Estimating
Session 3 - Installation Estimating
- Installation importance and key issues
- Efficiency and effectiveness factors
- Solomon Coyle estimating process
- Estimating rules of thumb
- Estimating prototypes
Session 4 - Planning the Project
Session 4 - Planning the Project
- Key elements of the project plan
- End-to-end view of the project plan
Session 5 - Project Communications and Managing the Client
Session 5 - Project Communications and Managing the Client
- Communications and documentation
- Client expectations and decision making
Session 6 - Managing the Contract
Session 6 - Managing the Contract
- Documenting key decisions
- Managing the scope of work
- Terms and conditions
- Documenting change orders
Session 7 - Managing the Project
Session 7 - Managing the Project
- 5 key project aspects
- Leveraging the manufacturer's capabilities
- Managing job close-out
- Working effectively with subcontractors
- Managing corrective actions efficiently
- Punch list process
Session 8 - Project Management as a Profit Center: Selling Services
Session 8 - Project Management as a Profit Center: Selling Services
- Project management value proposition
- Determining project management services cost
- Marketing project management services
Session 9 - Review and Reinforcement
Session 9 - Review and Reinforcement
- Review of key concepts
Session 10 - Using What You Learned
Session 10 - Using What You Learned
- Challenges and opportunities in the day-to-day application of project management concepts and best practices
Position Sales to consistently win
Leading Sales in an Age of ComplexityINSTRUCTOR: PAUL HOLLAND
Solomon Coyle is meeting contemporary dealer needs for sales leadership and sales management training through Leading Sales in an Age of Complexity (LSAC). The focus in LSAC is producing sales operations that will consistently win in today's customer-driven, hyper-competitive landscape.
LSAC is designed for individuals who have either current responsibility or an aspiration for sales management or sales leadership. Principals and others on the dealer leadership team may be highly appropriate candidates, particularly where “Sales” is just one of many hats worn.
Drawing on what we've learned from more than 30 years of Solomon Coyle experience in research, consulting and education for high-performing dealerships, the course content is grounded in five key success factors for sales leadership: strategic alignment, planning acumen, talent management, performance management, and people development.
Solomon Coyle's role is to spearhead the dealer's development of sales leaders who can:
- Align the dealer’s brand, strategic vision and business plan with people, process, methods and technology.
- Energize and develop their sales teams.
- Produce an attractive and sustainable return on investment in the sales operation.
LSAC is brief but intensive. We typically structure it in three phases spanning two months. Phases 1 and 3 each consist of two one-hour webinars. Phase 2, the middle piece, is a two-day on-site workshop. About an hour of preparation is needed per webinar. Figure on roughly three hours of prep for the workshop phase.
Download our LSAC brochure to see curriculum details and learn how the major areas of study fit together.
Equip your key people to drive the business forward
Dealer Management DevelopmentINSTRUCTORS: PAUL HOLLAND and DAVID SOLOMON
Dealer Management Development (DMD) training is an outgrowth of Solomon Coyle’s annual operational and financial benchmarking research and what it reveals about the inner workings of today's top-performing dealers.
The DMD participant is challenged to replace silo thinking with a deep, comprehensive, cross-functional understanding of the dealer business. Our mission is preparing leaders who can drive their company toward sustainable efficiency, profitability and market relevance.
The program is for principals and functional managers who are leading or preparing to lead critical aspects of the dealer business. Through 25 interactive webinars and a wealth of tools and support materials, we target better processes, higher profitability, margin protection, and deeper commitment to high performance.
DMD is geared to the real-world challenges of today’s aligned dealer. Starting with a hard look at the state of the industry, we consider examples of change and disruption that affect dealers and customers alike and examine the kinds of complexity they produce.
Participants discover valuable antidotes to this complexity through instructional content grounded in what our research shows to be key attributes of a high-performing dealership:
- Strategic planning and execution
- Well-defined business model
- Strong financial position
- Superb selling organization
- Operational excellence
Real-time, instructor-led classes meet online every other week for a 13-month period. Three breaks built into the program calendar give participants some leeway for work-life balance. We also recognize that people with important responsibilities, at some point, will probably have to miss class. To accommodate them, we record every webinar for on-demand playback and our DMD instructors are available by phone and email to help participants stay abreast of their fellow students.
Each session runs 90 minutes, with class size limited to allow a high degree of interaction. (Figure 60–90 minutes per session for preparation.) The participants have in common that they all work for companies aligned with the same primary manufacturer. The manufacturer supplies the content and presenter for several of the DMD webinars.
DMD sessions, by design, deliver knowledge and insights you can apply right away. To further accelerate the program’s impact, we encourage participants to invite selected staff members and even entire departments to sit in with them on functionally relevant sessions and extend the learning through one-on-one or group discussion.
Student progress is measured through pre- and post-program evaluations conducted by Assessment Technologies Group, a Solomon Coyle partner for employee selection and development solutions. ATG's DMD evaluations are covered by an all-inclusive program fee. (The fee also includes monthly design training webinars for the dealer's staff designers.)
Our DMD brochure lays out the curriculum structure, outlines the session topics, and provides additional details.
Please signal your interest in Dealer Management Development training using our Contact form (select "Dealer management development" as your subject). We'll let you know where we are in forming the next cohort for your particular dealer network.
Enhance your group’s education program with Solomon Coyle research and insight
Guest Speaking
Solomon Coyle can customize any of the topics listed below to create a presentation or workshop that addresses your organization’s needs and interests.
- Benchmark your way to a better bottom line
- Common mistakes dealers make and how to fix them
- Project management with a profit emphasis
- Improving efficiency in the quote-to-cash business cycle
- Growing your business in a flat economy
- How to make money on installation
- Eliminating margin erosion
- Best practices for a high-performance design department
- Leveraging technology for greater productivity
- Structure your dealership for success with architectural interiors
- Finding the right dealer business model
- The future of the dealer
- Identifying, qualifying and developing client solutions effectively
- Developing an effective sales and marketing plan
- Long-term high performance for new business development