Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Selling In The Motor Trade
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How To Handle the Objections That Kill Prospecting Calls | 05 nov. 2026 | 00:28:33 | |
This is episode 300 of Selling in The Motor Trade. Thank you to everyone who has listened, shared an episode or come on as a guest along the way. Nobody picks up the phone and hears, "I'm speccing up my new car. You must be a mind reader." You will get an objection on almost every call. Simon Bowkett's view is that the salespeople who win on the database have a planned answer ready for that objection. Too many say "okay, no problem." In this episode he shows how to fight for the objection with a simple three-step technique. He then covers what to say when a customer swears off a brand or your dealership. He also tackles inflation head on. Customers who set their monthly payment three or four years ago now face a higher figure, and Simon shows how dead money and fuel savings can close that gap once you get the customer face to face. What's covered: • The three-step answer that works on most prospecting objections, ending with "it's never going to be as cost effective as it is right now" Simon Bowkett hosts Selling in The Motor Trade and trains dealer sales teams through Symco Training. On his courses the team makes live prospecting calls, so these techniques come from the phone and the showroom. He admits the phone still gets heavy for him too. 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 | |||
| Why Your Closing Ratio Looks Better Than It Is | 29 oct. 2026 | 00:40:57 | |
The easiest way to push up a closing ratio is to log fewer customers. Tim Hargraves agrees, and he has a red work story to match: a site that booked customers' clutch jobs as red work and reported 100% conversion. In this episode, Simon Bowkett asks Tim, a former head of business turned KPI coach, what managers should do with the numbers once they know them. Tim names the three KPIs he'd check daily on day one, explains why a long workshop lead time is an opportunity a head of business is missing, and shows how pushing productivity on its own can drag utilisation down. He also takes on group stock, the Skoda sitting on a Jaguar Land Rover website, and a MINI handover where the customer got a bow on the car and no number plates. What's covered:
Tim Hargraves has sat in the sales manager and head of business chairs and now coaches people preparing for a head of business role. He says it's hard to read the label from inside the jar. 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 | |||
| The £20,000 Hiding in Your Work in Progress | 22 oct. 2026 | 00:33:13 | |
Your service department might be carrying two-year-old job cards in work in progress. Tim Hargraves moved from sales manager to head of business with the aftersales lingo off pat, then inherited a commercial vehicle workshop holding three times the work in progress of a passenger car workshop twice its size. He puts the write-off at about £20,000. Tim tells Simon Bowkett why he thinks most heads of business come from sales, why the people hiring them keep choosing candidates who followed the same path, and what he believes that costs dealer groups. He also takes apart the four-week service diary that looks healthy while diagnostic customers drive to the specialist independent down the road, and says no service department has ever quoted him a figure for how many enquiries turn into bookings. What's covered: • How sales managers talk their way into head of business roles on aftersales vocabulary 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 | |||
| How Craig Walker Uses His Workshop to Buy Stock | 15 oct. 2026 | 00:34:19 | |
Customers still walk into used car dealerships expecting to get stitched up. Craig Walker decided to let them in before they arrive. In this episode, Craig talks to Simon Bowkett about Dealership Diaries, the YouTube channel where the whole team films behind the scenes, mistakes included. Craig explains how pointing out every mark on a car calms a nervous buyer, how a customer flew up from Kent to buy an F-Type after watching the channel, and how a £24.99 a month service plan brings buyers back to the workshop. Craig puts take-up at around 40%. The conversation also covers using the workshop to buy stock, treating the appointment as the new sale, hiring for personality and running KPIs through Claude straight from a DMS export. Craig finishes with the challenge still to crack: finding a number two. What's covered: • Why Craig puts 'disarming the customer' in the brand book and how the team does it on every car Craig Walker runs The Walker Motor Group, which owns Culloden Cars on the outskirts of Inverness, and co-owns the Top Car Services workshop with business partner Liam Grant. Craig says the group employs 17 people, and that the workshop, which started with three ramps, is moving up to seven with an MOT testing station. Craig still loves being in the weeds of the business. If you run an independent or manage a used car or service department and want more repeat business out of every customer you sell to, give this one a listen. 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 | |||
| Craig Walker on How He Bought a Dealership with No Cash | 08 oct. 2026 | 00:32:16 | |
Craig Walker bought into a car dealership without putting in a penny. The deal: turn a struggling business round, get the owner his money back, and take half the company as payment. Two years later, he had it. Now he runs Culloden Cars in Inverness with 45 to 50 cars in stock and 55 to 65 going out the door every month. That's more than 100% stock turn, on an independent's cash, where every unprepped car behind the workshop is money that can't buy the next one. In part one, Craig tells Simon Bowkett how he got there, what he'd do again, and the convertible that cost him a fortune. What's covered: • Why being made bankrupt at 19 became the thing that drives him every day Craig Walker is the owner of Culloden Cars, an independent used car dealership in Inverness. He spent years in franchise sales management before moving to MotoNovo Finance, where he saw first-hand how independents win and lose. He then bought his way into ownership without capital, and now runs one of the faster-turning independents you'll hear about. 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 | |||
| Royal Marine Gareth Timmins on What Keeps You Going When the Motivation Goes | 01 oct. 2026 | 00:28:24 | |
This week we revisit the final part of Gareth Timmins interview. Everyone talks about setting goals. Very few people talk about what happens when the motivation disappears halfway through, and that is the honest bit of this conversation. Gareth Timmins, former Royal Marine and author of Becoming the 0.1%, sits down with Simon Bowkett to pull apart why big targets on their own do not keep anyone going. There is a great story in here about the book Simon could not finish for nearly four years, until someone broke it down into 500 words a day and started chasing him every Monday. There is also the flip side, the flat feeling that shows up after a record month or a big win, and what to do about it. Practical, honest and relevant whether you are chasing a sales target or building something of your own. • The difference between an outcome goal and a process goal, explained properly Gareth Timmins is a former Royal Marine, author of Becoming the 0.1% and founder of the 0.1 clothing brand. His second book lands next July. He speaks at conferences and events on discipline, goal setting and what it takes to keep going when it stops being enjoyable. Gareth Timmins signed his first professional rugby league contract at 15 and was playing on television by 16. He left the game and joined the Royal Marines at 20, passing out as a commando at 21. His book, Becoming The 0.1%, is the diary he kept through the whole of training, and a second book on building culture inside organisations is due next year. Simon Bowkett, or Skippy to most of the trade, founded Symco Training and has been coaching service advisors and sales teams in UK dealerships for years. Everything covered here comes from air conditioning programmes Symco has actually rolled out inside dealer groups, not from theory. 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 | |||
| Ten Hours Sleep in Two Weeks: What Marines Training Does to Discipline | 24 sept. 2026 | 00:34:22 | |
This week we revisit the first part of our interview with Gareth Timmins. What does Royal Marines training have to do with selling cars? More than you would think. Gareth Timmins joined up at 20 after a career in professional rugby league, passed out as a commando at 21, and wrote in a diary every day of the process. That diary became his book, Becoming The 0.1%, named after the one in a thousand who get through. In this episode he takes Simon through the parts that surprised him most. The sleep deprivation. The routines that kept him going when the motivation had gone. The strange rules that only make sense years later. And the moment at week 15 when he decided to stop fighting it. Honest, practical, and full of things you can take straight into your own team. • What the first 15 weeks of commando training are really designed to do Gareth Timmins signed his first professional rugby league contract at 15 and was playing on television by 16. He left the game and joined the Royal Marines at 20, passing out as a commando at 21. His book, Becoming The 0.1%, is the diary he kept through the whole of training, and a second book on building culture inside organisations is due next year. Simon Bowkett, or Skippy to most of the trade, founded Symco Training and has been coaching service advisors and sales teams in UK dealerships for years. Everything covered here comes from air conditioning programmes Symco has actually rolled out inside dealer groups, not from theory. 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 | |||
| Tyres Will Not Replace Your Oil Sales. Air Conditioning Servicing Might. | 17 sept. 2026 | 00:24:59 | |
It is plate change month in the UK, and Simon is in the studio rather than a dealership for this one. The subject is a question a lot of aftersales people are quietly worried about. When oil sales go, what replaces the income? Peter Smyth at Swansway Group rang after the tyre sales episode to ask exactly that, and this episode is Simon's answer. Tyres are worth doing, but they are a retention and trust play more than a profit play. Air conditioning servicing is the one that carries real margin, and most dealers already have the kit sat in the workshop. Simon walks through the full process, the knowledge your team needs, the objections they will hear, and how to price it against the cheap regas down the road. • What Peter Smyth at Swansway asked about replacing oil income, and why the number worried them 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 | |||
| 97 Brands Fighting for The UK Next Year. What Should Dealers Be Talking About? | 10 sept. 2026 | 00:14:01 | |
Selling In the Motor Trade is closing in on 300 episodes, and Simon Bowkett wanted to mark it properly. That means a thank you to everyone who has listened since the early lockdown episodes, and a question back to you about where the show goes next. Along the way he shares the numbers that put the milestone in perspective, including the fact that only 6% of podcasts ever reach 100 episodes and fewer than 1% get to 300. He looks back at the guests who have made the biggest impression, from US sales trainers to dealer group leaders here in the UK, and he is honest about how the topics have moved on. Agency has faded. Chinese brands, a crowded franchise market and replacing oil revenue have taken its place. Then he opens the floor to the audience. • The story behind the show and why it started in the first lockdown Simon Bowkett, or Skippy to plenty in the trade, is the founder of Symco Training and the author of Words That Sell Cars. He has hosted this podcast since the first lockdown, interviewing sales trainers, dealer principals and industry leaders from the UK, the US and Australia. This episode is a solo, and it is as much a thank you as it is a plan for the next 300. 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 | |||
| One Line to The Gatekeeper That Gets Your Call Put Through | 27 août 2026 | 00:27:39 | |
Ever been told to go and prospect local businesses and thought, right, where do I even start? This one is for you. Simon Bowkett takes a client question about local business users, the buyers who are not quite fleet and not quite retail, and turns it into a step by step approach you can use this week. It begins with a business you already look after. From there you find their competitors, use that connection to get past the gatekeeper, and give the decision maker a proper reason to meet you. Simon also shares the referral question that gets customers introducing you themselves, the voicemail messages that actually get returned, and a simple idea sitting in your own accounts department that almost nobody uses. Practical, honest, and built for a busy week on the forecourt. • Where to start when you have been told to go and prospect local businesses The whole episode is built around a real question from a client. Share it with anyone on your team who has a local business patch and is not sure what to do with it. 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 | |||
| Two Tyre Callbacks in a Year: Why Your Amber Work Goes Quiet | 20 août 2026 | 00:28:03 | |
Think about every amber tyre your department advised on last year. Now count the customers who rang back and booked in purely to have them done. It fits on one hand. Colin McAllister spotted two in a single day across John Clark Motor Group recently and it was unusual enough that he noticed, in a group with a site running 40 retail ramps. In this episode Simon Bowkett, Colin McAllister and Darren Bedford of Symco Training work through how red and amber work actually gets communicated, from the drop off conversation to the phone call that decides whether the customer says yes or drives to a fast fit. The line that kills your update calls. The rule that settles whether an item is red or amber. And why quoting your competitor's tyre price yourself is the fastest way to keep the job in house. • Separating the customer appointment from the car appointment so the golden hour survives a full drop off rush Colin McAllister runs group training and development at John Clark Motor Group and brings the tools they put in advisors' hands, including the percentage worn tyre card and the Tyre Safe link that takes the argument off the dealer. Darren Bedford is sales director at Symco Training and spends his weeks inside service departments, which is why he keeps pulling this back to language rather than effort. 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 | |||
| The £9,999 Screwdriver: Why Dealers Keep Underselling Their Own Technicians | 13 août 2026 | 00:24:36 | |
Simon Bowkett is joined by Colin McAllister of John Clark Motor Group and Darren Bedford of Symco Training for a proper after sales conversation. They get into service plans and retention, the golden hour, how quickly a VHC video needs to reach the customer, and what happens to the job when authorisation lands three hours too late. Colin shares the real auto authorisation figures across the group, and there are two cracking stories in here about the value of a good technician, one involving a coffee machine and one involving a screwdriver and a very large invoice. • Service plans, price protection and why they hold retention together when money is tight • The golden hour, and the 15 minute standard through technician, parts and front desk • Real auto authorisation rates across John Clark, plus how fast customers respond to the video • Why long lead times push away the service customers you actually want • Getting credit for diagnostic work instead of handing over a no fault found • The coffee machine story and the FedEx invoice, and what they say about your labour rate • Where technicians are coming from now, apprenticeships, ex forces recruits and fast track Level 3 • Simple contact habits at drop off that get you an answer while the car is still up in the air Colin McAllister is group training and development manager at John Clark Motor Group and looks after training across the group's dealerships, including its apprentice programmes. Darren Bedford is sales director at Symco Training and works with service departments across the country on process and workshop planning. Both have been on the show before and both know the trade from the inside. Send this to your service advisors and your service manager, then look out for part two next week where the guys cover how to put it into practice in your own dealership. 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 | |||
| Stop Saying 94% Worn. Say This Instead... | 06 août 2026 | 00:19:12 | |
Do you actually want to be in the tyre business? It sounds like a simple question, and most dealers answer it with a quick look at the margin. Simon Bowkett reckons that's the wrong test. In this episode he explains why tyres are worth doing even close to break even, because of what they protect. Keep the tyre work and you keep the customer. Lose it and you hand a fast fit the chance to sell them servicing, wipers, batteries and a winter check. He also covers the practical side. How to quote, how to explain tread depth so it actually registers, how to get tyres checked early enough to sell them, and why sitting on the fence causes more problems than staying out altogether. • The real question to ask before you commit to selling tyres This one is Simon Bowkett on his own, drawing on years of training sales and aftersales teams in UK dealerships. Everything he covers here also runs through Symco's Sales Fitness and Today's Service Advisor programmes. 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 | |||
| The Quickest Win in Your Service Department | 30 juil. 2026 | 00:35:25 | |
Here's the upsell that costs you nothing in workshop grief. No cars pulled back off the ramps at ten to four. No service advisor watching their CSI score go out the window. Air conditioning servicing runs itself. The technician sets the machine going and gets on with the rest of the job. Yet most departments barely offer it. In this episode, Simon Bowkett lays out why that's a missed opportunity and how to fix it. He starts with belief, because a service advisor who thinks air con doesn't really need doing will pitch it exactly that way. Then he works through the whole process and the word tracks that make it land. This is about turning a quiet job into steady profit without piling more pressure on an already stretched team. What's covered: • The real reason air con servicing beats most red and amber upsells: the machine does the work Simon Bowkett, Skippy to most of the trade, runs Symco Training and hosts this show. He's not a technician and says so, but he's sat on enough Monday-morning service counters to know where the process falls apart. His job here is the sales and belief side, and he hands the technical weight to the people who fix the cars. If you're a head of business, after-sales manager or service advisor, this is a quick win hiding in plain sight. 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 | |||
| Dial Your Own Dealership. You Won't Like What Happens | 23 juil. 2026 | 00:29:50 | |
If a customer walked onto your forecourt, got ignored for three minutes, then was told to hang on while nobody came back, heads would roll. You'd call it a process failure and fix it that day. So why is exactly that happening on your phone every single day? Roughly one in three callers never gets through to someone who can help. They're not cold leads. They want to buy or book. And when they can't reach you, they don't wait around. They phone the independent down the road who picks up. Phone leads convert at nearly double the rate of internet leads, yet they're the ones we let slip through. This episode lays out where the calls fail, why voicemail is a dead end, and five fixes you can check today. What's covered: • The one in three callers you never knew you were losing Host Simon Bowkett, or Skippy to regular listeners, runs sales training company Symco Training and spends his days inside real dealerships. This one is data led and personal. It started when he couldn't get hold of a newly acquired group on the phone, and a business partner asked him why it's so hard to spend money with dealers. Before you spend another penny on marketing, listen to this and go dial your own dealership. You might not like what you hear. 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 Sold Four Cars to Motorway and We Buy Any Car. Here Is What Dealers Need to Know | 16 juil. 2026 | 00:31:58 | |
Here is the trade-off nobody on the sales floor wants to admit. Every time your salesperson says just sell it to We Buy Any Car to kill a part-exchange objection, they are handing your best stock to someone else. Quick for them. Expensive for you. Simon sold four of his own cars through Motorway, Carwow and We Buy Any Car to see the process from the customer's side, and it was worse than he expected. Late outsourced drivers. An app arguing about a tyre inflation kit on run-flat tyres. A finance settlement that nearly left a black mark over £60. But the sharp end is this. Your used car department is your profit centre, and you are letting it starve to make one objection go away. This episode is about taking that stock back. What's covered: • The easy objection-buster that quietly drains your used car stock If you run a forecourt and you want to stop feeding your rivals, listen to this before your next sales meeting. 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 | |||
| Why Are Your VHC's Not Converting? | 09 juil. 2026 | 00:19:56 | |
Here is the uncomfortable bit. Your VHC videos probably aren't broken. Your technicians' script is. In this episode, Simon Bowkett, Skippy to most of the trade, explains why so many vehicle health check videos get filmed, sent, and then convert nothing. The camera was meant to fix a strange problem in the motor trade, the expert who inspects the car never actually speaks to the customer. But most technicians narrate like mechanics reading a chart. Amber, red, green, borderline, two millimetres. The customer hears noise, not risk. Skippy breaks down the SWOP process Symco teaches, shows how to make a worn tyre feel like a real decision rather than a line on a checklist, and hands you six steps to put back into the business for immediate results. • The real reason VHC videos get watched but don't sell the work 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 | |||
| Are You Losing Money on Every Part Exchange? | 02 juil. 2026 | 00:47:30 | |
Most used car managers still price off the auction book. Cazana wants to flip that on its head. In this panel episode, Simon Bowkett sits down with Ian, Mark and Darren from Cazana, the retail valuations platform built on more data than anyone else in the UK, with around 900,000 unique cars tracked every day. The conversation stays practical and commercial throughout: how to value a car retail-down rather than trade-up, why days to sell matters more than gut feel, and why the used EV market has turned hot again. If you buy used cars, run a sales desk or want tighter stock turn, this one is built for your job. What's covered: • Why valuing a car retail-down beats pricing up from the auction book Cazana is a used vehicle data and retail valuations platform, originally built in 2012 by Tom Wood, purchased in 2023 by Percayso and relaunched after the Cazoo collapse. Ian leads the business, while Mark and Derren bring years at Experian Automotive and Cap HPI to the table. Eight of the top ten insurers and the Financial Ombudsman already use their valuations, which tells you something about the quality of the data. If you are a dealer principal, used car manager or buyer trying to buy better and turn stock faster, this is worth your time. 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 | |||
| Why Trust Is Measurable in the Blood and What That Means for Your Dealership | 25 juin 2026 | 00:24:20 | |
Here is something most sales managers know but cannot prove: the mood on the floor matters more than the morning meeting. Dr. Tharaka is back to put the science behind it. Emotions are contagious. Your team members are copying each other's states right now, not by choice, but because that is how human brains are wired. There is a measurable return on your team's emotional climate. There is also a measurable return on trust, down to the hormone level in the blood. And there are practical tools you can put in place on Monday morning that shift both. This episode covers the mechanisms, the techniques and the brain science in plain language for people in the motor trade. What's covered: • Why emotional states transfer between team members and why that is not a soft concept but a performance Dr. Tharaka is a neuroscientist, performance psychologist and TEDx speaker who appeared on Channel 4. He advises leaders on the psychological levers behind team performance, motivation and trust. He is not a motivational speaker. He is someone who can tell you what is happening in your team's brains and what you can do about it. 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 | |||
| Dr. Tharaka on Mindset, Expectation and Why Sales Performance Starts Between the Ears | 18 juin 2026 | 00:36:22 | |
What happens between the ears drives what happens on the forecourt. That is not motivational filler. That is the core argument from Dr. Tharaka, a consultant psychiatrist and TEDx speaker who has spent 15 years studying how the mind affects performance, and now brings that science into the working world. In this episode, he and Simon Bowkett dig into the real psychology of why salespeople go from the Midas touch one week to the SADIMS the next, what manager expectations actually do to the people they lead, and why visualisation is not hocus pocus. If you have ever watched a salesperson fall apart after one bad deal, or wondered why your team's belief level is so hard to shift, this episode gives you something practical to work with. • Why winning needs redefining beyond cars sold and commission earned, and what the 11 growth areas have to do 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 | |||
| The General Manager Who Could Not Find His Own Parts Department | 11 juin 2026 | 00:22:33 | |
Here is a question worth sitting with. When you walk into your own business, does everyone know who you are? Graeme from Eden Motor Group once acquired a large Ford dealership and asked the general manager to take him on a tour. The GM opened a broom cupboard looking for the stairs to his own parts department. He had never been down there. When Graeme finally got into the parts office, the young woman behind the desk asked which one of you is the new guy. She had never spoken to the GM in her life. That is not an operations problem. That is a culture problem. And Graeme has spent a career learning to spot exactly that kind of failure within minutes of walking through a door. What's covered: • Why will cannot be bred and how to spot it fast in a candidate or a first conversation Graeme is the principal and sole shareholder of Eden Motor Group in the North East of England, a franchise business spanning volume and premium brands. He chairs the IMI and spent years on the board of Ben, the automotive industry charity. Before crossing into the motor trade, he built his thinking about people at Marks and Spencer, and you can hear it in every answer he gives. If you run a dealership, lead a team, or are about to take your first management role, Graeme's thinking on will over skill, recovery culture, and what great leadership actually looks like is worth the full hour. 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 | |||
| 96 Chinese Car Brands Coming. Eden's CEO on How to Decide Which Ones Are Worth Your Time | 04 juin 2026 | 00:20:20 | |
The UK has made itself the most attractive market in Europe for Chinese car manufacturers, and most dealers have not fully thought through what that means yet. Graeme, CEO of Eden Motor Group, has. He has been in the trade for over 40 years and built a multi-franchise group across Vauxhall, MG, Leap Motor, Mazda, Hyundai and Peugeot. He is direct about the dynamic: aggressive BEV targets and a relatively open import policy are pulling manufacturers toward the UK in a way that France and Germany, with their fiscal management and tariffs, simply are not seeing. That matters for anyone trying to decide which Chinese brands to take on, which to leave alone, and whether the ones arriving now will still be here in five years. This episode is worth your time before you make that call. What's covered: • Why UK BEV mandates are creating a different competitive landscape to the rest of Europe, and what that means for dealer margins Graeme is CEO of Eden Motor Group, a UK franchise group representing Vauxhall, MG, Leap Motor, Mazda, Hyundai and Peugeot. He built the business from a single Vauxhall joint venture, chose quality over scale at every growth stage, and now advises the IMI, a French motor retail business and an American investment bank alongside his full-time CEO role. He has been doing this for over 40 years and still walks the service reception floor before his meetings start. If you are a dealer principal or franchise director trying to make sense of the Chinese brand wave before it makes the decisions for you, this is the episode to start with. 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 | |||
| Graeme Potts of Eden Automotive on Numbers, Culture and 40 Years in Motor Retail Graeme Potts of Eden Automotive on Numbers, Culture and 40 Years in Motor Retail Graeme Potts of Eden Automotive on Numbers, Culture and 40 Years in Motor Retail | 28 mai 2026 | 00:30:31 | |
Graeme Potts has run motor retail at every level worth running. He joined Sir Peter Vardy in 1983 when Reg Vardy was three dealerships, and was still there when it had grown to 85 and was turning over 900 million pounds. He then led the RAC turnaround with 10,000 people and a 765 million pound price tag, ran 1.6 billion of turnover at Inchcape, and then walked away from all of it to start Eden Automotive with five dealerships in 2008. In this episode, he talks through what he learned at each stage and what still holds true in 2026. What's covered: • Why knowing your numbers separates good operators from great ones, and what that looks like at the sales consultant level Graeme Potts is CEO of Eden Automotive Investments, a group he co-founded after senior roles at Reg Vardy, the RAC and Inchcape. He has spent more than four decades in motor retail, across every scale from a three-site family business to a multinational PLC. His perspective covers both the corporate and the independent sides of the trade, and he has the track record to back it. If you are a dealer principal, general manager or anyone building or running a dealership group, this one is worth blocking out proper time for. 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 | |||
| Why 'How Are You Funding the Car?' Is the Wrong Question | 21 mai 2026 | 00:25:16 | |
Customers say cash for a reason. It is not usually because they are cash buyers. It is because they have been conditioned from the day, they first paid a plumber to believe that saying cash gets them a better deal. In this episode, Simon breaks down exactly why your team keeps hearing that answer in 2026, the assumptions that kill finance deals before they even get started, and the specific questions and phrases that open customers up instead of closing them down. What's covered: • Why customers say 'cash' and the psychology driving it 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 | |||
| The One Question That Sells GAP at Pickup, Every Time | 14 mai 2026 | 00:05:30 | |
Most salespeople ask about GAP insurance once, get a no, and move on. This episode is about what happens when you go back. Simon runs through a single sweep-up technique, one cheeky question asked at the point of collection, that consistently turns previous rejections into policies sold. The logic is simple: by the time the customer arrives to collect their car, the mental pain of the purchase price has already passed. When you frame a GAP premium against what they already pay for comprehensive cover, the numbers do the work for you. This is a short, direct episode aimed at business managers and salespeople who are still selling GAP and want something practical they can use today. What's covered: • The cheeky question opener that gets permission to probe on price without putting the customer on guard If you are a business manager or sales manager who wants one more GAP sale this week, this episode is worth ten minutes of your time. 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 | |||
| The One Thing in Your Dealership AI Will Never Replace | 07 mai 2026 | 00:31:46 | |
AI is not magic. It is not going to replace your sales team. And it is almost certainly not going to save a broken process. What it will do, if you use it properly, is give your people time back, cover your leads after hours, and flag the problems your managers are too busy to catch. Will Benedicks and Brent Wees have been doing this at dealership level, not in a conference presentation, in real stores with real results. This is what that looks like. What's covered: • The single most important thing to do before buying any AI tool Will Benedicks runs a dealership group that has put AI to work across the customer journey, from lead response to showroom handoffs. Brent Wees consults with dealer groups on AI implementation and publishes a no-hype weekly newsletter on what the platforms have actually added and how automotive teams can use it. Both know what these tools look like when they work and when they do not. If you are still waiting for the right moment to get serious about AI in your dealership, this episode will tell you where to start and, more usefully, what not to waste your time on. 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 | |||
| Your AI Prompts Are Lazy. Here Is How to Fix That | 30 avr. 2026 | 00:44:34 | |
Most dealers are using AI like a glorified Google search. Type something in, get something back, move on. That is not wrong exactly, but it is leaving a lot on the table. Brent Wees and Will Benedicks have a sharper way of thinking about it. Knowledge is now scalable through AI. An agent scales the execution of that knowledge. Most people are only using the first half. In this episode, they walk through the RIPE framework for writing prompts that actually do what you need them to do, explain what separates a basic prompt from a working AI agent, and describe how they got eight countries worth of dealers to build a vendor evaluation agent live at NADA in under 35 minutes. There are quick wins in here for sales, service and marketing. The kind you can actually go back and use today. What's covered: • The difference between using AI for an answer and building an agent that automates the execution Brent Wees is a certified AI trainer with 25 years in automotive marketing, including agency work with Toyota and Lexus. He builds hands-on AI hackathons at dealer conferences specifically because he knows that dealers learn by doing, not by watching slide decks. Will Benedicks is Operations Director at Proctor dealerships, with a career that started on the showroom floor and spans sales, finance, compliance and multi-site operations. He is also the kind of person who puts his hand up in a room full of senior operators and asks the question everyone else was too embarrassed to ask. If you have ever typed a lazy prompt and wondered why AI is not delivering for your business, Brent and Will fix that in this episode. 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 | |||
| Why Retail Down Wins: The Former Voice of CAP on How Dealers Should Be Valuing Stock | 23 avr. 2026 | 00:34:19 | |
Most dealers are still valuing used cars the way they did ten years ago. Buy it at auction, add a margin, put it on the forecourt and hope the price holds. That approach does not work in a market where Chinese brands have no residual history, EV prices have swung dramatically, and live data can tell you within minutes what a car will actually sell for in your postcode. Derren Martin spent years as one of the key voices at CAP and now consults for Cazana, a retail-down pricing platform that gives dealers a transparent look at what comparable stock is doing in their area right now. This episode is for the used car manager who wants to know exactly how to value stock in 2025, not how it was done in 2015. What's covered: • The donor vehicle method for valuing Chinese EV brands that have no UK pricing history to work from Derren Martin was the voice of CAP's used car valuation operation for a number of years, working with dealers, leasing companies and OEMs across the UK market. He now consults for Cazana, which was rebuilt after Cazoo collapsed and is competing with CAP and Autotrader on both data depth and price. If you are a used car manager trying to stay ahead of EV pricing shifts and the Chinese brand wave, this is the episode to put on. Darren Martin spent 12 years at CAP HPI, eventually directing the full valuations and forecasts operation across all vehicle types. Before that, 17 years at Vauxhall across fleet, van sales and residual value management. He now consults independently through Black and Gold Consulting, with clients including Chinese brands, legacy OEMs and large retail groups. If you are responsible for used car buying, stock policy or forecasting in any form, Darren's view on where the market is heading is the kind of context that is hard to get anywhere else. 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
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| The PCP Timebomb in Chinese Brands: Former CAP HPI Director on What Is Coming for Used Car Values | 16 avr. 2026 | 00:43:25 | |
There is a number that should get every used car manager's attention. The OMODA J5 7 was the biggest selling car in March. The deal was around £299 down, £299 a month. That is an extraordinary amount of car for that payment, and it is working. The problem is that car becomes a used car in three years, and the used car market for Chinese brands does not really exist yet. Derren Martin ran the entire forecast and valuation portfolio at CAP HPI for several years. He knows better than most what happens when new car volumes are not matched by a credible used car strategy. He is not predicting disaster. But he is clear that the residual value risk is already being built in, and most people in the trade are not thinking about it yet. What's covered: • How CAP HPI valuations are built and why human editors, not algorithms, are still making the calls Darren Martin spent 12 years at CAP HPI, eventually directing the full valuations and forecasts operation across all vehicle types. Before that, 17 years at Vauxhall across fleet, van sales and residual value management. He now consults independently through Black and Gold Consulting, with clients including Chinese brands, legacy OEMs and large retail groups. If you are responsible for used car buying, stock policy or forecasting in any form, Darren's view on where the market is heading is the kind of context that is hard to get anywhere else. 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 | |||
| The Central London Dealer Who Can't Sell EVs, No Matter How He Prices Them | 09 avr. 2026 | 00:22:10 | |
You'd back central London as prime EV territory. Josh Apps from V12 can't move them. He'll sell a red-on-red Range Rover faster than a well-specced Tesla every time. That counterintuitive reality is one of several sharp observations from a dealer who built a credible high-end business in one of the most expensive places in the UK to operate, with no forecourt, no showroom, appointment only, and overheads that would make your eyes water. On top of that, why the Auto Trader Deal Builder rollout felt like a bully move, what Google entering the market actually changes, and practical advice for any sales manager weighing up whether to leave the main dealer world behind. What's covered: • The Deal Builder rollout, why dealers felt steamrolled and what Auto Trader got wrong Josh is the founder of V12, a central London independent operation built from nothing in 2022. He runs it appointment-only with no glass box, high overheads, and a reputation built entirely on relationships and knowing what to buy. He came into the trade from outside the main dealer world and has grown the business into something talked about well beyond where it sits geographically. If you want an honest view of where independent retailing is heading, the platforms, the EVs, the overheads, and the margins, this is the episode to listen to. 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 | |||
| Josh Apps, Founder of V12 Automobil | From Pro Football to Selling £1.5m Cars in Central London | 02 avr. 2026 | 00:36:22 | |
What happens when a former professional footballer and football agent walks into the motor trade… and decides to build a dealership with "more care, more style, and a lot less ego"? In this episode, I'm joined by Josh Apps, founder of V12 Automobil in Central London. Josh didn't grow up in the trade. He's built V12 from scratch since 2022, and he's straight-talking about what actually works when you're buying and selling everything from a £20k GLC to a £1m+ hypercar. We get into the real mechanics of his business, like underwriting stock, consignment done properly, why some dealers go bust with SOR, what he's seeing on Carwow and Motorway, and how he thinks about margin, risk, and stock turn in a market where plenty of people are trying to make £5k the easy way instead of £9k the stressful way. Episode highlights:
The simple but rare philosophy that's kept his reviews and referrals strong: do the right thing even when it costs. Finding this useful? Follow the show 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 | |||
| Ali Reda, 100-Car-a-Month Salesman | Stop Waiting for Walk-Ins - Build a "Business Within the Dealership" | 26 mars 2026 | 00:45:20 | |
Most salespeople wait for the dealership to hand them customers… then wonder why they're stuck at "average". In this episode, I'm joined by Ali Reda, one of the highest-volume salespeople I've ever spoken to, to break down the mindset shift that changes everything: you don't "work for the dealership", you run your own business inside it. Ali explains how he builds trust through community work (so customers come looking for him, not "a price"), why he refuses to sell from panic, and how he's built a small team that generates its own customers without touching dealer-provided walk-ins, phone-ups, or internet leads. We also get into what dealers and managers need to change if they actually want elite performers to flourish. Episode highlights:
If you're a salesperson who wants more repeat and referral, or a manager who wants your best people to stop getting boxed in by process… this is for you. Finding this useful? Follow the show 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 | |||
| Ali Reda, Record-Breaking Car Salesperson | 1582 Cars In 12 Months - "If You're Exceptional, You Get Exceptions" | 19 mars 2026 | 00:35:00 | |
Ali Reda is the car salesperson who sold 1,582 cars in 12 months, hit 32 cars in a day (twice), and talks through the exact model behind it, without living at the dealership. He works Monday-Friday, doesn't do weekends, and built a "business within a business" by going all-in on relationship selling, community presence, and a delivery process that removes bottlenecks. Episode highlights: The mentors and moments that changed his ceiling: Jerry Turfe, then Damien Boudreau, and the shift from "30 is elite" to bigger numbers. What he had to unlearn to scale. Things like demo drives, manager back-and-forth, and that admin shouldn't sit on the salesperson. The "doctor's office" process that lets him deliver cars fast, stay calm, and keep the customer experience steady. Why social media only works if it stays local, and why "being present where you advertise" is the whole point. Finding this useful? Follow the show 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 | |||
| Neil Carrahar, Operations Director | Why Top Salespeople Fail as Managers (and How to Fix It) | 12 mars 2026 | 00:28:49 | |
Most dealerships still do the same thing. They take the top salesperson, give them a title, and hope they become a great leader. In this episode, I'm joined by Neil Carrahar to talk about why that move often backfires, what to do instead, and how to build a leadership pipeline that actually works. We get into the real issues that show up on the floor, like high performers who poison the culture, managers who slip into micromanaging, and teams that drop their heads the moment targets feel out of reach. Neil shares what "good" looks like day-to-day, including the non-negotiables that keep standards high without turning the place into a prison camp. We also talk about the difference between leadership and management, how to keep accountability without blame, and why a strong morning meeting can change the whole day. We break down the common mistake of promoting great sellers into leadership roles with no development, and why that turns into performance management within a year. Neil explains simple non-negotiables like second facing before a test drive, signposting every customer towards a drive while the numbers are being worked, and building offers properly instead of rushing them. We also get into how to spot when a team's belief has dropped, how to rebuild energy fast, and how to deal with pressure from above without dumping it on your team. If you run a sales team, this one's worth sharing. Finding this useful? Follow the show 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 | |||
| How Do I Get Into the 200 Club? The Mindset That Creates 200-Car Salespeople | 26 févr. 2026 | 00:33:17 | |
In this episode, I'm joined by Neil Carrahar to talk about the bit most dealerships get wrong: motivation and mindset. Neil shares a real story from a sales training program, where a new starter put his hand up on day one and asked, "How do I get into the 200 Club?" That one question told Neil everything he needed to know. We break down what that kind of hunger looks like in the real world, and the simple behaviours Neil told him to focus on if he wanted 200 sold and delivered. We also get into leadership. Not the fluffy "culture" chat. The practical stuff like how a proper one-to-one works, what you look for before you go anywhere near performance, and what you do when someone's not performing and everyone's tempted to write them off as "lazy". Neil explains how you find the real cause, what to check first, and how to coach it before it becomes a resignation. If you manage salespeople, train new starters, or you're trying to build a team that actually hits targets without burning out, this one's worth your time. Finding this useful? Follow the show 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 | |||
| OKRs | Why Your Team "Didn't Do It" (And How to Fix It) | 19 févr. 2026 | 00:24:03 | |
You've told the team what needs doing. You check in later. Nothing's happened. Your blood boils… then you realise you might not have been clear enough in the first place. In this episode, I'm joined by Stuart to break down OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) in plain English. It's a simple way to set a clear goal, define 3 to 4 measurable checkpoints, and keep everyone pulling in the same direction without turning into a micromanaging nightmare. We cover the difference between "good intentions" and real alignment, why teams still drift even with high effort, and how OKRs stop chaos like the classic "let's refresh the pitch" situation, where everyone does something different, and the whole thing goes sideways. What you'll get from listening:
Listen and then use it to set sharper goals with your sales or service teams this month. Finding this useful? Follow the show 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 | |||
| Neil Carrahar, Operations Director at Symco Training | High standards on a Tuesday afternoon (Part 2) | 12 févr. 2026 | 00:41:01 | |
Neil Carrahar is back for Part 2. This one goes deeper on what high standards actually look like in practice, especially on the "nothing special happening" days that quietly define your dealership. We talk about consistency, manager behaviours, and why customer confidence depends on the process you run every single day. If you lead a team, manage used cars, or sell day in day out, this episode will give you a sharper way to think about standards and performance. Finding this useful? Follow the show 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 | |||
| Neil Carrahar, Operations Director at Symco Training | What good dealerships do when no one's watching | 05 févr. 2026 | 00:37:44 | |
I'm joined by Neil Carrahar, Operations Director at Symco Training. This is a straight talk episode about standards, culture, and the day-to-day operational stuff that drives results in a dealership. We cover what "good" looks like in the real world, why teams drift over time, and how managers can set expectations that actually stick. If you're a dealer principal, sales manager, or anyone trying to lift performance without turning the place into a misery factory, press play. Finding this useful? Follow the show 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 | |||
| Jason Cranswick, Ex Dealer Principal | 3 Books That Will Make Your Dealership Better in 2026 | 29 janv. 2026 | 00:19:31 | |
This one's another Book Club episode with Jason Cranswick, talking about the books that actually change how you think (and how you run a dealership).
Finding this useful? Follow the show 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 | |||
| Jason Cranswick, Executive Coach | Why the Best Dealer Leaders Stop "Doing" and Start Coaching | 22 janv. 2026 | 00:33:43 | |
Jason Cranswick is back on the pod. Last time we spoke it was book club stuff, but a lot's changed since then. Jason stepped out of his C-suite role and now runs Cranswick Consulting, working as an executive coach and board advisor. In this episode we get into what that move actually looks like, what he had to learn (and qualify for), and why so many motor trade leaders struggle to let go of the day-to-day. We talk about the real line between being a non-exec, a board advisor, and a coach. Jason explains why leaders "step onto the pitch" when pressure hits, and how that limits team development. We also cover what he sees again and again with senior managers right now: feeling isolated, chasing validation, imposter syndrome, and having no space to think. We finish on AI, generational change, and a simple way to approach new tools: treat AI like a 16-year-old intern — useful, fast, but you still check the work Finding this useful? Follow the show 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 | |||
| Jeremy Evans, Founder of Marketing Delivery | Lost Leads Aren't Dead Leads: How Dealers Win Customers Back (Without Spamming Them) | 15 janv. 2026 | 00:30:07 | |
Most "lost" leads aren't lost because the car sold. They drop out because something went wrong in the follow-up, the numbers didn't stack up, or they quietly went and bought a different brand. In Part 2 of my chat with Jeremy from Marketing Delivery, we get practical about how dealers can pull people back into the funnel, keep aftersales communication relevant, and stop annoying customers into hitting unsubscribe. We cover how Jeremy's team follows up "lost" prospects with simple, well-timed messages, what dealers should do when customers say affordability killed the deal, and why missed call-backs still cost more sales than most teams want to admit. We also talk about how aftersales can run a proper contact plan (without peppering customers with separate emails for service, MOT, and maintenance) and why good data beats shiny tech every time. Episode highlights:
If you run sales, aftersales, or marketing in a dealer group, you'll nick at least one idea you can use this week. Finding this useful? Follow the show 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 | |||
| Jeremy Evans, Founder of Marketing Delivery | From Dot-Matrix to AI | 08 janv. 2026 | 00:25:22 | |
Jeremy Evans built Marketing Delivery after years inside dealer groups, OEMs and contact centres. He shares how "reward the lead, not the lag" thinking, plus stock-alert automation tied to your CRM, turns missed enquiries into sold cars. What we cover
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 | |||
| Oliver Phillpott, Co-Founder of Generational | Fast Stock Turn on EVs | 18 déc. 2025 | 00:27:41 | |
We are back with Oliver Phillpott from Generational to discuss used EV values and stock turn. What you'll learn
If you're a dealer principal, used-car manager, buyer, or seller of EVs and looking to tighten your EV process. Press play and share this with your sales and buying teams. Finding this useful? Follow the show 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 | |||
| Oliver Phillpott, Co-Founder of Generational | Battery Health Beats Mileage (Part 1) | 11 déc. 2025 | 00:23:48 | |
Battery health now beats mileage for used EVs. I sit down with Oliver Phillpott (Generational) to cut the noise and show you how state of health (SOH) drives value, trust, and stock turn. What you'll learn
If you're a dealer principal, used-car manager, buyer, or seller of EVs and looking to tighten your EV process. Press play and share this with your sales and buying teams. Finding this useful? Follow the show 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 | |||
| Wendy Harbutt, Leadership Coach | Why Your Team Don't Run to the Phone (and How to Fix It) | 04 déc. 2025 | 00:32:57 | |
Leadership isn't about shouting "be more driven". It's about creating the conditions where people choose the right behaviours. In this episode, I talk with leadership coach Wendy Harbutt about practical management strategies you can use today: getting beyond "carrot and stick", setting agreements that people actually keep, and replacing lazy money fixes with recognition, growth, and clear processes. What we cover
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 | |||
| Wendy Harbutt – Dramatic Improvement | Our Strengths When Overdone Become Our Problems | 27 nov. 2025 | 00:30:44 | |
We are joined by Wendy Harbutt from Dramatic Improvement, who specialises in leadership and management coaching. You'll hear: - How role play is a powerful learning tool - Ensure you build relationships for your next step - Stop reading and start putting things into place - Try to catch people doing things well and talk about it We are delighted that Wendy will be back in the next episode to enlighten us with more top tip leadership skills. 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 | |||
| Daksh Gupta & Andrew Wakelin | The playbook that took a Peugeot site from 168th to #1 | 20 nov. 2025 | 00:29:19 | |
In this episode, you get two motor trade veterans' perspectives on leading teams and fixing underperforming sites. 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 | |||
| Autotrader's Deal Builder | Leads Down, Fees Up, and Dealers Revolting | 13 nov. 2025 | 00:21:12 | |
In this episode, I unpack Auto Trader's move to make Deal Builder mandatory and ask the question dealers care about: who owns the customer and the deal? You'll hear:
If you're pro, anti, or just unsure, this one gives you the questions to take back to your team. 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 | |||
| (Part 2) Steven J. Whitton, Founder of Menable | Fix your sales culture with five words | 06 nov. 2025 | 00:32:39 | |
Part 2 with Steven J. Whitton (Menable) goes deeper into performance, burnout and fixing sales culture without fluff. We unpack why living in the red burns people out and how leaders can make honest conversations the norm. 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 | |||
| Signs you're losing people: the workhorse, the class clown, the quiet exit | Stephen J. Whitton, Founder of Menable | 30 oct. 2025 | 00:42:14 | |
A straight-talking chat on culture, leadership, and mental health in the motor trade. Stephen explains what a "psychologically safe" dealership looks like in practice — people performing best when they can be 100% themselves — and why that starts with managers realising they manage people, not just the sales sheet. He shares the origin of Menable (the "Men-Able" idea and that bracketed M) and how the brand widened to mean enabling open conversations across the trade. We cover early warning signs on the showroom floor — the ever-present workhorse, or the class clown masking things — and what curious, present leadership looks like day-to-day. 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 | |||