More than half of service advisers get less than the industry-recommended minimum of five days’ training a year which affects dealer profitability, according to research by Castrol Professional.

The study of franchised dealer service departments found 54% of customer-facing staff received less than five days’ training, while fifth received two or less days.

Castrol said the likely result of inadequate training was less confident staff, less capable of upselling additional work.

As well as showing the affect on profitability, the results highlighted a link between training and staff satisfaction. One in five staff receiving two or less days’ training felt dissatisfied with their jobs, compared to 9% of those who receive nine or more.

Castrol claimed this could be a major contributor to almost half of those surveyed saying they were planning to change their role within two years.

By comparison, those who received the most training didn’t feel they were over trained; 85% believed it was valuable to their role.

Adrian Brabazon, Castrol’s OEM and workshop marketing manager for UK and Ireland, said: “While any training on top of a manufacturer-specified programme will inevitably have some cost implication, dealers must ask themselves if they can afford not to invest in better training for their staff.

“If staff feel unable to upsell additional work to the consumer, the dealership will miss out on this increasingly important source of profit.”