Pentagon has launched a 25-week training programme aimed at improv-ing service in aftersales.

The Race for Growth initiative was devised with training company Coachworks Consulting.

Ranked 16 in the AM100, with a turnover in excess of £350 million, Pentagon will put all 15 of its dealerships through the programme, which focuses on developing a ‘sell-and-serve’ culture to drive up sales and improve customer satisfaction.

Pentagon human resources director Graham Hall said dealerships often focused on sales training.

“We thought aftersales training was long overdue. The opportunity for business is so much greater in aftersales.

“It’s time to make the best of the opportunity with people that deserve support for doing a very difficult job,” he said.

The course has cost Pentagon £80,000, working out at £1,100 per person.

Trevor Reeve, Pentagon managing director, said: “After a year of consolidation, we’ve now made our biggest ever single investment in aftersales by commissioning the Race for Growth programme.

"We believe this investment will deliver significant benefits to our business performance.”

The programme consists of three workshops and one-to-one coaching on site over the 25-week period.

Hall said: “Traditional training courses give you an injection, so to speak, and then it wears off.

“This type of programme is designed to build people’s confidence and, in turn, their competence.”

He added: “Manufacturers do a great job with technical and process training, but there is often a gap when it comes to providing the softer sales skills for service advisers.”

Karl Davis, principal consultant at Coachworks, said the course “has been developed to be engaging, thought-provoking and effective – and deliver a return on investment from aftersales, in terms of increased productivity and profits”.