Dealer Drive

The fastest, most engaging way to turn dealership managers into confident, whole-business leaders.

How does it work

Participants take charge of their own dealership in small competing teams, trading across four months to outperform their rivals. Each round they make the decisions a dealership lives or dies by: setting strategy from the data, sourcing and pricing their stock, investing in their people and their marketing, and reacting to live events, before facing the market and the leaderboard. Across the four rounds they feel how a dealership really makes money and where it quietly leaks away, seeing how reading the numbers, protecting margin, developing their people and collaborating across functions all show up in the results, month after month.

Key outcomes

• How to trace every target back to the few drivers you control
• How to protect margin and cash across sales and aftersales
• How developing your people drives lasting performance
• How joined-up decisions lift the whole dealership

Business Benefit

• Managers who run their part of the dealership like owners
• Better daily decisions that protect margin, cash and the customer
• Stronger collaboration across sales, aftersales and the support
• A shared commercial language across the dealership and its network

Companies who are playing this game

JCB, Volkswagen, Volvo Cars, BMW, Bentley Motors

Who is it for

• Dealership and aftersales managers
• Anyone running, or preparing to run, their part of a dealership

Guide price

£80

per participant
per hour

Game Modules

The game is played across four months of trading in two sessions, with four core modules: Data Led and Commercial Focus in Session 1, then People Centric and Collaboration in Session 2.

Module 1

Data
Led

Topics & Tasks
1) Using KPIs to assess trade-offs and track progress
2) Making informed decisions from the numbers, not gut feel
3) Balancing short-term performance with long-term goals

Key Learning
Understanding how to use KPIs to assess trade-offs and make decisions that balance short-term performance with long-term business goals

Module 2

Commercial
Focus

Topics & Tasks
1) Identifying the key levers that drive dealership performance
2) Working profitability, pricing, sourcing and customer satisfaction
3) Learning how to influence each lever more effectively

Key Learning
Understanding the key business levers that drive dealership performance, and how to influence profitability, pricing, sourcing and customer satisfaction more effectively

Module 3

People
Centric

Topics & Tasks
1) Spotting opportunities in hiring, engagement, development and retention
2) Leading people to drive performance
3) Building a high-performing, future-ready dealership

Key Learning
Understanding how effective people leadership across hiring, engagement, development and retention builds a high-performing, future-ready dealership

Module 4

Collaboration

Topics & Tasks
1) Collaborating across functions to drive consistency
2) Treating support functions as essential partners
3) Partnering with the manufacturer to deliver long-term value

Key Learning
Understanding how cross-functional collaboration drives consistency, and how support functions and the manufacturer are essential partners in delivering long-term value

Feedback

This is what participants have to say about this game

Andrew Dawson

Aftermarket Sales Manager, JCB

"I've done lots of KPI and dealer management training, but this was so much more engaging and beneficial than anything I've done before."

Becky Barnes

Network Development Support, JCB

"A brilliant course, very engaging and enlightening. A really practical understanding of how a dealer business works and how decisions affect the KPIs."

Richard Cornes

Regional Services Manager, JCB

"An excellent overall view of the dealer process, and learning through play is brilliant."

Who it involves

Normally between 12 to 24 participants in each session (but this is flexible), competing in smaller teams against each other.

They are led at all times by a facilitator either from PBS or the client.

How long it lasts

Most games are 2-8 hours. Some classroom courses last up to 4 days. We tend to avoid playing online for more than half a day in one go.

There is normally some brief pre-work for participants to complete and we suggest a short follow-up workshop to embed the learning.

Where it happens

Almost all of our games can be played face-to-face, virtually or a combination of both.

Increasingly, we are seeing demand for digital games to be played face-to-face in the classroom.