I recently had the opportunity to lead a session on “Making Role-Playing an Effective Exercise” during the 2012 Agent Summit in Las Vegas. Role-playing sessions are a great way for you to get to know your dealer clients’ staffs, drive home the benefits of the products you represent and have some fun at the same time.

It is important to follow four rules when practicing role-playing with your dealer partners:

1. You go first.

2. Keep it short.

3. Have a baseline.

4. Coach. Coach. Coach.

By going first, you show that you practice what you preach. It also helps break the tension and gives the people you are working with a little advance confidence. Keeping it short means breaking the role-play exercise into bite-size pieces. The session should be 10 to 15 minutes at the most. It is also important to tailor your style to the different personality types you work with. A baseline keeps track of progress, and it can be as simple as a scorecard. The scorecard can be used as the foundation for coaching and feedback.

Most importantly, you must make the exercise rewarding. An effective role-playing curriculum includes four important elements, each of which ties into the rules listed above:

1. Setting expectations: Let your students know that you will be going first. Lay out four or five steps that will be a part of the role-play module. Be sure to give examples and make sure that everybody has a clear understanding of the process.

2. Incorporating audio and/or visual: Video can provide F&I managers and dealership staff with a great tool they can use to critique themselves. Although audio-only recording can be very cost-effective and can work just as well in a pinch, I’ve found that small digital cameras, such as the Flip Video or even many smartphone cameras, can help you take the process a step further with both audio and visual elements to review. At Safe-Guard, we use the Flip Video and then give the participants their videos on jump drives.

3. Reviewing and grading: Make it clear that grades will be based on objective requirements, not subjective judgment. Use hard points and a grading scale. It’s also not a bad idea to customize the scorecard to the specific role-play exercise. It is important to set a baseline from which each staffer can improve from as they participate in more sessions. Be sure that you have set up a system to track scoring that works for both you and your role play participants.

4. Coaching: Finally, explain that the evaluation will be followed by a coaching session and review what the benefits of coaching are. Remember that coaching isn’t as simple as giving instruction or advice. The most important element of coaching is to show, not to tell.

After completing all four steps, it may be helpful to repeat the exercises or even break them down into smaller segments; you must leave the F&I mangers and dealership personnel with the confidence to handle the situation “in the box.”

Now that you understand the fundamentals of a constructive role-playing session, you can immediately try it out with the dealerships you work with. Some modules I have found to be effective include menu selling, product knowledge, overcoming objections, interviewing and customer resistance training. By incorporating a quick role-playing session when you visit your dealership partners, you can increase confidence, increase profits and become a popular member of any dealership team.