The Reynolds and Reynolds Company announced Apr. 30 the expansion of its training and professional services solutions for automotive retail customers by offering professional, business and technical courses through a new Internet-based training solution.

According to the company, this solution will be used to support a wide range of Reynolds products and services, including the Reynolds Generations Series, an approach to automotive retailing designed to generate more profitable customer relationships and dealership operations. Reynolds says it also will utilize this technology for the company's customer certification training.

"Recent research indicates that the primary cause of failed customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives is insufficient training," said Scott Schafer, senior vice president, Reynolds and Reynolds. "Since a primary and imperative component of the Reynolds Generations Series is CRM, we feel strongly that training is critical in helping our customers obtain the most from their investments."

The company says the new training solution will be rolled-out in phases, with the first phase currently available to retailers. The content of this first phase introduces basic site functionality and course bundles relevant to the needs of automotive retailers. The company claims the scope of training options include business, technical and end-user courses to help dealerships with situations such as employee recruitment, sexual harassment, Microsoft Office applications and motivation. All courses are supported with a "live help" function, a monitored chat room where course experts are available for real time one-on-one assistance, says Reynolds and Reynolds.

"To be successful, our automotive retailing customers need to be equipped with the most current and innovative skill sets. In today's rapidly changing business world, it's imperative that they maintain a constant learning environment for providing their employees with the tools to create and lead change," said Schafer. "By making these new Internet-based training solutions available, we are moving our customers beyond traditional learning dimensions of pace, place and time."

Schafer added that this solution will help retailers in all areas of the dealership. "The high performance business courses offered can help increase customer pay hours per repair order, and specialized customer service courses can help elevate customer satisfaction measures." Additional content of over 5,000 course hours will be released in future phases.

In addition to this new Internet-based training solution which is being offered in cooperation with SmartForce, an e-learning company, Reynolds says it offers a wide range of training options to meet the varied requirements of its customers. These include:

• Reynolds Internet College: provides a multi-day classroom experience with intensive training and certification on the Internet and e-commerce.
  

• eSupport Training: self-paced, discovery-oriented learning that uses the Web to share information through a "Frequently Asked Questions" approach.
  

• Tandem Training: delivers live application training at a customer's site - via telephone and a real time interactive computer link to the customer's desktop.
  

• Management Seminars: interactive open exchange environments that help dealerships drive higher levels of performance across their business, according to Reynolds and Reynolds.

Reynolds and Reynolds, headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, is a provider of integrated information management solutions to the automotive retailing marketplace. The company's services include a full range of retail and enterprise management systems, networking and support, e-business applications, Web services, learning and consulting services, customer relationship management solutions, document management and leasing services. To find out more about the company and its products and services, visit www.reyrey.com.