HOUSTON — SpecialFinanceCoach.com founder and trainer Rob Hagen has launched Coach's Talk, a weekly, one-hour, call-in radio show. Offered via Blog Talk Radio, dealers can listen live via the Internet each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET or download archived episodes.

"In this economy, dealers have had to reduce their training budgets to try to keep profits in line," Hagen told Special Finance. "We understand the tough decisions dealers have had to make but we also understand that dealers are still hungry to learn and remain students of their business."

The program is focused on the benefits and challenges of subprime auto finance and buy-here, pay-here. According to Hagen, a 17-year auto retail veteran, these segments can no longer be ignored by any dealer.

"For years, special finance has been optional for a lot of dealers," he said. "But after the current recession subsides, we are going to see increasing numbers of customers who had 700 Beacon scores a year ago walking in and looking for financing. This new breed of special finance customers is going to be stressed over their current credit situation. We're going to talk about how dealers can build relationships with those customers and the lenders who finance them."

Last week, Hagen was in Philadelphia, where he conducted the first-ever dealer training seminar for the Special Finance Institute, a joint venture presented by Special Finance, SpecialFinanceCoach.com and PassTime USA.