31
July
2025

Do More than "Check the Box"

Compliance training shouldn't be just a "check the box" exercise; it is crucial for equipping employees to protect the business and drive its success. Discover why a more robust approach to training can make a significant difference in your dealership's operations and culture.

Do More than

This is an excerpt from Steve Levine’s new book Counterpunch: Compliance Strategies for Car Dealers, now available on Amazon.com.

Recently, I was cleaning out my email and came upon a promotional message with the heading “Have You Checked Your Annual Compliance Training Box Yet?” As a compliance attorney that’s dedicated my career to helping dealers and other creditors protect their businesses, that message rubbed me the wrong way. In my mind, it’s dangerous and fosters the “path of least resistance” mentality that gets dealers in trouble.

The goal of compliance training shouldn’t be to do the minimum. Training is a vital tool to help personnel learn how to do their jobs effectively and efficiently. The company’s goal should be to provide its most valuable resource, its employees, with the best information available so that they can excel.

When it comes to compliance training, everyone needs to be on the same page, know the rules that need to be followed, and learn how to follow them and protect the business while also driving the business forward. This is important content that could make a “bet the company” difference. Unfortunately, “check the box” sales pitches inherently diminish the critical nature of this training and communicate a message that it’s a nuisance that can easily be satisfied by doing the least amount of work and paying the least amount of attention.

Would that level of excellence be acceptable for sales associates? Not at a successful dealership. Those positions get lots of training on the right way to sell, how to approach customers, the key characteristics of the inventory, the value of F&I products, and the list goes on. Doing the minimum earns someone a trip to the train station, as they say in the series Yellowstone.

How about collectors? Their training is a whole lot more robust than “check the box”. They are the conductors of the “money train” that drives the business. Those customer-facing positions also come with a lot of risk and responsibility and hours are spent on learning the rules, role play, coaching, and reviewing calls. Once again, taking the path of least resistance just won’t cut it.

To me, “check the box” training is like a participation trophy. “Yay, you showed up”. That doesn’t do your staff any good, and it certainly doesn’t challenge your personnel to learn the key lessons to protect your businesses.

Back when my practice was mostly litigation defense, I handled a wrongful repossession case for a dealer. During the “discovery phase”, when documents are requested and questions are asked, the customer’s lawyer sought training materials that guided employees on the repossession process. The procedures manual that my client produced was a single page. You’d better believe that lawyer made a big deal out of that fact when deposing my client and in front of the judge and jury. Needless to say, my client didn’t get the desired outcome.

In another case, I had a client proudly produce a rather voluminous collections policy. In fact, it was so large that I immediately questioned how the employees could actually remember it all. During depositions the employees testified that they’d never seen much less been trained on that so-called “policy”. Another unhappy ending and bad day to be a dealer lawyer. In fact, it was experiences like that that led me to switch from litigation to teaching my clients how to better protect and defend their businesses.

Similarly, if a regulator starts digging around your business, rest assured they’ll ask your employees questions about training. They are going to be judging you on whether the business has implemented steps to achieve that elusive “culture of compliance”. Does the company have an impactful program spread through the company? Do you think a “check the box” mentality will slip the regulator’s attention?

As a dealership owner or other leader, striving for a “check the box” solution is both dangerous and a disservice to your team. The aspiration should be to put your team in the best position for success. Simply inferring that a subject as critical as compliance is so unimportant that one can “check the box” is sowing the seeds of failure.

Strive to do better. Find a training solution that provides appropriate content for the particular subject. Training that regurgitates statutes at folks isn’t nearly as impactful as training that puts that information in the context of the trainees job and the daily issues that are faced. Don’t just settle for annual training, that’s doing the minimum. Some information should be presented with more frequency because of industry developments and based on whether the company has a high rate of employee attrition, and some subjects require more depth and attention.

Ask employees for feedback on the training they are receiving. Was the material beneficial? Did they actually learn anything new, or was this simply a “check the box” exercise? Do employees have follow-up questions? Does the training resource have the means to answer those questions in-house, or do they just send you to find your own answers? Finally, make sure training efforts are demonstrable and that results are documented.

I’m admittedly a compliance evangelical, and I’m not going to apologize for that. I’ve seen the benefits of strong training and suffered through the tribulations of training programs that were less than adequate. I challenge you to examine your own efforts in this area and honestly ask yourselves whether they are sufficient to achieve your goals.

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Steve Levine

Steve Levine

Steve Levine is an auto finance lawyer with over 30 years of experience protecting car dealers and finance companies. He is an owner and Chief Legal and Compliance Officer of Ignite Consulting Partners, which offers guidance on compliance, operations and best practices. He has also published two books, Winning the Fight: A Guide to Protect Car Dealers and Counterpunch: Compliance Strategies for Car Dealers which are both available on Amazon. Or contact info@IgniteCP.com to learn more. Please follow Steve on X @LawyerLevine for compliance and industry related content.

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