Don't Get Boxed In

-By Marty Lisk

What has really changed when it comes to the Finance Departments of today?

Not much has changed in the F&I office from 20 years ago. The complaints are pretty much the same: F&I computers are obsolete, the software is outdated, and submitting credit applications takes forever. There is more and more paperwork for the DMV, banks, and the dealership. The hours are increasing but the pay isn't. Salespeople and the desk still can't get their paperwork right, and the banks won't buy anything. Proper turnover is still a problem, or when the customer gets to F&I, they're not closed, and the desk is quoting payments at buy rate… or below. Sound familiar? The complaints of today are the same as yesterday. What's an F&I manager to do? DEAL WITH IT!

Every dealership is unique and operates differently. Everyone involved in any dealership can find a reason to complain and find fault with the way others are doing their job. Yet in most dealerships, and most F&I departments, finance managers all have something in common. Their business card says "manager," not "clerk."

Finance managers can make a tremendous impact on the way a dealership operates. As a manager, you have been entrusted to have a positive impact in your dealership. You are expected to do that. Making a positive impact requires not just selling F&I products, but improving the way the dealership operates. While you may not manage other people directly, you do help manage processes that affect the way the people within your dealership operate. As a manager, you are intimately involved in the sales process: the paper flow from sales to funding, deal structure from the desk, lender relations, the training of sales personnel, cancellations, and your own individual training.

The question you have to ask yourself is this - are you doing something to address the issues you have at your dealership and fix the problems, or are you merely complaining about them and using them as an excuse for mediocre performance? I'm guessing your business card has the title manager on it! Your dealer gave you that position for a reason. Not just to sell products and run $1500 PRU, but to have a positive impact on the processes in which you're involved as a Finance Manager.

What are you doing to have a positive impact in your dealership? If you're sitting behind your desk and complaining to everyone who will listen about how bad your job is, then maybe it's time you stop complaining and do something about it. Do what you were hired to do. Have an impact! Be a manager. Manage!

A great place to begin in the evaluation of your processes is to look at what your customers are telling you on your surveys. The old saying "where there's smoke - there's fire" is more than likely true, or at least worth looking into. One of the most common complaints we hear about the F&I process is that it takes too long. The amount of time spent in the F&I office is the #1 concern of customers and dealers.

As a dealership you not only provide a product but you are providing services as well. Evaluate your current processes. Meet with your Dealer, GM, sales managers and other F&I managers and devise a way to eliminate the customer's perception it's taking too long. Are you going out to greet the customer and bring them back to F&I as soon as they have made a commitment to purchase the vehicle, or making them wait while you load the deal into the computer?

Is the salesperson turning the customer over to F&I before all the paperwork is completed, and it's been reviewed and okayed by the sales manager? Is the F&I manager having to page the sales person back to the business office to track down missing forms and customer information? Are salespeople waiting for you to stop complaining about their paperwork to the manager and get off the phone so they can bring the customer back to F&I?

Are customers being forced to wait while you enter the deal into the computer, because you don't want them in your office until you're ready? After you interview the customer, are they again being forced to while you go back to your office and fill out the menu, before they FINALLY (20 minutes later!) get into the finance office? And we wonder why the customer dings us on lack of consideration for their time!

Why not work together with the other dealership managers to come up with a system that gets the customer into Finance immediately after the customer says "I do". After you say "I do," at your wedding, you don't want to have to wait 45 minutes to kiss your bride. After the customer says "I do," they don't want to have to wait 45 minutes to sign their paperwork!

Checklists are a great tool to ensure everyone gets their paperwork done right the first time. Sales people need to use a check sheet when putting the original deal together. Sales Managers need to check the file to make certain that all the documentation is signed and in the deal. Then they should complete their paperwork and check the salesperson's paperwork before sending the deal to finance. F&I managers should also utilize a checklist to ensure all their paperwork is completed correctly. F&I Managers should complete the checklist while the customer is in their office. Every F&I manager at some point has had to chase a customer down in the parking lot to get the check for the downpayment.

F&I is the last opportunity to confirm all the required documents are properly completed before the customer leaves the dealership. Remember, this is a team effort, and we need to have cooperation from everyone involved. If a customer has to return to sign or resign a form they are often given an incentive to come in and correct the error perhaps with a free oil change, costing the dealership money. What's worse, they may now want to renegotiate their deal, which means either the front-end or back-end gross gets cut. Teamwork and a checklist will go along way toward making a missing form an exception, not the rule, increasing both customer satisfaction and dealership profitability.

Another favorite complaint of F&I managers is "The desk is quoting payments that are incorrect." If that's happening at your dealership, then train the desk on how to pencil deals! Many F&I managers complain about the way the desk is quoting payments, but spend their free time playing games on the computer or calling their buddies to have a pity party.

Great F&I managers always look for ways to do things better, and help their team. Just because you have an office, doesn't mean you're confined to those 4 walls. Get out in the showroom and get involved! Help the desk establish a policy when quoting payments. Help your team establish a consistent policy and the rate they should use before they pull a credit bureau as well as after. Explain why this must be done to ensure compliance, avoid discrimination, and ensure the integrity of the dealership.

Train your sales managers not to quote 75 months with an impossible rate on a get-me-done just to sell a vehicle. Get involved in the structuring of the deals at the desk. This will lead to higher dealership profits, both front-end and back-end. If they need you to go talk to the customer help them close the sale - do it! Make sure you're available to help them sell cars!

In many dealerships, the desk manager rarely comes out of his office to close a deal. Heck, they won't even shake hands with the customer who comes in just to get a brochure! You might be the only manager the customer sees during their purchase process. So make an impact. Stop playing games, demanding perfect deals, and complaining on the phone. Go make some money!

Probably the most common and frustrating complaint of all is the old "My pay plan won't allow me to make money." Jeff Gitomer says "Sales can be the lowest paying, easiest job you can ever have or, it can be the highest paying hardest working job you can have." The choice is yours!

F&I managers must always be educating themselves to become better everyday. Product knowledge is critical to your success. You must know your products, and what they can do for the customer. Take this challenge; time yourself on how long it takes to come up with 15 benefits of GAP. Can't come up with 15? Then you need to stop complaining and start training yourself. Once you get to 15, go for 20. Do this with all your products including cash, bank, and credit union conversions. Don't just learn features and coverage, but how those products will benefit the customer.

For example, learn more about the parts covered by your vehicle service contract, and then talk about those components with your customer. Review your brochure and find a component you're clueless about. Get with a technician and have them show you the part, explain what that component is, what it does, what happens when it fails, and how much would it cost to repair (parts and labor). Then get that component from your parts department and put it on your desk as a conversation piece with your customer. Now that you have the facts about that component, and what happens should it fail, you can demonstrate how a service agreement would save them money, time, and inconvenience. It might even help you sell a service contract!

You can sit around and whine about your pay plan, or you can get out of your office and with other managers and departments to learn something that will help you sell more products to more customers. Too many F&I managers would rather complain about (and blame!) their pay plan. I like to ask managers how much they will make based on their goals they have set for this month. The response is almost always the same - "As much as I can". Then when I ask how much they made last month, they reply "I don't know yet, checks aren't out".

To maximize your income, you must figure out what products you need to sell and how many of each. You might call it a road map to maximizing your paycheck. After all you would not plan a road trip from New York to Oregon without a map would you? Of course not!

First, find out from your sales department how many total sales their objectives are, and then set your goals. Figure out how many customers you will need to see, how many of those you will need to arrange financing for, and then determine the number of each product you will need to sell, and profit on each, in order to maximize your pay for the month. The time to do this is at the 1st of the month, not the 20th. It is too late make up for missed opportunities that late in the month. You push too hard, and customers can tell you're trying to sell them, not help them. Set your goals early, and track your progress daily.

To be a GREAT F&I manager, you must continually to look for ways to do it better; both individually, and as part of the team. Take action! Get involved in making opportunities for yourself, and your team. Be a manager. DEAL WITH IT!