The "Intentional" F&I Manager

By Rick McCormick

An Intentional F&I Manager does things with a purpose, and on purpose!

It's an exciting day in the F&I Department and many F&I Professionals are reaching record performance levels. As the economy struggles and the prices of everything from gas to groceries rises sharply, people are more watchful of their money. They will only buy things that have real value to them. That's exactly the kind of customers I want in front of me!

The "Intentional" F&I Manager does things with a purpose and on purpose! The F&I Professional has a well-developed belief in his products. He knows what they cover and how they benefit the customer.

Other, less "Intentional", F&I Managers complain how tough it is and make excuses for under-performing. When you ask these F&I Managers what went wrong last month, most are quick to point out that their failure was due to some external factor, which prevented them from achieving their goal. "Poor performance by Sales Managers, sales people and those darn local credit unions are killing us", is what you will hear. The only thing you can be guaranteed to achieve in F&I without purposeful effort is failure!  Having visited dealerships around the country, there emerges a distinct difference between the successful F&I managers and the under-performers. The successful F&I Manager does a lot more things intentionally than their under-performing peers. Let's take a look at the path of an "Intentional F&I Manager".

Have an "Intentional Strategy"

A professional football player that does not know the playbook and a professional baseball player that refuses to take batting practice have one thing in common. They are destined to fail! An F&I Professional must have an intentional strategy by setting goals, practicing his craft and working to consistently hone his skills or they are destined to fail as well!

The path to an intentional F&I process always begins with setting goals. Daily, weekly and monthly projections should be thoughtfully made to encourage growth and provide a target to shoot for.  Goals must be shared with the dealer or GM to enable them to hold us accountable in our efforts to increase our production.  Reviewing these on a daily basis will keep our month from going adrift and keep us on track.  In my experience, I have found there to be three types of Goal setters:  Risk-Takers, Care-Takers and Under-Takers!

The Risk-Taker is always searching for more product knowledge and will work consistently to improve his skills so he can provide a customer focused and value building presentation.  These are the managers who are fun to work with, because they are always hungry for knowledge, and continuously strive to become better at their craft.

The Care-Taker wants nothing to do with the pressure to improve.  If they can just keep the status quo and continue to stay at their current level of production they are happy.  All of their energy is focused on making sure numbers don't go down, not on working to see them go up

The Under-Taker is the manager that troubles me the most. Their desire to learn and improve died a long time ago. Their primary motivation is to find an F&I position at a dealership where no one expects much.  Minimal performance expectations, no pressure to improve, just complete the paperwork, and sell whatever the customer wants to buy.  Whatever they sell is unintentional, because the customer wanted it.

It's time for these managers to find something else to do.

Examine your production over the last 90 days and determine how intentional your strategy has been and make a determination to become a Risk-Taker!  Your chances for success increase in proportion to the time you spend training, planning and preparing for your next customer. You must become very intentional with regard to scheduling training activities as part of your daily routine.

Customers today demand knowledgeable professionals. They want someone who cares about their particular situation, and who has the expertise to help them make good decisions.  Unless they find a professional in the F&I office, they will dismiss the experience as irrelevant, and a waste of their time.  People will gladly pay for genuine expertise.  It is your responsibility to give it to them!

Every week, you must spend time developing ways and improving your ability to effectively overcome customer objections through the use of visual aids and better needs-discovery questions. You need to role-play, videotape and review actual deliveries to gain insight on your presentation, or arrange an in-house consultation by your dealership's training provider in order to have your consultative sales techniques evaluated. You should schedule 20 minutes into every day to practice your craft. No Excuses!! You can't raise your income level any higher on the outside than you grow on the inside.

Practice "Intentional Selling"

In most dealerships, the primary reason the F&I Manager position exists is to sell additional products and generate additional revenue. The selling portion of the F&I presentation is no place for "winging it".  We don't need word tracks.  What we do need is intentional questions that we ask customers to identify their particular needs.  A question such as, "What brought you in to buy a car today" will always give us information that is useful in the selling process.

When reviewing the trade-in Odometer Statement, we can ask "Did you buy this car new or used?"  If it was bought used, ask "How many miles did it have on it when you bought it?"  You just discovered how many miles the customer typically drives each year without asking that all too common resistance-building question, "How many miles do you drive each year?"  That question tells a customer he is being set up for a sale!  Intentional selling requires that you develop 30 questions you will intentionally ask every customer. There are three things we should do with intentional questions; uWrite 'em, vLearn 'em, wUse 'em!

An effective F&I presentation should also include intentional statements. Intentional statements that are effective in moving customers to a positive buying decision include:

• Many times the lowest payment is not the best payment.
• The Bank knows you can afford the $350 payment, because they have already approved you for that payment.
• Wouldn't it be great if the 3 years / 36,000 miles factory warranty coverage was the 3 years /36,000 miles of your choice?

A perfect example is the way many F&I managers still try and sell Vehicle Service Agreements.  For most customers, the primary motivation to buy a VSA is no longer the concern of an engine or transmission failure.  In fact, they often will state that vehicles are better built now than ever. And they are right!  In the past, we attempted to create fear that every vehicle will have a bad transmission or engine sooner or later.

Many service contract companies even have laminated marketing pieces to use in the F&I office to show the customer how much an engine or transmission repair will cost. Stop using it!  Stop it right now!  The power train components of vehicles today are much more reliable than in previous years, and customers know it. That's why many manufacturers now cover the power train for up to 100,000 miles.  Instead of trying to ignore that fact, agree with the customer.  "We don't expect problems with the major components on your vehicle.  While it can and does happen, it is much less likely than before."  That's an intentional statement you should use!

Then continue, "We have also added more computer technology each year and it has greatly improved the quality of our vehicles performance. The computers warn us of problems much earlier than before and some adjustments the computer even makes on its own!  Unfortunately, computers fail, and when they do, we can't fix them. We simply replace them. If your Engine Control Module fails on your new Impala it will cost $1055 to replace." (You would know the exact cost, since you have intentionally trained and learned the cost of parts on the cars you sell and the cost of replacing them.)

Now you can make an intentional statement "That's why even a minor repair can be a major expense."  This statement is powerful in moving the customer to buy the solution to that problem- a Vehicle Service Contract.  There are three things we should also do with intentional statements: uWrite 'em, vLearn 'em, wUse 'em!

Provide  "Intentional Service"

The F&I process should be Purpose Driven not Profit Driven. The purpose should be to serve the customer, not sell the customer.  A Profit Driven F&I process will be filled with a desire to sell, and the customer will recognize it right away and resistance will build immediately.

If the customer feels we are trying to help them, they will listen to what we have to say, and the likelihood of selling products will increase exponentially.  Intentionally providing customer service that will "Wow" them will make customers feel comfortable and like us. Customers only buy from people that they like and feel comfortable with!

Money follows service wherever it goes! The more committed we are to serving customers the more money we will make. The ultimate test is providing the customer with information that enables them to make a wise and informed choice as to what is best for them. Selling customers the products they need, instead of what makes us the most money, is the epitome of intentional service.

I have never met an F&I professional who consistently produces at a high level that is not intentional in how he or she prepares for and leads customers through the F&I process. Set goals, prepare intentional questions and statements to ask every customer.  Be a "Risk-Taker" and start your journey down the intentional path and get ready to see record months ahead!

Rick McCormick is senior training consultant for Reahard & Associates Inc. Reahard & Associates provides customized in-dealership F&I training for dealerships throughout the U.S. and Canada. Rick has more than 20 years of sales and F&I experience.  You can contact Rick at 866-REAHARD, or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it