Training, Monitoring and Motivating F&I Managers

To build the value of your Agency and dominate the competition, you must be an Agent of change!

The recent downturn in the economy has created an entirely different focus in the mind of the customers who show up in automobile dealerships today. Their mantra is “nothing extra” and they are more budget conscious than ever.

A recent medical survey tracked individuals for two years who had major heart surgery and had been counseled to make major lifestyle changes or they would die prematurely. The results showed that 90% had made no changes at all. They would rather die than change! And many F&I Mangers are just as slow to change. The role of the General Agent is to provide the “Training, Monitoring and Motivation” to make the changes needed to see record production in an ever-changing environment.

Providing innovative products in a value building Protection Package is more appealing to a customer than multiple products presented individually, and customers respond more positively when they are presented in that manner. Sometimes simply changing a name, such as a Warranty Compliance Program as opposed to Pre-Paid Maintenance can change the perception of the value of a product. Few want to pre-pay for services; however, everyone wants to stay in compliance with their Factory Warranty.

Today’s selling environment requires not only a change in the way we approach products, but the actual process used to sell them. A major area for change is the time waiting to get into the F&I office. F&I Managers are using the “wait time” to create the perfect menu and get all the paperwork pre-printed.

Every minute a customer waits to get into the F&I office is equal to 10 minutes in that office. Customers should be brought in immediately. This allows the F&I Manager to “diagnose” what that particular customer needs before they “prescribe” the solution.

I recently heard from a close relative who had discovered a stack of lottery tickets on his desk and one of them was a winning ticket worth $486,000. He also discovered it was 92 days old and the money had to be claimed within 90 days. He missed a great opportunity because he put off checking the numbers! We will lose great opportunities for record profits if we refuse to lead our dealerships to profitable change.

Training a new generation of F&I Managers requires the training must be consistent, challenging and provide solutions. The training effort must be a process and not a one-time event. An F&I Manager’s success is hidden in their daily activities and they must be challenged to spend a minimum of 30 minutes each day practicing their skills. The F&I experience must be an interactive one and one that enables the customer to self-discover their needs.

There are three (3) levels of F&I Performance.

Level one (1) Telling them: This will have the F&I Manager talking 70% of the time and all the customer does is listen. This is the lowest level of performance and while F&I Managers can sell products by just talking about them, they will never reach the levels of which they are capable.

Level two (2) Showing them: This level uses visual aids that enables a customer to see the benefits of a product and might include a repair order to illustrate the high cost of simple repairs, a hand drawn visual or a brochure. When two of the five senses are engaged the likelihood of selling products goes up.

Level three (3) Involving them: This is the most successful presentation. Handing a customer a part covered by the VSC makes the products come alive and customers are now holding the problem the product will solve.

Training must be challenging! An unchallenged F&I Manager will crumble when they are challenged by the objections and questions of customers. Good F&I Managers determine what to “say next” while a well-trained and challenged one works on what to “ask next.”

Asking intentional questions will enable customers to open up and F&I Managers to uncover the reasons why each customer needs the products that are offered. The challenge every day in the F&I office is to turn a 'No' into a 'Yes' and three things must happen in every presentation to make that happen consistently.

1. Every customer must learn something they didn’t know if they are going to do something they have never done.
2. Every customer must feel something. Buying intangible products is an emotional decision. You can’t reason most customers into buying products. However, you can paint a picture and place them in it so they can feel what it would be like to need a particular product and it’s benefits and not have it.
3. Every customer must be motivated to do something about what they have learned and felt. Use the “you told me earlier” facts to move them to buy.

Training is the gas that drives performance; while monitoring activity and production will keep everyone on course. When you monitor performance it goes up! Training activity precedes an increase in production so we should monitor and reward training activity. Providing specific training activities for the F&I Manager to complete and tracking their completion will encourage them to continually improve their skills.

There are three levels of F&I professionals and monitoring their commitment to consistent improvement will ensure they are moving upward in their abilities.

1. Risk Takers - They are always searching for more product knowledge and will work consistently to improve their skills so they will provide a customer focused and value building presentation.
2. Care Takers - They avoid the pressure to improve. If they can just keep the status quo and 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 working to see them go up!
3. Under Takers - Their desire to learn and improve died a long time ago. They look for a position where little is expected of them. They just complete paperwork and sell whatever customers ask for and have lost the desire to improve.

What each F&I Manager needs is a navigation system, a turn-by-turn approach to get them on the path to improvement and keep them on the road to increased profits. F&I performance does not improve because someone wants it to. It improves because you have a plan. Have your F&I Team project short-term goals that are specific, measurable and attainable and then hold them accountable for the results.

A well trained F&I professional that has been challenged and their production levels monitored to ensure maximum results will only reach those goals if they are motivated to do so! F&I Mangers are motivated to excel because of a competitive spirit, recognition and the income they produce. Compensation is a large part of what will drive performance. A forward-looking pay plan will include a $PRU, Training and CSI component.

Compensation should also be based on individual performance and not a pool of money produced by an entire team. You can help create an environment that produces the results you desire by rewarding the activities you would most like to see. Encourage creative ideas and include F&I Managers in discussions concerning product mix and process adjustments. Then they will take ownership of the plan to succeed.

Agents of change will produce the next level of F&I Champions. Those managers will be well trained by those who are committed to their success and will monitor their progress as they watch them produce at record levels in the days ahead.