Three Questions to Ask Every F&I Manager

Agents walk into dealerships every month and interact with F&I Managers. The goal is to add value to the process and help them, help more customers and at a deeper level. On your dealership visits go in with three questions that will spark discussion and hopefully a planning session on how to improve.

HOW ARE YOU GROWING? 

How far you will go will be the result of how much you grow! Helping others improve their skills and see more success demands that we challenge them to grow and commit to the activities that will make growth a reality. We don’t become better at our craft just by showing up and working each day. That is the result of an intentional plan that has daily activities that we are committed to that will increase our knowledge and make us better. Ask every manager you meet with this month, “what are you doing daily that is creating professional growth?” 

Set an agenda for things that should be accomplished consistently to promote growth. Learning two new parts on a vehicle each month, what that part does, what happens when it fails and what is the cost to replace it, will create a much more knowledgeable professional that can share insightful and compelling reasons for a service contract on a vehicle. Consistently reading articles about the F&I profession and sharing one thing you learned from each ne will lead to an accumulation of knowledge that makes for a much more informed process to share with Customers.

WHAT ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT? 

Your passion reveals your purpose. Producing profit and selling products should be the result of our passion, not the focus of it! The most noble thing we do every day is help customers make great decisions in connection with one of the major purchases in their life. If we are passionate about helping customers, we will work to add to our knowledge and expertise. The more knowledgeable we become the more knowledge we can share with our customers. Passion for profits at the cost of all else only requires you show up every day. Passion to help customers requires consistent learning and growing in skills and expertise. 

Ask every manager this month to honestly reveal what they are most passionate about and realize that passion my need to be re-directed. If your focus is on helping them, you can lead them to focus on helping others.  Be careful here! Challenging someone’s passion will reveal yours in the process. I believe we are in this profession due to gifts and abilities that few others possess. That comes with a heavy does of responsibility to lead with helping and it will end in more selling than we could ever see if our passion is on the wrong effort. 

HOW ARE YOU INFLUENCING THE TEAM? 

The managers we work with are strategically placed to have a strong influence on others inside the dealership. One of the traits of a growing professional is that others are growing as a result of their influence. An F&I Manager should work with the sales force around them to help shape a positive and helpful environment throughout the dealership. Challenge those you have influence over to invest in motivating and growing others around them. 

When sales managers, salespeople and F&I managers work together as a team the customers can feel it immediately and it provides a more comfortable buying process. The ultimate team is one that operates more like family and friends and customers enjoy the experience.  And it leads to more buying! So, on your dealership visits this month, ask some questions and be ready to act on the answers!