Whether you’re launching a new F&amp;I product, a new bundled package or want to increase the penetration of products you’ve displayed on your menu for some time, developing a detailed plan for success never goes out of style.What will make your five-step plan more fruitful is how it will give your sales and F&amp;I teams tools for planting the seed of desire in prospects for your aftermarket products. They’ll be seed-planters way earlier in the deal process than ever before, almost the moment a consumer enters the showroom or takes a phone up or internet lead.With this plan, your team creates interest first and then value in the F&amp;I products you offer, in atypical ways. Ordinarily, the F&amp;I product discussion starts at the back end of the deal. Getting to that point took time – and now you want to push the consumer’s patience by presenting more “things” for them to buy? No wonder so many car-buyers feel at this point like you’re asking them to gild the lily – to add on, in their eyes, unnecessary supposed improvement.&nbsp;However, by starting the product sales process before the customer steps foot into F&amp;I is a gentler and more convincing way to encourage F&amp;I product purchases. For example, plant seeds at trade evaluation. As you discuss their trade, merely ask if they’d the vehicle protected by a service agreement or whether prepaid maintenance helped perform routine maintenance.&nbsp;Your goal is to create a curiosity in the customer’s mind, “Why didn’t I get that? Maybe I should on this new vehicle.”Similarly, at lease termination and drop off, the question, “Did you have wear and tear insurance on this vehicle?” sets up the same line of thinking. The question confirms for the lessee who does that their earlier at the time of the original lease was wise because it now pays for the dings and dents in the vehicle at turn-in.&nbsp;For lessees who did not buy this coverage initially, the question seeds a suggestion that lease wear and tear coverage would be worth considering with their new lease.Bundled packages sell well when using this approach when handled by trained sales or F&amp;I professionals sharing product details and customer benefits as they move the prospect from trade evaluation to the first pencil. Here is the point of building value into these products. For instance, a customer purchasing bundled lease wear and tear, prepaid maintenance, is assured their routine maintenances are covered (as required by their lease agreement) as are repairs for glass breakage, minor dents, paint chips and tire and wheel damage&nbsp;- throughout the lease. That’s a story many lessees will find appealing, as many multi-benefit bundles allow repair of cosmetic blemishes whenever they occur, not just at lease end. Thus, lessees continue to drive like-new vehicles throughout the lease, not ones showing road rash and gravel chips.Preemptive selling like this doesn’t happen unless you plan for it to happen – and have trained and otherwise equipped staff to execute these actions with polish and confidence. Delivering results like this requires you to have committed plan goals and guidelines to paper – and sharing the plan’s big picture and practical steps for invigorating product sales.&nbsp;<figure class="ql-card-editable ql-card-figure"><img src="https://cdn1.dealermarketing.com/wp/2020/03/dreamstime_m_122835340-1024x683.jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; user-select: auto;"></figure>Here is that better five-step plan to product sales success:Step One – Establish your goals for penetration and gross profit levels. Use a worksheet to analyze the number of presentations to be done and the closing ratio for driving the goals you set.Step Two – Set product pricing and markup required to improve gross per contractStep Three – Develop a business manager outline discussing points in your process to be enhanced and an outline for delivering training needs – and benchmarking performance against goals. This step is preliminary to your Official F&amp;I Training Manual.Step Four – Create your outline for how the sales team will contribute. In this step, you create talking-point guidelines for presenting products at many points during your customer engagement, including trade evaluation, first pencil or presentation of customer’s purchasing options, during rate and term questions, and during issues arising from the first pencil.Step Five – The above builds on this step, mandatory training for F&amp;I and sales teams, including training proficiency evaluation and relearning and establishing a culture of importance for this process.&nbsp;You’ll notice one critical step I’ve left of here, your pay plan. You will want to work yours out based on the product goals and margin you set in Step One – and that will be different for every dealership. The five steps here, however, translate across any dealership, size and brand.Customers complain the F&amp;I process is too long, and while F&amp;I menu presentation and transaction technologies have shortened this phase of buying a car, if you put into action this plan customers will enter F&amp;I already considering the seeds of value you planted with them earlier in the sales cycle.Your execution and reinforcement of the content of Step Five are foundational to the success of an F&amp;I product launch. If you’re not committed to your launch plan, no one else will be. Therefore, get behind building an F&amp;I product sales culture that escalates the value of this effort, its urgency, and the practice necessary to prepare, equip and hone your sales and F&amp;I teams’ attitude and desire for success.

A Better 5-Step Plan to Product Sales Success

When a cashier takes your money for your purchase and then sends you off with a deadpan, “have a good one,” how do you feel?On the other hand, Chick-fil-A restaurant’s signature send-off, “My pleasure,” is a big reason it is the most profitable fast-food business in the country.According to an article in <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/320615" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Entrepreneur.com</a>, Chick-fil-A “makes more per restaurant than McDonald's, Starbucks and Subway combined… and it's closed on Sundays.” QSR Magazine’s 2017 data states that the average sales per Chick-fil-A restaurant were about $4 million, compared to its competitor McDonald's, whose average was $2.6 million.Let that sink in as you consider the auto dealership landscape and the many alternative options consumers enjoy.How do you distinguish your dealership from your competition when price transparency and global vehicle build quality have leveled the playing field?Are you just another chicken place? Or are you the “My pleasure” people?Given the ever-shrinking margins on vehicles and the rivalry from fin-techs and other dealers, you need every paying customer you can attract — and you need to earn every dollar from every transaction.Is realizing the difference as simple as adopting a “My Pleasure” culture? How practical is it to develop a culture where staff members can and do engage each other and every customer with exhibited and stated kindness and appreciation for their contribution to everyone’s overall success?Of course, you’re not selling chicken sandwiches; you’re selling a product immeasurably more useful and essential to your customers’ lives. So, what does it take to get customers to crave buying from you and the products you offer?&nbsp;And if you succeed here, what does it take to keep them coming back for service?As we look at the success of the Chick-fil-A organization, here are key takeaways to consider applying to your dealership:<h3>Quality Training</h3>Doing business the “Chick-fil-A” way is the key to this fast-food chain’s unprecedented success. The company’s culture permeates every part of its process.&nbsp;Over the decades, this attitude of gratitude has been honed into its human capital through training and processes to capture, create and cultivate the people that represent the brand. Remarkably, they get teenagers to speak the Chick-fil-A language! (There’s also a valuable lesson here for parents.)It is this sort of persistent personnel (and personal) investment that transforms lackluster “have a good one” attitudes into a transformational “My pleasure” culture. If this has appeal to you – it certainly shall with your customer – then consider adopting it in your dealership (or obtaining coaching to help make it possible) to distinguish what consumers say about your dealership within today’s sea of dealership noise – the memorable, customer-friendly experience.<figure class="ql-card-editable ql-card-figure"><img src="https://cdn1.dealermarketing.com/wp/2020/01/dreamstime_m_54992487-1024x683.jpg?auto=format" style="display: block; margin: auto; user-select: auto;" width="401" alt=""></figure> <h3>Quality Culture</h3>Closed on Sundays? One might think that by doing so, Chick-fil-A would be losing money, but the data speaks for itself. Chick-fil-A’s values protect this unique marketing statement (which is also part of its brand strategy). People notice when an organization says “No” to one thing to promote another. Their Sunday closure is a competitive advantage.&nbsp;Take a hard look at your processes and value statements. Do you offer your community something different, a trait that identifies what you value (are you a significant community, veterans’ or special needs booster?) Once you identify what your culture quality is, decide how to best communicate that message to employees and customers. It might prove helpful to you to speak with peers – even with owners of non-automotive businesses – to learn about their approach to this opportunity.<h3>Quality People</h3>In an interview with the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/09/08/the-world-according-to-chick-fil-a-founder-truett-cathy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>, S. Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A, said he wanted to create an environment that would attract employees to stay. "If you don't intend to be here for life, you needn't apply," became part of the culture as well. By promoting employees to have a day off for family, church or a football game, Chick-fil-A created an environment that motivates healthy behavior. These healthy behaviors spill over into other activities and stimulate a desire for healthier lifestyles in others.<blockquote>You want your team members to become brand champions —&nbsp;people who are motivated to sell financing and products the way you want it done. </blockquote> You may have noticed so far in this article we have not discussed the actual chicken sandwich — which is the point. Customers want experiences, whether with fast-food places or car dealerships that, when combined with excellent products, produce brand loyalty and trust that leaves them wanting that experience again.Look at your business. Consumers will or won’t engage with you for many reasons, but don’t push them away with a “have a good one” face. Each day, every experience is the result of 10,000 little choices people make. As Chick-fil-A’s Cathy once said, “We aren't really in the chicken business; we are in the people's business.”

Plan, People and Profitability: A Lesson in Chicken

Dealership operations can often be a big ship with a small rudder. With all this movement in the technology revolution, what does it take to change course? The answer depends upon the lens through which you view technology, change, and what is happening in the industry. When implementing technology, or deciding whether to so, do you see such decisions as ornamental or systemic? The answer is revealed, in part, by how much you budgeted this coming year to grow your dealership’s ability to connect with consumers digitally. If you made no change, you’re not unique. A new study from Ernst &amp; Young (EY) reveals that only 20% of dealers plan to invest in their digital presence through 2020. That’s not prudent, the research firm suggests, if dealers want to remain viable connection points for consumers. “Dealers need to redesign their value proposition adapting digitalization to provide an engaging interaction and compelling experience across all touch points,” notes EY’s new report, “Automotive Retail 2030: Evolution of dealerships and potential new roles in retail.” Consumers continue to perceive and engage dealerships as their primary way to buy a car, the EY study notes. Does this information mean the calls to digital retailing have fallen — and are falling on — deaf dealer ears? The industry is nearing a jumping-off point as dealers are feeling the effects of the following trends and their influence on dealership practices:<ul><li>Cars as a service (CaaS) model</li><li>Rideshare and ride-hailing</li><li>Autonomous vehicles</li><li>Electric vehicles</li><li>Worker robots</li><li>Used car sourcing</li><li>Vehicle affordability</li><li>Finance interest rates</li></ul><h3>Reshaping the Industry</h3>Digital technologies can help a dealer engage these forces that are reshaping the industry. Digital does this by eliminating the obstacles, redundancy, delays, and errors that can encumber traditional practices. For instance, by having a digital subscription model platform in place, dealers will be able to streamline, manage, control, and ensure customer satisfaction from this new profit center. Modernizing F&amp;I to enable online consumers in obtaining financing information, evaluating trades, and learning about extended warranties and other aftermarket products will help make the dealership more profitable, as well as a more accessible and comfortable choice for customers to buy a car. We know dealers are embracing digital technologies of all sorts to help them serve customers better. The herd of technology vendors at the annual NADA exhibition would have been culled out by now if dealers weren’t buying their wares, one would think. We know this is not the case. Dealer adoption of digital F&amp;I menu systems is a good example. As we’ve reported before, dealers using a digital F&amp;I menu versus no menu to present F&amp;I products realize a:<ul><li>58% increase in profitability;</li><li>50% increase in service contract penetration;</li><li>35% increase in GAP penetration; and</li><li>60% increase in other products.</li></ul>These performance gains result in a $537.50 average increase in PVR — $500 per new car and $575 per used car — for a $967,500 F&amp;I profit per year on an annual volume of 1,800 cars. The need for dealer expansion in all channels that reach potential customers is high. Ernst &amp; Young notes the progress OEMs, captives, and brokers are making to reach customers throughout this sales funnel. This emphasizes, based on separate studies about online sales done by EY, that these entities are improving how they reach and engage customers along their sales funnel by providing:<ul><li>Product information, including digitized brochures, videos, and product specs using downloads, chat, and texts;</li><li>Product engagement, using online interactive tools, videos, and virtual reality experiences; and</li><li>Purchase engagement, by making available online vehicle reservation tools and accessible virtual documentation, e-signature, and delivery options.</li></ul><h3>Consumer education </h3>Up-funnel engagement practices as described by EY cannot be understated. Use these channels to educate consumers about not only vehicles and services, but about the various F&amp;I products you sell. The data shows a significant percentage of consumers in your F&amp;I office will not understand the value or benefit to them from purchasing the service contracts, maintenance plans, and similar budget-protection products you sell. In past articles, we’ve often discussed how when customers don’t understand these products or their value, they decline to purchase them. A little bit of product value-based product education with customers can help counter this, whether you educate them online and up funnel, or in your office. Finally, F&amp;I continues to be a source of complaints from buyers, who grumble the process takes too long. Digital is the solution. Using F&amp;I interactive videos, virtual reality tools, and self-administered surveys that reveal consumer interests about the risks and rewards aftermarket products address helps to increase product sales. At the same time, digital lending, contracting, rating, and remitting speeds up transaction times to get the customer to delivery more quickly. Tools make the transaction experience easier and the relationship between F&amp;I manager and customer more productive for everyone.In the future consumers will increasingly move to complete retail product transactions virtually. The current usage rates may not be that convincing — through 2017, online insurance product sales accounted for 4% of all sales. But watch out: The segment is expected to blossom, growing by 300% by 2020. The evidence is sound, and the case studies are aligning around the same message. Perhaps the 80% of dealers interviewed for the EY study who did not plan digital presence investment are now awake, realizing 2020 is barely more than 12 months away. If you plan today, 2020 could be the year you look back and see the benefits of a digitized dealership — or look back in hindsight and wish you had embraced the change more seriously. The choice is yours. Jim Maxim, Jr. is president of <a href="http://www.maximtrak.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MaximTrak</a>, a RouteOne company, and chief digital officer for <a href="https://www.routeone.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">RouteOne</a>, a provider of digital F&amp;I platforms for dealers. He is an F&amp;I visionary recognized by CIO Review magazine, a frequent panelist and speaker at various F&amp;I conferences and summits, and a contributor to automotive retail media about evolving F&amp;I technologies. Reach him at maxim@maximtrak.com.

Digitize Your Dealership Operations Now to Be Ready for 2020—and Beyond

Tinker Hatfield is famous among sneaker enthusiasts; his engineering work for Nike revolutionized movement, running, and athletic performance. Comparing the sneakers of the past to his radical Air Jordan design is a lesson in the way futuristic thinking and innovative technologies improve fundamental behaviors and activities, like running. When you consider everything required of you to run your dealership, you’re either running in place — or running to win by embracing the future. If you’re dreading the virtual dealership, you may not have noticed the sun setting on your own empire. Customer engagement and the reality of virtual car sales are now proven, practical, and profitable for those running to win. Disruptive technology has taken root, and dealers examining their fundamental behaviors with an innovative lens are going to have an advantage. This isn’t just me saying this. Futurist Jim Carroll, in a 2015 speech, “25 Trends for 2025,” summed up some interesting insights:<ul><li>In 2005, Facebook was used mostly by college students.</li><li>Google Maps was brand new.</li><li>Twitter didn’t exist yet.</li><li>Autonomous vehicles weren’t on most people’s horizons, and drones were still bees.</li></ul>“And as always,” Carroll said, “Most people weren’t really thinking about the future in 2005, and thinking how different 2015 might be. Thinking about the future is not the job of most people. The result is that most predictions about the future are often treated as ridiculous, comical, or viewed as based on too much science fiction.” Ring true?In its “2020 Report: Twenty Trends That Will Shape the Next Decade,” Intuit predicted, “The balance of power will shift from the business to the marketplace as customers grow more informed about products and services. With this shift from ‘push’ to ‘pull’ marketing, companies won’t find customers, their customers will find them.” Sound familiar? The report added, “The use of social and mobile networks and technologies will possess greater utility . . . business[es] will be redefined in how they create value and compete and will help consumers . . . anticipate and guide decision making and risk management.” How connected are you? How you cope and thrive in the car business over the next decade will challenge the best — but isn’t chaos the medium in which car dealers excel? For some, yes — those who plan and invest now to flow with the changes that various influences and demographics are driving. The future is different and is now: Subscription transportation services, ridesharing, and autonomous pods. Fewer customers and fewer sales. A business where 90% of car buyers transact and complete the deal online, with little or no human interaction. Downsized showrooms, chatbots, and virtual reality. A service department transformed by vehicles driven by electricity, fewer parts to repair or replace, fewer oil changes, and less routine maintenance. Dorothy, we’re not in Kansas anymore. Innovators who entered the automotive business without having to unlearn legacy processes are creating the disruptive practices that we have to contend with or assimilate to. Until we realize this, the showroom will continue to operate as it has. Some customers will still prefer to touch the metal and enjoy the new car smell, sit with a sales associate to work the deal, visit F&amp;I for finance and lease options, and hear aftermarket presentations void of depth and conviction. The day-to-day pace of change may seem nonexistent at a micro-level like this. Soon, however, we’ll be reminiscing about the “old days” (even 2018) when there was an entire office dedicated to F&amp;I. A virtual showroom will replace the physical one, with just enough square footage for a real model or two for those who still want to touch and test drive. Most consumers will prefer to shop and buy online, taking test drives using multisensory VR devices from their living rooms. Perhaps they’ll sign the deal with a touch of a thumbprint to a smartphone-like device attached to their wrist. The vehicle may even drive itself to their residence. Autotrader recently announced a significant upgrade to its platform, adding online deal-making functionality. That sounds like big news, but is it? Pundits have predicted that online car buying would be a reality by 2019, and vendors have been getting dealers ready by promoting digital, online, and in-store consumer engagement tools to target buyers by lifestyle, interests, and needs. In a 2015 article in this magazine, I listed <a href="http://www.dealermarketing.com/how-to-respond-to-fis-technological-paradigm-shift/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">several actions</a> to help dealers get ready for their future. Here is an updated list: How many have you embraced?<ol><li>Disrupt. Now’s the time to disrupt the status quo. Can customers engage with and buy from your dealership without stepping into your showroom? Are your finance and aftermarket options incorporated into the deal flow, beginning online and up-funnel, or are customers still required to hang around another 60 to 90 minutes in a 10-by-10 office?</li><li>Learn. Leverage the technology and talent behind vendors. Take advantage of what they offer so you can fight margin compression more successfully — and so you deliver a seamless and engaging experience, online and in the showroom.</li><li>Develop. Train, train, and train some more. Create experts to maximize the productivity tools you now have. Develop product experts for your vehicles and your aftermarket products. Train your specialists to ask the questions that deliver the products’ value stories that customers need to hear.</li><li>Embrace. I’m amazed how many dealerships still use old F&amp;I techniques and paperwork when studies show they cost opportunities and money. Bring your dealership up to current best practices by incorporating e-menu, e-rating, e-contracting, and e-registration into your F&amp;I. Stop using paper-based processes that consumers find slow, old-fashioned, and even untrustworthy. Replace them with digital presentation tools like tablets, kiosks, and pads that let consumers interact with and control the product presentation and selection process, and affix a digital signature. Technology provides a more compliant F&amp;I process that consumers appreciate and increases profitability through improved PVR and product penetration.</li></ol>Just as Nike set out to transform human performance with Tinker Hatfield’s disruptive technology, innovative F&amp;I services, connected experiences, and intelligent tools are creating new consumer behaviors and taking automotive retail beyond today’s boundaries. Run, don’t walk, if you want to stay in the race. Jim Maxim, Jr. is president of <a href="http://www.maximtrak.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MaximTrak</a>, a RouteOne company, and chief digital officer for <a href="https://www.routeone.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">RouteOne</a>, a provider of digital F&amp;I platforms for dealers. He is an F&amp;I visionary recognized by CIO Review magazine, a frequent panelist and speaker at various F&amp;I conferences and summits, and a contributor to automotive retail media about evolving F&amp;I technologies. Reach him at <a href="mailto:maxim@maximtrak.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">maxim@maximtrak.com</a>.

Are You Embracing the Future and Running to Win, or Just Running in Place?

In your dealership, who is engaging your customers and representing your brand? Is it the sales staff on the showroom floor? The receptionist? The giant inflatable gorilla? The answer is “all of the above.” The real consideration, however, should be whether your dealership has sales synergy between its website, social media, showroom, backroom, and service bay. Many dealers run multiple operations and hope the collective effort will convince customers that they’re trying really hard. Meanwhile, other dealerships implement strategies that digitally interconnect their departments to converge the multiple touch points into a focused customer experience. After all, on any given day, your dealership’s service department will engage with more individuals than many showrooms will in a month. The opportunity for advisors to contribute to the bottom line is, therefore, prime. New opportunities to care for customers as you increase profitability are being created with the cross-departmental integration of sales, service, and protection coverage e-menus in service, vehicle data, and customer intelligence. But wait: What advisor needs another product to sell? Isn’t their time with customers compressed enough already, so why add another item that adds minutes to each interaction, and might offend already-rushed customers? When it comes to selling aftermarket products like vehicle service contracts, tire and wheel packages, prepaid maintenance, and others — whether in the F&amp;I office or the service lane — taking time to educate, identify needs, and present product solutions almost always sell more of these products. This is because taking the time to explain helps customers understand and want the value these products bring to their lives. Helping customers protect their investment and save money later builds relationships that reinforce retention.<h3>Spend more time with customers</h3>For years, experts have recommended advisors generate 15 to 20 repair orders (ROs) per day, spending on average 15 minutes with each customer. On the other hand, service sales trainer Jeff Cowan, of Jeff Cowan’s Pro Talk, advocates that service directors reduce that quota to a maximum 15 ROs per advisor per day so they can spend more time with each customer. In his blog, Cowan says, “Advisors allowed to write from 10 to 15 ROs per day to spend more time with customers pays off in other profitable ways for the dealership. If you want to have high survey scores, customer retention, closing ratios, hours per repair order, and maximum profits, you must give your writers the time to sell and work with the customers.” <blockquote>Fine, but we’re talking about selling F&amp;I products here. </blockquote>But Cowan says it’s a myth that advisors can’t or won’t sell those products too: “To sell anything on a service drive requires three things: a great product, great training in how to present and sell it, and a great pay plan.” So, why not put in additional face time with repair and maintenance customers to present service agreements, prepaid maintenance, tire and wheel services, and similar protection products? Many customers will have declined these products when first offered in the finance office. Some, however, will have reconsidered them later, and now may be ready to purchase.<h3>F&amp;I service lane tools</h3>With this expectation set, let’s take a more in-depth look at a solution to help advisors sell F&amp;I more confidently and convincingly — and efficiently — to their customers. The service lane can make or reroute sales by using new tools in a digital ecosystem. With them, the service advisor can bring finance and protection products right into the service bay. These tools deliver a dynamic digital-products presentation (with pricing) to customers on the advisor’s tablet, smartphone, or desktop. It interfaces with the same e-menu technology used in the F&amp;I office, but tailored with options related to the customer’s specific vehicle, available upgrades, and service needs. For the advisor, this ecosystem offers unique and compelling visuals to enhance the dealership’s value to customers. It does this by allowing upsells on accessories, parts, services, and aftermarket protection products during service — all while contributing to the brand and building on the relationship with valuable customers. This is a real service that informs customers in the service lane about how aftermarket products can help them better manage unexpected or out-of-pocket expenses. It also provides other ways to save them from headaches, improve their vehicle’s performance, and enhance their overall ownership experience. Considering that the average American has about $500 in their bank account for emergencies, products that help them offset the cost of future needs can be a big win. The service lane is an excellent — and widely untapped — opportunity to sell F&amp;I products. For example, Fidelis PPM, the dealer-branded prepaid maintenance company, says 75% of its plans are sold in the service lane, with the balance in the F&amp;I office.The sale of accessories on the service drive also has great potential. David Stringer, president of Insignia Group, which offers accessory sales and training for dealerships, notes that 70% of dealers don’t have accessory sales on their radar.Selling F&amp;I in the service lane reintroduces customers to accessories, and advanced technology shows what their vehicle will look like equipped with the various accessory products. Products like preventive maintenance and service contracts also reinforce a customer’s connection to the dealership. For instance, many prepaid maintenance plan services like oil changes or tire rotations are redeemable only at the issuing dealership. Each visit by a plan holder gives the dealership another opportunity to service that owner’s vehicle needs. Selling F&amp;I in the service lane isn’t a new idea, but until now the technology and processes to make these sales practical and successful haven’t existed. Now, as the digital revolution continues to bring process improvement to dealership practices, selling F&amp;I in the service lane is anything but unproductive. Jim Maxim, Jr. is president of <a href="http://www.maximtrak.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MaximTrak</a>, a RouteOne company, chief digital officer for <a href="https://www.routeone.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">RouteOne</a>, and a provider of digital F&amp;I platforms for dealers. He is an F&amp;I visionary recognized by CIO Review magazine, a frequent panelist and speaker at various F&amp;I conferences and summits, and a contributor to automotive retail media about evolving F&amp;I technologies. Reach him at <a href="mailto:maxim@maximtrak.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">maxim@maximtrak.com</a>.

How You Can Generate Synergy Between Sales and Service

Most of us, truth be told, don’t like being held accountable. The word accountability can sound negative, like punishment. We don’t cozy up to it without difficulty — we need a good reason to do so because people love wiggle room.But then again, wiggle room can lead to problems, especially in business practice. Some businesses tolerate carelessness and inconsistency when business is booming, but the reality is that wiggle room does nothing to eliminate waste, discover new sources of revenue, or establish practices to weather leaner times. A “wiggle room mentality” can put dealerships at risk. Too often during the F&amp;I process, especially during busy days, we presume, jump to conclusions, and rush. Skipped steps and product descriptions given by rote shortchange customers, so they may not hear about or be able to buy the products they could use. F&amp;I personnel are of paramount value to their employers because they get deals handled and funded, aftermarket product–revenue generated, and happy customers delivered. General managers cannot afford to assume all is progressing well in F&amp;I, however. Minus careful monitoring — of activities, presentations, products offered, and compliance with best practices and legislation — people tend to assume the best. But experience and Murphy’s Law says we must prevent the worst from happening. Accountability means we inspect what we expect. Digital F&amp;I platforms automate accountability processes, build gateways, and employ tools that ensure smoother, consistent, and more engaged F&amp;I transactions. The U.S. government has <a href="https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/performance-management/reference-materials/more-topics/accountability-can-have-positive-results/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a great definition</a> of accountability: <blockquote>To be held answerable for accomplishing a goal or assignment </blockquote>We should also hold every decision and investment, whether regarding people or technology, accountable to quantifiable answers when asked the important question, “What are you contributing to the business?”<h3>Examples of accountability</h3>Throughout the dealership, we now see processes and practices come under the scrutiny of consistent and objective accountability. For example, in showroom events, the sales board may still hold front-and-center attention in the break room, but GMs and dealers get their essential facts in real time from their showroom ups, and lead volume and conversion data from automated showroom tools. These tools also bring tighter structure and performance outcomes to variable operations. In progressive reconditioning departments, GMs and their managers receive detailed insight from recon-workflow software that informs them about who is doing what, where each vehicle is, and how efficient the process. In the service department, technologies help managers identify weaknesses and opportunities in tech performance, bay utilization, and advisor upsell activities. Not all dealerships use these accountability tools. Traditional, manual, and paper-driven processes still rule in many variable and fixed operations. We see this same pattern in F&amp;I. Some dealerships continue to use paper menus and contracting practices used for years. Changing these habits can cause frustration for employees. Such resistance too often prevents employers from establishing accountability processes that deliver a better customer experience and improve the dealership’s competitiveness, innovation, and growth.<h3>F&amp;I process and accountability </h3>For many dealers, F&amp;I process accountability isn’t as accountable as it has to be today. How are you monitoring, measuring, and comparing outcomes? Ideally, you should be able to pull up data from the DMS and pore over those reports, or click a mouse and have dynamic dashboard-status oversight of every transaction, every individual who worked on deals, and precise intelligence about their skills.Also, critical dealership data can be sent to your phone daily so you don’t have to wait until month-end to check the health of your operations. Then you have the data you need to encourage, motivate, and correct, and ensure everyone is answerable about his or her assignment. The payoff? Nearly two million F&amp;I dealer transactions using digital e-menu accountability technology (versus no menu) reveal it drives per-vehicle retail lifts of $538, and 52% product-penetration lifts. It also benefits consumers by matching them with products that best match their lifestyle and protects their investment. Ask yourself these questions about how you monitor and measure accountability through your F&amp;I process:<ul><li>When do you engage customers about the aftermarket products you offer?</li><li>What does that step look like — who does it, when, and what are next steps?</li><li>How do you gather lifestyle and behavior insight about customers so you can better match their interests and values to the aftermarket products you offer?</li><li>How are you presenting these products: online, even before consumers have decided on your dealership, when with sales associates, or only after they step into the F&amp;I office?</li><li>Are product lists and descriptions on paper, or are they presented using dynamic digital tools that feature interactive graphics and videos that customers primarily control?</li><li>Does your process monitor and provide reporting on these steps? Does it report on activity per transaction — number of products offered, those accepted and declined, and PVR and product penetration per deal?</li><li>How do you ensure your staff is presenting in a compliant fashion to every customer every time, and be confident you are properly safeguarding customer information?</li></ul>Accountability technology is not meant to hamper the vital role of the F&amp;I professional, whose skills at reading people and presenting product value will remain integral. The landscape has been changing rapidly, however. Dealerships are increasingly putting individuals into F&amp;I roles with less training and experience than those they replaced, and the customers they engage with now expect a different F&amp;I experience. Improving&nbsp;your F&amp;I process, accountability, and performance outcomes is not complicated. The technology now makes accountability push-button easy. Effective accountability, automated with state-of-the-art technology, makes the F&amp;I department stronger, and lets you sleep at night knowing what should have been done has been done. Jim Maxim, Jr. is president of <a href="http://www.maximtrak.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MaximTrak</a>, a <a href="http://www.routeone.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">RouteOne</a> company, chief digital officer for RouteOne, and a provider of digital F&amp;I platforms for dealers. He is an F&amp;I visionary recognized by CIO Review magazine, a frequent panelist and speaker at various F&amp;I conferences and summits, and a contributor to automotive retail media about evolving F&amp;I technologies. Reach him at <a href="mailto:maxim@maximtrak.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">maxim@maximtrak.com</a>.

Articles by:JIM MAXIM, JR.