Training Tip: What Successful F&I Managers Have In Common

Some of you can identify with this: Your dealer or general manager comes back from a dealer meeting and goes straight into your office with some group F&I reports in hand, wanting to know why you can’t produce these numbers. There is no easy answer to that question. The factors that impact your production range from your abilities and ambitions to your vehicles, your banks, the desk, the part of the country in which your dealership does business, etc. And, truth be told, there is a certain amount of “smoke and mirrors” that go along with some of those reports. The fact is: you can only do the best that you can. So are you? Are you doing everything you can to be everything you can be? Can you quantify what you are doing? In other words, if your dealer asks what you are doing to improve and how it’s working can you factually tell him or her? Here are some factors that successful F&I Managers have in common, as told by several national F&I trainers.

Knowledge is power.

Know where to find the knowledge and the information that can describe your products to any customer and overcome objections with fact based statements.

Stick to a process and system.

Successful F&I Managers adhere to a consistent method when making a presentation of products and asking for the sale. Their willingness to remain consistent, plus their understanding that their process drives their performance permits them to develop to the point that they are able to display confidence and credibility during every presentation. They know they can depend on their presentation for consistently good results.

Set the tone; establish credibility.

Look the part, dress the part, act the part. It goes back to making an assessment of yourself and your surroundings. Does your office look like the person who works in it is organized, efficient, and professional? Or does it look like someone haphazard “lives” there? If a customer walked into your dealership and you were the first person they saw, do they think they are speaking with a manager?

Follow what one F&I trainer calls “the 4 Ps”.

1. Pre-plan: Interview the customer, then think about what features will appeal to them, and what they will object to based on the interview.

2. Practice: Make sure you are saying what you think you are. Practice so that you don’t shortcut your presentation.

3. Perfect: Make changes when it makes sense and when it strengthens your presentation and enhances your sale. But practice the changes so you sound polished.

4. Perform: There is a certain amount of acting to sales. Even when you don’t want to talk with a customer or be at the dealership you still need to give that customer the same performance that you gave the last customer. Everyone deserves to get the best “you” that you have to give.

Finally, continuing education is paramount. Just because you attended an F&I class when you began your career doesn’t mean you can’t learn more from classes, webinars, or books.