F&I and Showroom, Industry Summit 2014

F I Pacesetters nique for building rapport with customers in the F I offi ce Just before he and his customers review and sign documents hell ask them what type of music they like then access YouTube to fi nd a song to play in the background while the deal is completed If you connect with someone musically you get them talking liking you and trusting you And when that happens theyre going to buy from you The key Gasman adds is to never make the customer feel like theyre being sold Instead he simply presents their options and lets the customer select the option that fi ts their budget and as he puts it the level of protection they desire This isnt a store where we sell a service contract and walk around for a week hoping the customer doesnt cancel he says Theres no stuffi ng no highpressure sales tactics here I simply treat people as I want to be treated The location of Gasmans offi ce has also been critical to the success of his two person department It sits in the middle of the showroom allowing him to stay connected to whats going on in that department Nothing gets past me I listen to whats going on and Ill walk right over and crash a deal and take control of it he says I make sure the front end gross is protected but I also ensure were going to make our back end But we really have a great team of salespeople who believe in the value of the F I products we sell Industry Leader Twenty years after George McCaddon purchased the dealership he was named the TIME Quality Dealer of the Year Today Mark McCaddon continues that tradition Under his leadership the store has been a Cadillac and Buick Mark of Excellence dealership for more than fi ve years McCaddon also is active in the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association and participates in several of the associations programs throughout the year The dealerships F I department also consistently ranks in the top 5 of GM dealers and does so while Pictured is Jane Vaden Thacher daughter of Vaden Automotive Groups founder Dan Vaden She started in the groups F I department in 1994 before becoming F I director in 1996 Today she leads the group as dealer principal ranking in the top 5 for CSI Setting the Pace Having grown up in Boulder Mark is a big supporter of the community He supports the Boulder Valley Hospital the Boulder 18 F I and Showroom Industry Summit 2014 County Safehouse for abused children and various other charities and organizations He also remains an active supporter and contributor of Boulders fl agship University of Colorado campus This year he sponsored the Tee Up for Tike a golf event that benefi ts Mother House for pregnant mothers in need He also donates three cars a year to the CADAs Clear the Air Foundation which supports charities dedicated to helping individuals who suffer from environmental related health issues among other causes VADEN AUTOMOTIVE GROUP Background Check The Savannah Ga based dealer group was founded by Dan Vaden who began his career in the early 50s as a usedcar sales trainee at a Chevrolet store in Jacksonville Fla He spent 15 years working his way up to general manager and eventually part owner but he longed to own his own store That opportunity came when General Motors offered him a Chevrolet point in Savannah in 1968 It was built on an old dairy farm and remains in operation today Vaden passed away in 2010 and the group is now operated by his daughter Jan Vaden Thacher The group now includes the original store Dan Vaden Chevrolet and seven others The Numbers Vadens F I managers are expected to maintain a minimum PVR average of 1200 But the groups average is well north of that Leading the way are service contracts with an acceptance rate of around 60 followed by GAP 57 and prepaid maintenance PPM 33 Secret Weapon Jane Vaden Thacher began working at the dealership at the age of 13 operating the switchboard and writing up repair orders among other duties After graduating from the University of Georgia she pursued a career in marketing before rejoining the family business in 1994 She immediately gravitated to F I From what I knew working at the dealership I felt F I is the center point in the variable part of the business she says And I felt if I could master it I would know how everything works In 1996 Thacher became F I director for the then four store group She immediately instituted a system for monitoring and managing performance CSI and even contracts in transit So every night Id get reports from every F I offi ce she says I remember being invited to present my nightly reports to a group of dealers and to talk to them about how we teach CSI I thought it was the normal way to track business but by the