F&I and Showroom, Industry Summit 2014
Finance Insurance W hen I was fi rst starting out in the car business I was fortunate to be exposed to and mentored by some of the top professionals in the industry legends like Joe Girard Clint McGhee and Carl Sewell to name a few It was one of these wise and respected mentors who told me Just remember there are only 10 people in this business and they all know each other I didnt fully understand what he meant at the time But over the last 30 plus years it began to make sense See the automotive retail business is a smaller community than one might expect And you will live with whatever you do and the impressions you leave for your entire career You are a brand unto yourself and everything you do will stick with you forever This applies to agents product providers retail personnel and increasingly these days F I professionals My dad worked for General Motors for more than 30 years When I told him I was going to make my way into the car business he asked Dont you want a job with more security 24 F I and Showroom Industry Summit 2014 as a career He had a point The only security you have in this business is your own ability skill and most importantly your integrity And in todays litigious society the ability to make money is only a part of your value to an employer Your ethics honesty and ability to operate in todays complex legal environment are just as important For example when we measure F I performance income is only one of the factors considered Our cumulative scoring system also measures sales satisfaction scores product penetration and percentage of charge backs But Im here to tell you honesty and character are far more critical factors Dealers are looking for those traits in their F I departments today and they certainly will do so in the future as well I can say with confi dence that it doesnt really matter how much money you make if you dont have top CSI scores and a legally and ethically compliant process If you are operating on the fringes you are a dinosaur and you will soon be extinct So how do you build your personal brand in todays market Just follow these four steps Step 1 Never Compromise Your Ethics Joe Girard is without question the greatest car salesman in history What he always understood was the importance of not compromising ethics when building ones reputation Ethics will make you or break you Say only the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth he once said If its a lie you dont need the sale Expert trainer offers a fourstep process to improve your reputation among dealers fi nance executives and factory personnel By George Angus ISTOCKPHOTO COM SORENDLS
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