F&I and Showroom, Industry Summit 2015

58 F I and Showroom Industry Summit 2015 On the Point A Specific Process Ive traveled 200 250 days a year for 25 years speaking and consulting in more than 1000 showrooms in 49 states Ive even visited some of those dealerships dozens of times Every state except Alaska and every franchise and product line on the planet Ive been privileged to work with them all And to this day I still work deals at the sales desk appraise trades close deals with real customers in real sales situations and I still perform F I deliveries Why Because I can and so many other alleged trainers cant It all started 20 years ago when someone asked me Hey Jim what do you do in the dealerships that causes such a dramatic and immediate turnaround in the numbers That was an interesting question because like most managers I knew what I was doing but couldnt put it into words and specific processes However thats all changed Now I can tell you exactly how I do what I do and it starts with rule No 1 Get rid of bad people even if theyre relatives This needs to happen immediately not gradually If your employees have been educated and given every opportunity to meet your standards but still fall short cut your losses So many dealerships are hanging on to bad people because they think they cant be replaced One other tip Never ever bring good new people into an environment where bad people are already working And regardless of their production numbers always get rid of employees with bad attitudes Heres another tip Never let the accounting office run the sales department I see so many dealerships that limit their sales potential because its uncomfortable for the office staff And please tell your human resources department to process applicants in as few days as possible I have seen too many great applicants evaporate because HR was farting around too long while processing them and the candidate couldnt wouldnt and shouldnt have to wait for that foolishness As a consultant and sales management trainer I have put the duties of a sales manager in four progressive categories planning evaluating coordinating and organizing Planning begins every day with a business meeting with all managers Every working deal is reviewed every appointment is verified and every deal in transit is discussed Planning is in effect getting ready to get ready Too many managers have too many excuses for not having management meetings And no talking to each other throughout the day doesnt count as a meeting I cant tell you how many times Ive heard that excuse In the planning stage the management team needs to set procedures for the following hiring firing training and promoting Meanwhile evaluating has become a CRM function in the modern dealership All CRMs will spit out reports and statistical analysis on just about anything you need to measure regarding your stores selling effort The dealer and the general manager need to be able to operate the CRM and pull random reports measuring the performance of managers and salespeople as well as appointments set showed and sold BDC efficiency basically every aspect of the variable operation Sales managers should be counseling and conducting performance evaluation meetings with each individual salesperson Why Well you cant control or improve things that are not measured Coordinating refers to smoothing out interdepartmental relations All departments in the dealership need to work together They shouldnt be fighting to move money across the ledger from one department to another All profits should come from retail customers not from other departments Organizing is defining your pro ISTOCKPHOTO COM GERENME