F&I and Showroom, June 2016

www fi magazine com 21 F I and Showroom June 2016 great use of credit your score will go higher His response was predictable I didnt know that You must become a master at credit information product knowledge bank practices and customer behavior When you do your ability to help customers at any income level will improve exponentially So are you part of an ongoing training regimen Are you devouring information that will enlighten you on the most effective mindset and new techniques to help todays customer Are you practicing and sharpening your skills daily If you are you possess the mindset of a master 2 PEOPLE ALWAYS TRUMP PRODUCTS The typical F I mindset can be expressed thusly I have products Now how can I sell them to my customers The mindset of F I masters is the opposite I have customers How can my products help them Its all a matter of focus Wherever your focus is is where all of your creativity and energy goes We must be product experts and know how each product works in real life their benefits and limitations We must also become customer experts The foundation for any successful customer interaction is to learn as much about the customer as possible so we know how to help them That requires us to intentionally engage each customer and move them to talk while we listen The unmatched power of effective listening is untapped in many F I offices The masters are able to help customers see why a particular product is critical for them in their particular situation because they can refer back to what the customer said earlier in response to an intentional effort to learn about their situation For decades we have focused on saying the right things in F I when the focus should really be on what the customer has to say When we ask effective questions and customers start talking we hear their story Every customer has one and most are willing to share it This will move us from an overemphasis on closing the customer to a proper focus of getting them to open up When a customer sees we are listening to them the level of trust in our effort goes up The speed of the transaction profits and customer satisfaction levels all rise and fall based on the level of trust Nothing affects that trust level more than our effort to engage our customers and listen to their stories 3 ITS ALL ABOUT THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Customers are very aware of what happens once theyre inside the F I office Someone will try to sell me something I dont think I need theyll say If I resist they will pressure and push and try to outsmart me Thats why its critical that we strive to be different If our process is not different than what our customers have experienced before then we are just like everyone else But if it is different and more enjoyable and more helpful then the response and outcomes will be different Here are three things that must happen with every customer to get them to open up and buy Learn Something Our success depends on moving a No to a Yes To see this outcome consistently customers must encounter new information If a speedometer fails you dont replace the speedometer you replace the instrument cluster That makes a minor repair a major expense This educates them that vehicles are comprised of component groupings of parts not individual parts as in the past They have learned something and saying Yes just became a little bit easier Feel Something Emotions are what drive a customer to buy which is why we must effectively illustrate what it would feel like to need the coverage and the consequences of not opting in The emotional connection to a product is more powerful than the product itself And dont forget the emotion of having fun as making the learning process fun will lead more to buy Motivate Them We must use engaging visual and innovative efforts to move customers to act on what they have learned and felt Third party information is a great motivator Sharing J D Powers research showing how overall vehicle quality has increased by 24 over a six year period while issues with in vehicle technology have increased by 45 during the same timeframe helps customers appreciate the cost of repairing or replacing advanced systems General information makes our information questionable Specific information motivates them to buy The experience in the office of an F I master is not only different it is totally different Watching the customer interaction with someone who has mastered the F I process is exciting They rarely see themselves as masters and feel they have much more to learn And that is the masters mindset ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rick McCormick is the national account development manager for Reahard Associates Inc an F I training company providing classes workshops in dealership and online training Email him at rick mccormick@ bobit com ISTOCKPHOTO COM SKYNESHER