F&I and Showroom, March 2020

www fi magazine com 32 F I and Showroom March 2020 T Take a look at the inside of your car and its glove box If you give someone a ride will they wonder if theyll catch a deadly disease from the filth and or clutter Do you have fast food wrappers on the floor old coffee cups in the cup holders or extra items of clothing in the back seat Will things come flying out of the glove box because its so stuffed What about your office Some researchers have found that a cluttered workspace encourages creative thinking and an orderly workspace encourages traditional thinking Creativity is great in the right circumstances but it might not be appropriate to bring into the F I office Creative sales might lead the way to a claim of UDAAP Unfair Deceptive or Abusive Acts or Practices Instead we need to be logical and organized Dont accept the excuse that youre a naturally messy person Organization can be a learned behavior CLEAN YOUR OFFICE Scrub your space I cant start cooking or start a load of laundry without first putting away everything and scrubbing the work area I feel like Ive accomplished a lot which makes me ready to tackle the next project Take a look at your office as though youre a customer seeing it for the first time A clean office will create the sense of order and structure which can give you credibility You might be surprised how good you feel once its clean ORGANIZE YOUR OFFICE Get organized I subscribe to the cooking philosophy of tidy bench tidy mind My kitchen pantry can be a little creepy to others because I put canned goods with the labels facing the same direction My sheets towels and blankets are folded and arranged by size in my linen closet That helps me know when were running low on something and helps me get something quickly Organize your drawers and filing cabinets so that you can quickly reach for something you need and stock up on everything before your day off Create a routine for tackling the day Open all your browsing pages in the same order check your emails and phone messages when you arrive and before you leave check for funding delays put notes in your CIT tool and put your deals in the same order each time ONE AT A TIME Clear your desk to work on one deal at a time If you spread deals on your desk youre likely to mix the files forget which deal needs what or youll miss something in a deal that you saw in another My philosophy has always been that I only want to touch a deal once if Im only going to get paid on it once Sometimes you cant complete a deal before the next customer but do as much as you can You can let the next customer know that you have their paperwork which resets their clock then go back to your office and finish the other deal for a couple of minutes Those couple of minutes from each deal could mean the difference of leaving on time or having to stay late an hour or two By then youre so tired and ready to leave that youre likely to miss something You can be messy and creative on your time away from work but our industry is too regulated and litigated for you not to be organized Organization can help you go from good to great Scrub your office to start with a clean and tidy workspace get your office organized and then organize your daily routine ABOUT THE AUTHOR Lori Church is an experienced F I manager a graduate of the University of Denvers Sturm College of Law and director of compliance for Holman Automotive Email her at lori church@ bobit com A clean office will create a sense of structure and our industry is too regulated for you not to stay organized With a few organizational tips you can go from good to great Tidy Bench Tidy Mind BY LORI CHURCH F I MATTERS GETTYIMAGES COM PEOPLEIMAGES