F&I and Showroom, October 2015

44 F I and Showroom October 2015 Mad Marv His Madness has a message for Sonic Automotive about its one touch experience He even offers an alternative way to bring together sales and F I By Marv Eleazer L ike you Im anxious to see how things play out with this One Sonic One Experience initiative Sonic Automotive rolled out more than a year ago No Im not a fan of the hybrid sales and F I process As Ive written before I think we need to leave the hybrids to the manufacturers Personally I am a little insulted that any dealer would believe that the complexities of the F I office could be entrusted to anyone other than a competent and speciallytrained individual with the proper understanding of the rules and regulations as well as the legal jargon contained in lender dealer agreements that govern the profession Its as if the automotive retail world has forgotten how critical F I profits were during the Great Recession and continue to be in todays margin compressed environment I guess I dont understand why operations like Sonic would put so much effort and money into an old concept that has never delivered better results than the traditional F I process Apparently Sonic believes that by arming salespeople with iPads they will have enough fairy dust left from their rapport building efforts in the showroom to make something magical happen when it comes to selling F I products And if Sonics Charlotte N C Toyota store really did see its per copy average rise from 640 to 900 as reported in Canadian Auto World by an F I trainer who mystery shopped the store I think Sonic needs to order some extra fairy dust Im all for progress and evolution but I just wonder if Sonic ever considered the regulatory environment we find ourselves in I mean how will Sonics Experience Guides handle straw purchases Will they know what to do when faced with an identity thief How about a customer whose name appears on some government watch list What about that pesky Regulation Z But who cares about all that legal stuff anyway Especially when todays customer wants to just buy a car and leave And besides we all know customers completely trust everything a salesperson says Im sure Sonic has gone to great lengths to train its guides in the various nuances of F I as well as the laws and regulations that govern it But can they really wear both sales and F I hats Salespeople sell the sizzle not the steak Their world is one of sensationalism and rapport building which is great But thats not F I As one of my colleagues suggested maybe a better remedy is to hire top notch F I managers and do away with sales managers That change would be less dramatic and less risky Heck it might even help solve showroom turnover as removing sales managers would create better opportunities for salespeople In fact doing away with those sales manager salaries would allow dealers to pay their salespeople better Heres how it would work After eliminating the sales manager position dealers would create small sales teams that would work exclusively with a designated F I manager That individual would handle all training oversee work assignments and follow ups and be responsible for CSI Each team would share the fruits of its labor on every gross dollar Yup that shortage of good salespeople would no longer be an issue And maybe some of those sales managers could be moved into recruiting positions or become inventory managers or used car buyers Hey maybe some of them would even like to be part of the team Just imagine a world with 100 F I turnovers one in which we could control deals from start to finish CSI would improve as customer wait times would no longer be an issue And this new structure would foster a more positive environment with less carping about working conditions For you sales managers who just got your feathers ruffled let me ask you Is this idea any less realistic than this hybrid manager nonsense Folks stop trying to reinvent the wheel If you really think your sales and F I process needs a change take a step back to understand the true issues involved Then devise a workable plan that benefits all players and relies on rigid accountability standards By the way its time to holster those iPads Theyre not six shooters and this aint the Wild West Good luck and keep closing Marv Eleazer is the F I director at Langdale Ford in Valdosta Ga Email him at marv eleazer@ bobit com Keep Em Separated