| What Happens to Your Customers After the Sale? |
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| Written by Tom Gray |
| Tuesday, 27 October 2009 00:00 |
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When I started in the retail car business, over 24 years ago, the F&I office was simply a place in the dealership that you took your customers to sign all of the paperwork that essentially finalized the deal. Having started in the industry as a salesperson, I really didn’t have a clear understanding of what exactly took place in the small office where I escorted my customers. After a successful sales tenure of approximately two years, I was offered the position of F&I manager. Being young, aggressive, and wanting to move up within the ranks of the organization, I gladly accepted it.
Within the first ninety days, the dealer sent me to a weeklong F&I school where I learned the overall basic scope of the business and job description. I remember so clearly spending a lot of time reviewing the laws, rules, and regulations along with how to disclose the finance and leasing contracts. We also generically reviewed the extended service contract as well as credit life and accident health contracts. As far as the actual sales process regarding how to present the products to the customer and overcome objections, there was very little emphasis placed on this valuable step. As you can probably imagine, there was absolutely no time spent on how to follow-up with the customers who didn’t purchase an extended service contract at the time of sale. Needless to say, times have definitely changed.
Most of the F&I training companies today still place a lot of emphasis on the laws, rules, and regulations, including proper disclosure to the customer as well as menu presentation and the ability to overcome their objections. In today’s economy, however, there’s a lot of focus being placed on the F&I departments regarding the sale of products and generating profit.
I have met a lot of F&I “power closers” in my career, however, I have never met anyone who possesses a products closing ratio of 100 percent. Even the very best salesperson doesn’t sell to every customer. So I ask you this question: What happens to those customers who leave your dealership without purchasing your products? The answer: They are being solicited by third-party warranty pirate companies and many are purchasing from them. That means you are missing this valuable income opportunity and, just as important, you are missing out on additional parts and service revenue. Your goal is to tie your customer back to your dealership as often as possible.
So how do you accomplish this? You scour your customer database, looking primarily for those individuals who still qualify for an extended service contract after the sale. Once this group has been identified, mail each prospect a letter and offer them a second opportunity to do so. I strongly recommend that you personalize each letter to the customer. This can be achieved by including their name, address, date of purchase, year, make, and model of their automobile. This is time consuming; however, the results have proven to be very successful and profitable. Don’t allow anymore of the third party companies to take control of your customers. Start marketing to them today.
Tom Gray is the president of F&I Re-Marketing Solutions. For more information visit www.fandiremarketing.com.
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