“Questions Dealers Ask”
 

Is all of the focus of training and such on the smallest department in our dealership really worth all of the effort?

Our company views the comparison of the finance manager position in your dealership, as any team owner or coach would view the singularly highest-performing athlete or artist in any professional sport or field. Congruently, the earnings by those professional individuals are at the highest within those positions. The importance of this point is too strong to ignore. To see this position and its performance any other way would not line up with our company’s philosophy. Incidentally, sports analogies are commonly integrated with our coaching. As a Dealer, just imagine your highest-trained, most educated and proficient Service Technicians to have only received the level of training we have given to our finance manager professionals. Then take it another step and consider what we provide on an ongoing basis for those Service Technicians and the reasons why.
When viewed from this lens, current results can look quite different… become obvious for many dealers. -This is the epitome of Craig's message to the dealer.
 
Are you providing the same old cookie cutter approach that so many product companies and trainers seem to be?

We begin work with our clients from the perspective of how a computer code writer helps their client. This is done by developing a custom program. A simple intake assessment from the dealer/management helps us all in creating a collaborative, coherent plan to begin.

Why wouldn’t the product company I’m using, have the best training results?
 
It may be. If you’re happy with the profitability results and the message your customers are being given, it might be best for you. Maybe sometimes we just make assumptions, because we don’t know what else is available. If it’s possible to believe that your dealership’s message is the same that 90% of dealerships are delivering, and that your customers may be better prepared to respond than you are currently presenting, then it may be possible your customer isn’t really even listening to your message. And, if any of that is possible, your customer may have already thought of a response to your message. Could it be that they have heard or seen this before, whether at your store or the one down the street or in the next town?
 
You may even ask yourself, if you have ever had a rehearsed response for someone that you did not want to engage with, or that you already knew you wanted to say no to.

Q Do the finance managers themselves appreciate your coaching and training?
 
Please see the testimonials on our site. Overwhelmingly, yes. It’s common than that finance managers show appreciation for the decision made to have a different form of coaching and training. Perhaps some of this is also fueled by finance managers doubling and tripling their own incomes.
 
Q How much can I expect my F&I department to increase?
 
The average client dealership has an increase of 200-300% in profitability. There are lower increases and higher performers achieving 2000% increase. This is greatly dependent upon current performance, people, and a dealership’s individual goals.
 
Q Having been hesitant to consider making a change to help my Finance Manager with training, can you give any common dealer/finance manager responses after they began training with you?
 
A) Should have done this long ago.
B) It was easier than I thought.
C) Didn’t cost us anything, made us more. Was costing a lot to continue as we were. D) Approach is easy, conversational and not confrontational.
E) Best move I’ve made.
F) My reluctancy was in my way.
G) Found ourselves saying we may look at doing something about that next year… over    multiple years.
 
Craig invites you to take a look, to see your current result and if you really feel that what you are receiving is congruent to the efforts put forth for this department’s profitability. If it feels you are close and you just need a little more information or conversation reach out to converse.

Q What would make me want to switch my training away from the products company I’m currently using or is your training the same old stuff that every other dealership is saying and using, that has been recycled for years through all of the training classes we have sent our people to?
 
If you’re satisfied with your current production level, then you may not decide to. If you feel there is potential for your store for much greater profits with a more logical and easier/happier presentation for your manager and customers, then you may consider trying something different.
 
Q What is 100% Finance Department Absorption?
 
When the total fixed overhead expenses can be paid for by the Finance Department gross income. We’ve had clients achieve this.
 
Q What regions of the country does your company work in, and where do you primarily operate from to conduct your Training and Coaching?
 
Primarily the Midwest. We make consideration to all scenarios in the US. Our company comes to your dealership, instead of making your employees travel. At times, we also use the modern marvel of virtual face-to-face communication.

Q Is working with Performance Finance Company a risky decision on the part of the Dealer?
 
A very simple agreement between our company and our client is designed advantageously from the dealer’s perspective. The entire reason for this is the result of a long career as an automobile dealer. Many individuals walk in to a dealership expressing solutions, for a cost up front. This business model represents no guarantee that payment beforehand will prove any desired or promised result. Recognizing this from many years as the dealer, ours was created in the opposite format. Risk and challenge are placed on our company from the moment we begin.

Meet Craig

Helping Automobile Dealers Unlock the Profit Potential of Their F&I Department

For more than 17 years, Craig has helped automobile dealers improve one of the most powerful—and often underdeveloped—profit centers in the dealership: Finance & Insurance.

Through Performance Finance Group, Craig and his team work directly with dealers and finance professionals to improve F&I profitability while creating a better, more understandable experience for the customer.

Craig's philosophy is simple:

Better results don't have to come from a harder sell. They come from a better conversation with the customer, a better process, and better coaching.

That philosophy has been shaped by decades of experience inside the automobile business. Craig has bought, sold, and operated automobile dealerships, participated in 20 Groups, served on the board of directors of the Iowa Auto Dealers Association, and worked extensively with dealership professionals throughout the United States and Canada.

He knows what it is like to sit in the dealer's chair.

And he knows what it is like to be responsible for the results.

A Few Words Can Change the Result

One of the principles that has stayed with Craig throughout his career came from a famous Joe Verde quote published in Selling Cars Today:

"Sales are made or lost by a few words, not by a few dollars."

As a young man entering the automobile business, Craig recognized how powerful that idea was.

Over time, he realized the same principle applied directly to the F&I department.

The difference between an average customer experience and an exceptional one may not be a complicated new product, a bigger building, or another advertising campaign.

Sometimes, it comes down to how the conversation takes place.

That's where Craig's coaching philosophy begins.

The Most Powerful Department May Be the Smallest

F&I is often one of the smallest departments in an automobile dealership.

Yet its impact on dealership profitability can be enormous.

Craig often asks dealers to imagine what would be required to double or triple the bottom-line profit of another department.

More inventory?

More employees?

More service bays?

More square footage?

More advertising?

More capital?

In F&I, significant increases in profitability can potentially come from improving what is already happening inside the existing process.

No additional inventory.
No additional building.
No additional service bays.

The opportunity is already sitting in the dealership—transaction after transaction.

The question is whether the dealership is getting everything it can from that opportunity.

Training Is Not a Checkbox

One of the biggest problems Craig sees, isn't that dealers don't recognize the importance of F&I.

They do.

Often, the problem is what happens after a finance manager is hired.

A new manager gets placed in the position. The immediate crisis is solved. The dealership moves on to the next fire.

The highest level of Training gets pushed down the priority list.

Craig believes that's backwards.

Consider what happens when a dealership hires a top-level service technician. The dealership invests heavily in training, technology, continuing education, certifications, tools, and ongoing development because the performance of that individual matters.

Now compare that with the investment many dealerships make in the person responsible for generating what may be the most significant profit on every vehicle sold.

The difference can be striking.

Craig's message to dealers is simple:

Hiring someone to fill the position is only the beginning. Developing that person and the department is where the real opportunity begins.

Coaching That Isn't Cookie-Cutter

Craig doesn't believe every dealership needs the same training program.

Every dealership has different people, processes, customers, management styles, goals, and starting points.

That's why Performance Finance Group begins with an assessment of the dealership and its current situation.

The goal is to develop a custom coaching plan, rather than simply deliver another collection of rehearsed word tracks.

Craig describes the process much like a software developer creating a custom program for a client:

Understand the situation, Identify the opportunity.
Build the right process, Coach the people.
Measure the results, Adjust as necessary.

The approach is designed to be practical, conversational, and easier for both the finance manager and the customer.

A Kinder, More Conversational Approach

Craig's experience working throughout the United States and Canada with Pat Ryan & Associates, now part of AON Corp, had a major influence on his understanding of dealership finance and F&I products.

But just as importantly, that experience taught him that the industry must continue to evolve.

Today's customers are more informed than ever.

They have heard the presentations.

They have seen the products.

They have encountered the same objections and the same responses at dealerships across town, across the state, and across the country.

So what happens when customers hear essentially the same presentation everywhere?

They become better prepared for the conversation than the person presenting it.

Craig believes there is another way.

A way that is more natural.

More conversational.

More understandable.

And ultimately more comfortable for the customer and the finance manager.

The objective isn't to pressure a customer into saying yes. The objective is to create a better conversation in which the customer can understand the value of what is being offered.

Results Matter

Craig doesn't believe dealers should invest in training simply because training sounds like a good idea.

The results have to matter.

Performance Finance Group's experience has shown substantial increases in F&I profitability for many dealerships, with average client increases commonly reaching 200–300%, while individual dealerships have achieved substantially greater increases.

Some clients have even achieved 100% Finance Department Absorption—where the Finance Department's gross profit covers the dealership's total fixed overhead expenses.

Results vary by dealership, people, current performance, and individual goals.

That's exactly why Craig doesn't believe in making unrealistic performance guarantees.

Instead, Performance Finance Group's business model places the financial risk on his company.

The dealer pays based on results.

It's a model Craig believes in because he spent years sitting on the dealer's side of the table.

He understands the question every dealer asks before making a significant business decision:

"What's my risk?"

Craig Understands the Dealer's Side of the Desk

Craig isn't a consultant who has only studied automobile dealerships from the outside.

He's been a dealer.

He's owned and operated dealerships.

He's experienced the pressure of financial statements, staffing decisions, fixed operations, sales performance, personnel changes, and the constant challenge of improving profitability.

He's also experienced the other side of the equation.

There was a time when one of Craig's own dealerships was struggling with its Fixed operations. During a 20 Group meeting, other dealers looked directly at the numbers and encouraged him to take action.

The numbers were there.

The problem was real.

And Craig accepted the help he needed.

What he discovered was important:

Getting the right help was much easier—and produced results much faster—than he had imagined.

That experience continues to influence how he works with dealers today.

More Than a Trainer

Craig's relationships with dealers don't end when the training session ends.

He continues to visit dealers he has known for years—even those who admit they should have invested in F&I training long ago but keep putting it off.

He understands why.

Sometimes it is just too good to be true.

Dealerships are busy.

There is always another problem to solve.

Another employee to hire.

Another fire to put out.

Another month-end statement to review.

But Craig believes the F&I department deserves something different.

Consistent attention.
Continual coaching.
Clear expectations.
And a commitment to developing the person responsible for one of the dealership's most significant profit opportunities.

His approach is direct, practical, and personal.

And his door is always open for a conversation.

What Craig Wants Every Dealer to Consider

You may already have a good F&I department.

You may even have a very good one.

The question Craig encourages every dealer to ask is:

"Is the performance I'm receiving truly consistent with the opportunity that exists?"

If the answer is yes, congratulations.

If the answer is no—or if you're simply not sure—there may be an opportunity worth exploring.

Maybe your goal is another $200 per car.

Maybe it's 2X your current performance.

Maybe it's 3X.

Maybe your goal is simply to understand what your department is truly capable of.

Craig doesn't need to know why your goal is your goal.

His job is to understand where you are today, understand where you want to go, and determine whether Performance Finance Group can help you get there.

There is no complicated pitch.

No pressure.

Just a conversation.

Because sometimes the biggest improvement in a dealership begins with a few words.

Let's Have the Conversation

If you believe your F&I department may have more potential, let's talk about it.

You don't have to make a decision.

You don't have to change providers.

You don't have to commit to anything.

Start with a conversation about where you are, where you want to be, and whether there is an opportunity worth pursuing.

Your next improvement may already be sitting inside your dealership.

Let's find out.