Keeping in mind that F&I is a sales job, your customer is ultimately your most valuable asset. Here are six small things you can do to close more deals.
Save Some Information For Later
When you explain your products, it’s important to only talk about the key points and keep the rest of the information to yourself. Some customers don’t need all the details to say yes. Human nature dictates that if a customer is confused, they tend to buy nothing out of the fear of buying something they don’t need. Don’t overload them. Keep it simple.
If you tell the customer every single thing upfront about what the program offers them and they say no, what else is there to talk about? Nothing! Your only options are to give up or to repeat yourself. If you repeat yourself, you come across as not being able to remember what you said or you come off as someone who thinks the customer needs things repeated because they aren’t smart enough to understand the first time around. Neither is good for business.
Use The Information You Held Back For Your Second and Third Swings
When do you tell the customer, for example, that your GAP program also gives them as much as $1,000 toward their next bike? Only tell customers after they have said no. This gives you an easy way to go back to the product without repeating yourself, and you have a chance of still selling it.
Know When To Shut Up
Have you ever seen a salesperson talk himself out of a sale? You are trying to avoid the F&I equivalent. You should present your programs in a simple and clear manner, ask for the sale and then shut up. If you do not stop talking and give the customer a chance to buy from you, you will lose sales.
Know The Difference Between Selling And Disclosing
Remember: F&I is a sales job. Make sure that you know the difference between benefits and disclosure items. When you go over the menu, you want to talk about the benefits — what is covered under the service contract, what GAP covers or how much money the customer saves on their maintenance with your plan. There will be plenty of time to tell the customer what is not covered by the warranty — that it has a deductible or that the tire and wheel coverage only covers them for things they hit between the yellow lines. This should be done as a disclosure when you get to the product contracts not when you’re discussing the menu.
Stay With The Process As Long As It Works
If you ever have to choose between sticking with your store process and making the customer mad or bending to give them what they want, you should always choose to bend and give the customer what they want. A mad customer will not buy from you, but one who possibly has information you don’t want them to have at that point in the process still might. No process works with 100 percent of the customers. This is why you have to be a salesperson in the finance office.
Defer To A Higher Power
You don’t need to be the decision maker. Before you check with the sales manager, bank or your general manager, get the customer to agree to do something that you know the decision maker is willing to do and something that you know you can do. That’s much more effective than telling a customer what you will do for them and hoping that decision makers will. For example, if you have a customer who is balking about the interest rate you are showing them and you know you added two points to the rate, take this path: “If I could save you a point or two on your rate, would that make you happy?” If they agree that it would, then you “make a call to the bank” and get confirmation that you can do that. This makes you the hero for helping them out. If you tell them that you can drop the rate two points and do not defer to a higher power, then you become the person who tried to rip them off.
These are small things, but big change is really just a series of small things. Happy selling!
Steve Dodds II is a moderator, trainer and consultant for Gart Sutton and Associates with experience in every position in the sales and finance departments. Dealers rave about his ability to identify areas for improvement and implement the changes that produce superior results. If you have questions about what he or one of our other talented consultants can do for you, contact us at [email protected].
