F&I Managers: 3 Steps to becoming the best F&I Manager in your City
Ryan Daniel
There is a thin line that separates average F&I Managers, from elite car dealership F&I Managers.
The difference is often times as simple as the process that the F&I Manager uses on a daily basis.
A great F&I Manager follows a proven formula that results in small but deliberate actions that collectively make a large difference in the F&I office.
Being a great F&I Manager is more important now than ever before. As the economy struggles from a pandemic and disposable income becomes less abundant, customers will begin to scrutinize purchases.
This makes it vital as an F&I Manager to take steps to hone your skills and drive additional revenue for your dealership.
With that in mind, let’s review 3 Steps that you can take to become the best F&I Manager in your entire city.
Step 1: The best F&I Managers Seek Professional F&I Training
Olympic athletes train with the very best coaches.
Professional musicians record with the worlds leading producers.
And world renowned universities hire brilliant professors to teach their students.
For the same reason, F&I Managers and aspiring F&I managers are encouraged to train with a world class F&I training program.
With Finance Manager Training, students train with F&I Instructors that have decades of automotive experience. This experience is invaluable and is often attributed to an increase in skill and therefore income.
In addition, graduates are eligible for F&I job placement assistance. Forever!
For those serious about becoming the very best F&I Manager in their city, F&I training may be the most important decision they make in their entire career.
Step 2: The best F&I Managers Follow a Formula
In 1997, Professional football player Billy Joe Hobert admitted to not studying the playbook after an abysmal performance in a game.
He was released (fired) just a few days later.
Like Billy Joe, an F&I Manager is only as good as the playbook he/she studies and how strictly they follow the procedure given in the playbook.
In our F&I Training, we teach that there is a proven and repeatable formula that any F&I Manager can use to gain success in the F&I office.
However, like any formula, if you change a variable or try to alter the “recipe”, you will receive a different result.
And often times, it will be a bad result.
The formula is simple: Unbiased Information + A Proper Explanation of Benefits + A Professional Environment = Profit In The Finance Office.
Unbiased Information – Does the customer feel that you are selling them, rather than informing them? If so, your words will be discounted.
Proper Explanation of Benefits – Are you focusing on the features of your products, instead of the benefits? A feature is what the product is, where as a benefit is how the product impacts the customer. Benefits sell products, not features.
Professional Environment – Is your office free of sales gimmicks (dented rims, repair bills, etc?). When a customer walks into your office, they are walking into a protected legal paperwork area. A professional office free of sales. The atmosphere shouldn’t look like they are being sold a timeshare.
If you follow this formula, you will succeed.
If you deviate from this formula, or you alter this formula, you will not receive the results you are after.
For example: 2 + 2 = 4. However, if you alter the formula in any way, such as 2+1 , then the equation will no longer equal 4.
Step 3: The best F&I Managers Spread Positivity
Here is a fact: Positivity is contagious. The bad news? So is negativity.
Studies have shown that happiness spreads through social networks, much like a virus spreads among people.
This means that you can be infected with someone else’s happiness or vice versa.
If you’re feeling down from a string of cash buyers, type-D customers, and bad luck, the negativity that you display among your colleagues can be contagious.
Instead of spreading this negativity, be a light.
Uplift your colleagues.
Brush off the bad luck.
Buy lunch for the sales team.
Speak positive thoughts.
All of these actions are contagious and will not only positively affect those around you, but also yourself!
How do you become the absolute best F&I Manager in your city?
By training in your craft, following a proven formula, and being the uplifting positive voice in the dealership. People WILL notice!