They can give your F&I sales a big boost.
The key to making money in many types of business is the sale of add-on, or aftermarket products, not just the original item the consumer came to buy.

Professional clothing retailers understand this practice well. They call what they do "accessorizing." Shoppers may believe all they want is a specific piece of clothing, but they are usually gleeful after the sales person adds belts, ties, socks (for men), or scarves, belts and earrings (for women).

Then there is Wal-Mart, unarguably the world's best retailer. They do it differently, but just as well, by assuring the customer stands in the cashier's line long enough to buy "just one more thing" from the array of goodies located at each wicket.

These aftermarket purchases are neither flukes nor good luck for the retailer; they are well-planned strategies with positive results.

How effective is your F&I office?
Your F&I office is the place where you can take similar advantage of that aftermarket sales potential. For it is there you offer the customer worthwhile but often expensive "extra" items and services, most of which can be highly profitable. 

So how effective is your F&I office in this segment of the business? The best way to gauge things is on a "dollars-per-vehicle" basis. Simply take the total gross dollars earned in your F&I department and divide it by the total number of vehicles sold. Thus, if you sold 100 vehicles and earned an F&I gross of $90,000 over a given period, the "dollars-per-vehicle" earned would be $900.

There is a wide variation in these figures when examining individual dealer performance. Some stores report earnings of over $2000 per vehicle while others claim just $300 - a huge difference. Many more report earnings in-between these extremes so the question becomes, "why the variance?"  What enables one store to earn $2000 per vehicle, while others earn substantially less?

There are many reasons. Some stores include fees charged into their profit equation, where others may not. Some may have higher profits per product, meaning they charge more for the same item. Others may have more items to sell, opening up the ceiling to permit higher earnings, while others may apply protection packages in-house rather than farming them out (increasing profits that way).

There are business offices equipped with better technology making the sales process easier while others may enjoy better support from senior management permitting them to earn all that is available rather than being road-blocked from time to time.

But we can't forget the most important factor of all... a highly trained professional F&I salesperson. It is she or he who will truly make the difference.

The pros' secrets
What are some of the pros' secrets?

1)    They aren't afraid to offer all of their products/services to every prospect.
2)    They see everyone. No one buys a vehicle without seeing the finance manager.
3)    They run their department as a department, not a side-line.
4)    F&I products are not thrown into the sale to make the sale; they are a separate entity.
5)    They know how to perform legal and professional "cash-conversions".
6)    They know how to sell... they know how to overcome objections... and they know how to close.

Sales people play an important part in this equation. They too must understand what the F&I products and services are all about and more importantly, how they can and will help their clients.

It's in the technique
You already know the list of finance office items you offer so I won't go into detail here. That said, perhaps a review of presentation technique is in order.

If your office sells creditor insurance (and it should), the art of question-selling might be best employed. Certainly the F&I manager can spend time going over the benefits with their prospects. But wouldn't it be better to first create a need for it?

Instead of just telling people their "loan is protected" (not that that is a bad technique), wouldn't it make more sense to first discover if the prospect:

a)    ever had the need for it before;
b)    may have the need for it in the future;
c)    or... may have the need for it now?

If one were to ask those questions in an organized fashion, the desire for the product could grow instantaneously. Here's how it could sound:
"Tell me... have you ever been in a situation where you were short money because you were sick?"
What percentage of prospects might say yes to that question? Even if it is only 30 percent (and chances are it will be greater than that), can you imagine where you can take the conversation from there?

You could try: "May I assume that is a situation you would wish to avoid rather than repeat?"
Again, how many would say yes to this question?
Continue with: "What if there was a way you could avoid the problem before it became a problem; would that make sense to do?"
 
Certainly there might be some who say no but many will say yes. The same technique can be used to market breakdown cost-prevention programs, theft-prevention items, vehicle beauty enhancement products... in fact everything you sell.

If you just noticed some new names for some old product lines, that too is no accident. If you want the public to buy what you sell, it will help if you make it sound as appealing as it is helpful.

More on this in a future article but for now remember to:

1)    Create the need.
2)    Provide the solution.
3)    Ask for the order.

It is a simple formula that will help increase your aftermarket penetration... instantly!

Harvey Cohen is the author of four books and principal of Harvey Cohen Learning Systems, Inc., a Canadian company dedicated to automotive F&I and sales training and support. He can be seen as the sales and business coach on the TV show, Style by Jury. You can email Harvey at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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