Trading Profit Today for Loyalty Tomorrow

by Jamie LaReau
for Automotive News
Sept 2015

Dealer David Johnson likes profit. But he truly values customer loyalty. 

That's why for nearly 10 years Johnson recoiled from the hard-sell tactics commonly used in finance and insurance and accepted F&I results that were slightly below where they should have been. 

Johnson understood that "the odds of bringing someone back in as a loyal, long-term customer means you might sacrifice some short-term profit," said Greg Kos-tern, business director for Johnson Automotive in Raleigh, N.C. 

But when Kostern proposed trying a technique called conversational selling across the group's nine stores late last year, Johnson agreed. Now F&I products are described to customers first and the menu shown later, Kostern said. 

Becoming the Ideal F&I Manager

by Gerry Gould
for f&i showroom magazine
December 2011

Most F&I managers fall into one of three categories: those who need an advantage, those who take advantage and those who create an advantage. Most of us started out in the box as the first type. We needed a little boost or maybe even a presold product every now and then. But it’s what we did during that initial phase that determined our course in this business. So which type of manager do you think you are today?

Dealers Urged to Polish Fair Lending Practices as CFPB Rule Looms

by Hannah Lutz

for AutomotiveNews

August 2015

Dealers, learn your lenders’ fair lending policies and polish your own.

That’s legal experts’ advice to retailers looking to prepare for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s final larger participant rule, which takes effect Aug. 31.