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Market conditions and affordability Understanding your consumers and their buying behavior is as important as keeping an eye on your vehicle tires. Tires have an enormous influence on the safety and performance of an automobile. Making sure you don’t drive on a flat tire is key to vehicle performance and so is keeping a close watch on market conditions to assure your continued sales success. Therefore, creating affordability for car buyers and planning for changing conditions is a sales professional best practice. Affordability is an issue looming over the automotive industry. It is not new that inflation is on the rise and the inflation rate is the highest in 40 years. Moreover, consumers have started to consider need versus want and feel the pain of high prices at gas pumps and dealerships. Therefore, in today’s state of the economy, customers need solutions to be able to buy the desired vehicle. Why affordability matters to your customers To understand affordability and why it matters to your buyers, look at the following findings: 95% of consumers get paid bi-weekly or twice a month. 80% of people live paycheck to paycheck. Besides the tight economy, the affordability issues also originate with the way the workforce in the US gets paid. 95% of Americans get paid biweekly or twice per month. Additionally, 80% of the American people live paycheck to paycheck. This means, they have significantly less or no spare money to spend freely. How can dealerships help their customers purchase the desired vehicle and ensure that your business meets the financial goals? The dealerships can help in creating affordability for buyers in multiple ways. Furthermore, Smart Payment Plan is one of the most effective means of helping your customers afford a vehicle. Offering lower payments that match your customers’ paydays to increase gross considerably and, in addition, sell more F&I products. What does it mean for your customer? Smaller paychecks that match their paydays Convenience of automated payments Paying off debt faster (up to 8 months faster) What does creating affordability for car buyers mean for you? Improved cash flow Easy to enroll customers Most importantly, create affordable options for your customers so that they can buy from your store. How can you get this tool implemented in your dealership to create affordability for car buyers? PRO Team can help you easily set this up in your stores. Our smart payment associates have been helping customers with payment plans since 2003 and are compliant in all 50 states and creating affordability for buyers. Over 4000 dealerships nationwide have been serving over 70,000 customers buy a vehicle and pay conveniently. Call us today to ask how this plan will grow your profitability and why you should get it today.

Dealership life is certainly not monotonous. Dealership personnel comes across new opportunities, challenges, and prospects to close the deals and meet sales goals. Assisting customers find the desired vehicle, providing them with the necessary information, or managing objections is a significant part of one’s routine. In addition, dealership teams manage many low-key tasks essential to efficiently carry out their day-to-day duties. Those tasks sometimes convert to common dealership challenges. For example, locating the right vehicle from the large inventory lot, securing new leads, and protecting assets. In other words, oftentimes, even small tasks could be more challenging than one might imagine. That said, we have compiled solutions and strategies to overcome some of the most common dealership challenges to make your lives easier. 1. Locating the car right away for your customers: You may have been in a situation yourself or heard other salespeople seeking assistance locating the right vehicle from the large inventory lot. It is frustrating for the salesperson to keep their potential customers waiting to show a car matching their needs and liking, especially for a minor reason. Solution: Spartan GPS is a great solution to search any vehicle from your lot by vehicle number, color, VIN, or a specific model. This product will not only pinpoint the vehicle’s exact location instantly but also equip you with more details of the vehicle to share with your customers. The sales enablement app displays all the vehicle information and pictures in one view. In addition, it lets you quickly send CARFAX info directly to your customer from the app. 2. The car doesn’t start when you take your customer to the car for a demo: After you’ve found the vehicle and taken your customer to it, maybe it wouldn’t start because of a dead battery. Bringing your customer to a car that doesn’t start can sacrifice the sale. It could just be a dead battery, but now they think there’s a major issue with the vehicle. Solution: The same technology- Spartan GPS, monitors the vehicle’s battery health with daily reports. Not to mention, the product improves the process to reduce customer and sales team fatigue caused by unnecessary delays. 3. Asset protection: Auto theft has increased roughly 11% nationwide in the last two years. Vehicles are going missing from dealerships and driveways. Many dealerships are facing challenges in protecting their cars from being stolen. Don’t be another statistic or victim of vehicle theft from your store. Solution: Advanced inventory management by Spartan is an effective means to safeguard your assets against theft. The product deters joy-riding and unauthorized vehicle use. Additionally, it provides considerable benefits to your customers with a vehicle tracking solution that allows law enforcement to recover your vehicle quickly and easily in the event of a theft. 4. Identifying the right leads: Who’s in the market for a new vehicle, what they are looking for, and how long have they been in the market. These are some of the top questions when it comes to generating the right leads to grow dealership sales. Furthermore, how to get to your shoppers before your competition and what tools could help achieve this goal are prevalent challenges for dealerships. Solution: An AI-based advanced data-driven tool can help generate the right leads and get you an upper hand in the industry. The technology provides data to determine who started, stopped, and ramped up their shopping in the last 24 hours. Furthermore, the tool also helps with vehicle acquisition solutions in fluctuating market conditions. Reach out to us to schedule a demo of this advanced AI-based tool. 5. Creating value for your customers: The F&I department plays a critical role in building a revenue stream for a dealership. However, customers often express their doubts about F&I products and their values. Creating value for your customers to close the deal is something that F&I personnel aspire to, but many find it challenging. Solution: Having your team conduct regular reviews, role plays, and training are the fundamentals of ensuring that your F&I department offers real value for the customers and adds to their experience. Moreover, role plays and regular training to review your process could produce significant results in your sales goals. PRO has been providing comprehensive training to some of the top-performing dealerships. Call us today to see how we can help you overcome common dealership challenges and turbocharge your profitability.  

The F&I (Finance and Insurance) department is often the last phase of the vehicle buying process. Strategic interaction between the F&I Manager and the customer plays a critical role in overall F&I profitability. Well managed interactions allow F&I managers to properly assess their customers’ needs in relation to their driving behaviors to match them with the right F&I products. Highly successful F&I managers understand that the skills and attitude needed to excel in this role can be learned and developed over time. Therefore, we have created a list of F&I Manager tips and best practices to run a successful F&I department. What is the F&I department, and what does F&I Manager do? The Finance and Insurance (F&I) department is one of the key profit centers in a dealership. When a customer buys a vehicle, the salesman refers the customer to the F&I department. The department offers add-ons to customers’ vehicles to protect their purchases, such as vehicle service contracts (VSC) and GAP insurance. In addition, the F&I Manager helps the customer find suitable auto loan options and handles legal documents related to financing plans and agreements. The F&I Manager has one of the most critical jobs in the dealership. Notably, it includes obtaining competitive financing options for the dealership’s vehicles buyers, maintaining compliance to protect the dealerships from legal issues, and creating additional income by selling F&I products. Here is a more detailed description of the responsibilities of the F&I Manager: Product sales: Leverage opportunities to offer aftermarket products, service contracts, and insurance programs Knowledge of F&I products and services and ability to sell “intangibles.” Assess buyers’ needs—finance and payment options to present them with appropriate auto finance plans Compliance: Knowledgeable in state regulations regarding finance and the Fair Credit Reporting Act Abide by federal, state, and local laws when preparing paperwork, finalizing financial transactions, setting interest rates, and working with lending institutions Maintain the highest ethical standards serving as a finance director and/or Manager who is committed to a high customer satisfaction index (CSI) Financing: Building positive relations with the lenders and insurance vendors Maintaining current knowledge, learning more, and training staff about finance and lease programs Tips for F&I Manager 1. Nurture your relations with lending institutions, VSC provider, and insurance vendors Many buyers look for financing options when buying a car. While the consumers can get auto financing from a bank or credit union, it could be cumbersome and perhaps on less favorable terms. Building a positive relationship with your lenders will enable you to get special financing approved for your customers. In addition, it could significantly improve your customer’s experience and satisfaction. It is essential to consider that building and nurturing positive relationships with lenders, VSC providers, and insurance vendors do not happen overnight. In other words, staying connected with them and maintaining your network would require frequent communication. Therefore, setting up time every week to strengthen your network is a good idea. 2. Stay current on tech tools knowledge and review reports With changing shopping preferences and behavior, digital tools can support your success. Adapting the technology to save your customers time and enhance their experience would add much value to your dealership. In addition, using data and reports would enable you to make better decisions. However, if tech tools are new for you, refresher courses and training could help improve your skills and make you a pro. Notably, setting time aside to pep up your skills would help you move ahead faster. One of the best ways to build a new habit is to identify a current habit you already do frequently and then stack your new behavior on top. This is called habit stacking. For example, “When situation X arises, I will perform response Y.” After I conduct weekly training for my team, I will take time to learn a new productivity tool. 3. Reassess market changes and profit centers: Being updated with the market shift and trends and aligning your F&I portfolio to match the customers’ needs require regular consideration. Not to mention, monitoring your portfolio will keep you adequately equipped to serve your customers and stay relevant in the market. For instance, when the car inventory return to normal or close to normal, how will it impact the used car prices? How would the F&I products align with that scenario? 4. Conduct save-a-deal meetings: Each week, take time to review dead deals with other managers to identify solutions and see if there is a better way to go. Review the three C’s of credit. Namely: Character—defined by credit and loan repayment history. Capacity- measures income and ability to service a loan or line of credit. Collateral- asset(s), in this case, the car you have them on. A fresh set of eyes and ideas with your colleagues could help you find constructive outcomes and raise your dealership’s profitability. 5. Attend and conduct weekly F&I and sales training: Weekly sales and F&I training are excellent resources for you and your team to stay updated and efficient. Moreover, conducting weekly training would present you with opportunities to optimize processes and practices through methods such as role-plays. Additionally, taking support of result-driven professional F&I trainers would build your staff’s confidence and techniques, thus, improving your bottom line. How to become F&I Manager: Dealerships want F&I managers who possess the necessary skills, driven attitude, and experience in a dealership setting. Here are proven tips to help you become a successful F&I Manager: F&I training: The first step towards starting your journey to become a successful manager is to obtain professional training. To emphasize, F&I Manager training has several benefits, including objection handling, closing deals, compliance, and ways to enhance customer experience. Acquire F&I products knowledge: Connect with your current F&I department to learn from them. Ask questions, go through the product brochures, and learn about the products your dealership offers. Another excellent way is to get in touch with professional dealership consultants to discuss your career progression and obtain guidance. Customer centricity: Customer centricity helps

Why professional dealership training is critical for your success One of the core responsibilities of dealership leaders is to hire great people to ensure that their staff contributes to the store’s profitability and success. There is no single formula to achieving that. However, professional dealership training plays a crucial role in attaining mutual growth and success. Furthermore, in the era of microwave mentality, shoppers want a new kind of buying experience. They look for convenient options to buy vehicles and lightning-fast response time. The customers depend on your sales team to complete the purchase, and you depend on them to meet your revenue goals. Therefore, dealership teams need tools and skills to keep up with the changing customer behavior while improving the PVR and performance of their dealerships. You need to build a winning team—a team to support your business objectives and growth. This is where professional training comes into play. Comprehensive professional dealership training of your personnel opens the door to reaching new heights. Let’s look at some of the key reasons why professional training is essential for your dealership staff. 1. Better understand shoppers’ needs A critical step in selling is understanding what your customers are looking for. Often, customers either aren’t clear about what they need or don’t really know what they want. Efficient sales personnel need to be trained to ask the right questions, listen, and tailor products and services to assist customers satisfactorily. Furthermore, with the proper training, the Sales and F&I personnel can correctly identify customers’ unique needs and present vehicles and products to suit their habits and needs. In addition, training also guides sales teams to effectively offer related products to increase the value of a sale. Thereby, growing the dealership’s profitability while raising customer satisfaction. 2. Influences your sales team’s efficiency Sales and performance training help your staff build skills needed to close more deals faster. When you hire a salesperson, they are often either fresher with minimum experience or have learned through their experience over time. A data-based approach to understanding your employee’s potential and characteristics would help provide customized training. This keeps your staff updated, aligned with goals, and helps them learn proven selling approaches such as consultative over transactional methods. 3. Hiring for a replacement can hurt your business Employee turnover is a huge problem in dealerships. Hiring for a replacement can cost 33% of an employee’s salary and may include costs such as: recruiting cost—ads and job portals fees cost of interviews—time of your human resource post-interview cost—check reference and backgrounds checks cost of employment—relocation expenses cost of business loss—because you didn’t have the right people to do the work efficiency buffer time expenses—to let the new employee learn and settle in their new role Great dealerships work hard to maintain their staff’s satisfaction. It is cheaper to keep your employees motivated and productive than finding and hiring a new employee. Training plays a critical role in achieving this goal—it helps employees attain professional growth and reduces turnover. 4. Enhance your customers’ experience When dealerships do not have a strategic employee training and development plan in place, it leads to inconsistent store experience. With comprehensive training, your sales team can transform into friendly, knowledgeable, and trustworthy people customers need to complete their purchase. 5. Maintain professionalism and build a stronger relationship Positive personality, effective communication, building rapport, and professionally presenting oneself all count when it comes to selling. Dealership reputation and growth are influenced by improving how your sales team conducts themselves in front of your potential shoppers. Training your staff regularly is key to achieving success and increasing profitability. 6. Learn People’s management skills Manager’s training is another essential aspect for running a dealership successfully, as management skills require deliberate efforts and abilities. Leadership directly impacts employees’ retention and development, reducing turnover rates and contributing to the dealership’s success. Training helps managers learn how to lead teams and optimize efficiency and profitability. 7. Maintaining compliance Let’s face it, the regulations and laws change frequently and vary even at the local level, so keeping up is not easy for F&I managers. Dealerships can be held legally responsible for lapses in compliance. However, the largest share of compliance responsibility falls on the shoulders of the F&I department. To emphasize, proper training and compliance audits are the best ways to ensure that your team members are up to date with regulations and maintain compliance. 8. Acquire the correct understanding of responsibilities and goals Without professional training, the responsibilities and goals of the dealership personnel may be unclear. Furthermore, clear goals and streamlined processes define a solid automotive retail business. It can be attained by strategically training the staff. After all, training is what separates your dealership from the competition. 9. Obtain product knowledge F&I managers often provide customers with information such as the difference between a vehicle service contract (VSC) and extended warranty and GAP coverage. Similarly, a Salesperson helps customers understand the specs of the vehicle. Without professional training, it would be challenging for teams to gain complete control of the selling process, handle objections, and close the deals. On the whole, professional training for dealerships staff is key to overall success. With that in mind, the PRO team has helped auto dealers find the right fit for essential functions and train employees for significant productivity improvements. In addition, our comprehensive F&I and Sales training has shown proven results in raising employees’ efficiency increasing sales and profits. Contact us to get custom solutions to grow the profitability of your unique dealership.

Understanding the auto industry and trends in 2022-23 to increase dealership profitability Tracking the automotive market and key trends in 2022-23 could help you gain an edge over other players in the auto retail industry and influence your dealership profitability in a positive way. Before we dive deeper into the three key strategies to improve your dealership profitability, let us look at the consumer and automotive industry trends that may impact your dealership’s bottom line. To emphasize, it is critical to watch your consumers’ behavior and the auto industry’s inclination before planning a strategic move in anticipation of growing profits. Three critical consumer behavior metrics to watch as your plan for growth in 2022 1. Future Vehicle Intentions The pandemic has a low impact on consumers’ intentions to buy a new vehicle. 69% of consumers in the U.S, 3% more than the previous year, have not altered their timeline for purchasing a new vehicle, and 14% intend to acquire a vehicle to avoid public transportation. Source: Deloitte Automotive Consumer Report 2. Preferred way of buying a vehicle The COVID accelerated the digital buying options as more and more dealers offered virtual purchasing alternatives. Despite that option, the most preferred way of buying a vehicle remains in-person in the U.S. 75% of consumers would prefer an in-person experience to buy their next car. Source: Deloitte Automotive Consumer Report The main reason for purchasing a vehicle through a virtual process is the ease of use and convenience. 25% of consumers consider buying their next car online because of ease of use and 39% because of convenience in virtual buying. Source: Deloitte Automotive Consumer Report 3. Inclination towards the personal vehicle Personal vehicles are a high preference for consumers in the U.S. market. To point out, 76% of respondents said they are inclined to use private vehicles as a mode of mobility, the highest among all the other surveyed regions. Source: Deloitte Automotive Consumer Report Translate the consumer insights into strategies to improve dealership profitability 1. Adopt creative ways to optimize your inventory Supply chain irregularities and the pandemic did not impact the consumers’ intention to buy a vehicle. As a matter of fact, growth in new car sales is driven by pent-up demand in 2022 as consumers appetite for vehicles continues to grow. Therefore, the dealership needs creative strategies to acquire used cars to meet the demands. Opportunity in service drive: Fewer vehicles are going through auction; those that do are selling at record-breaking prices. Where is good used inventory? Not to mention, checking your service drive might help. Here is why: – The average dealer sees 300-400 used vehicles in their service drive each month. – You know your customers and the service history of their vehicle. – Your service customers may be considering and not realize the premium value of their vehicle Are you offering your customers buy-bids and appraisals? Your guaranteed price may be just the nudge they need to cash in or pre-order something new from you. Make an offer your customers cannot refuse: Do we need to say consumers love instant cash offers and appraisals? Offering an appraisal and a buy bid on cars that come to your service drive will accelerate your buying opportunities. It creates a win-win for you and your customers. 2. Get in front of your shoppers first with advanced AI tools Personal vehicles are of high preference to consumers in the U.S. Furthermore, approximately 86% of car shoppers conduct online research before visiting a local dealership, as per research from Adtaxi. These statistics show that consumers are more curious than ever, and they are fulfilling their curiosity by conducting online research before they ever set their foot in a dealership. Hence, it presents an excellent opportunity for dealers to influence potential buyers before they go to competitors. Advanced marketing tools are your best friend: Technology and advanced marketing tools could provide deeper insights into your potential customers. For instance, A.I. powered tools can help you see: The active shoppers in your market right now Details of buyers- name, contact, motivation to buy Make and models they are shopping for The number of days in they have been in the market, shopping behavior, and intensity Get a free demo to level up your marketing: We can help you get a demo of the new A.I.-powered tool to excel in the crucial areas of marketing. Get access to: – Rich data from about 90% of connected US devices – Information coming from appx 250 million protentional shoppers – Omni channel marketing – Audience identification and reach within 24 hour of their entering the market

The inventory shortage took center stage in the automotive industry in 2021. As the chip supplies are loosening up, the worst of empty-lot situation is likely behind us. However, the vehicle supply might not improve before the year’s second half. The question is, how will the new year fare for the dealerships? Will there be a recovery in production and growth in new car sales? Let’s look at what might lie ahead of the automotive retail industry in 2022. 1. Growth in new car sales driven by pent up demand Consumer appetite for vehicles continues to grow, and the tremendous desire for personal cars doesn’t seem to be changing. So, there is a high pent-up demand rolling into the new year. Thus, the vehicle demand will remain high to support new and used vehicle sales this year, and the dealers should be able to sell their inventory faster. The new car sales are expected to climb by over 15 million units. According to IHS Markit forecasts, this reflects the growth of over 2.2 million units year over year. Additionally, used vehicle sales are also predicted to remain strong amidst the supply crisis. 2. The consumers will face limited choices and higher prices as the demand-supply remains an issue So, the question is, how can dealers meet the expectations of their consumers with limited inventory? How does this impact customer experience? From a customer’s standpoint: A consultative and customer-centric approach that focuses on benefitting the customers throughout the sales process is the key to reducing friction and improving customer experience. In short, a value-based tactic involves guiding the prospective customer to reinforce reasons why your offering is valuable to your purchaser- be it in the car sales of the F&I department. From the dealership’s staff perspective: Empowering your teams with the necessary tools and data is critical. For example, updated inventory data and CRM insights provide information quickly, evolve their rhetoric and messaging, and serve the customers better in matching vehicles to their expectations. This would help reduce the friction for buyers and sellers and make it easier for both parties to complete the transaction. In addition, be mindful of promotions and advertising on the inventory-based solution. Promoting inventory that you own instead of marketing core models and only certified pre-owned models. It wastes dealership resources and draws customers for vehicles you might have. It leads to higher dissatisfaction among shoppers and impacts your dealership’s image—which matters more than one might think. 3. The F&I revenue opportunity will remain a profit center for dealerships as they see a growth in new car sales The new and used car prices are higher than ever. As the consumers pump in big bucks to buy a vehicle, they are highly likely to protect it from unforeseen problems. Furthermore, consumers’ risk tolerance capacity plays a significant role in the F&I department. Studies show risk tolerance, especially towards financial emergencies, has shifted to a conservative direction amidst uncertain business, social, and political scenarios. Therefore, F&I managers can help customers put aside their anxieties and protect their vehicles with appropriate coverages and products. 4. The prices for used cars would not decrease as rapidly Towards the end of 2021, as the empty-lot syndrome was at its peak, the used car prices skyrocketed, and affordability highly influenced the buying decision. The average used-vehicle price set new records and rose above $28,000 in December 2021. Without new vehicle production and supply getting back to their full potential, the used cars are not as quick to depreciate as they have been in the past and cost close to what a new model runs. Then again, what does this mean for you, your dealership, and your customers? It depends on what you make of it. Pricing the vehicles strategically to compete with other dealerships and offering valuable F&I products increases the vehicle’s value to customers while surging your profitability. Procuring used cars is not easy for every dealer, but your service drive could be an excellent resource for buying used vehicles from your existing customers and filling empty lots. 5. The Service drives will be a revenue center this year The average age of cars in the US is over 12 years old, as per research by IHS Markit. In addition, Cox Automotive reveals more car owners will be focused on fixing up than breaking up. Furthermore, Americans expect to drive more in 2022 than last year. Therefore, the more visits to service drives, the more opportunities for service drive to become a critical component of the dealership’s success. All in all, the year ahead would show signs of relief for the auto retail sector. As a result, the dealerships and their staff—sales, F&I, service would sell their inventory faster and secure more opportunities to help shoppers safeguard their purchase with valuable F&I products. PRO Consulting can support your dealership profitability with strategic growth planning to help you stay relevant in the challenging market conditions. Book your free 15 minutes consultation to discuss how your business can drive growth in new car sales and reach higher profits.