Most dealers say that their finance and insurance departments use a menu to sell service contracts and other aftermarket products. Dealers also say that customers are presented 100 percent of products 100 percent of the time, but is that the case? Finance managers that offer the right combination of products and follow the menu sales process are averaging 2.3 products per unit sold.
Below are the top reasons that dealerships miss the mark when using the menu.
1. Skipping the menu. The menu is an effective visual aid for the customer and helps the finance manager make a complete presentation of what the store has to offer.
2. Single-product focus. The finance manager pushes just one product -- typically service contracts. Service plans should be the number 1 seller, but not the only one sold. Service contracts provide a real benefit to customers and draw people back to the dealerhsip for service, but ancillary products will take the business to the next level.
3. Too many products on the menu. Focus on the basics. Narrow the number of items on the menu to five products that have a 20 percent sales penetration or better. Some dealerships get distracted trying to sell too many products. Finance manager can only present a handful of products well and customers want the process to go quickly.
4. Too much a la carte. We recommend packaging tire and wheel, interior exterior and roadside assistance at a slight discount - 15 percent off the price of the products sold seperately. Dealerships tend to sell more products because finance managers are more likely to present all three items when they're grouped together.
5. There are no warm and fuzzies from finance. Salespeople are trained to meet and greet customers and establish common ground. But dealerships often drop the ball in the finance office. Finance managers fail to connect with customers. As a result, they are unfamiliar with customers' needs and try to sell people products they don't want.
6. Neglect the customer interview. Safeguard estimates that as many as 70 percent of finance managers in the RV dealership skip the customer interview. Finance managers often claim that they don't have time. This is the most important part of a finance managers job and should only take 5 minutes.
7. Unplanned introductions. Finance managers should approach customers with a planned greeting and stock questions. If managers try to wing it, the process will take too long.
8. Failure to lave the desk. Finance managers need to meet customers on their turf. Get acquanted with customers in the showroom or while they're in the salesperson's office -- not when they're ready to go home.
9. Asking Yes and No questions. Get the customer to open up with open ended questions that can not be answered with a simple yes or no.
February Automotive News
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