Automotive BDC Selling Extended Warranties

by Andrei Smith | Apr 23, 2019 | Mastering Sales

The Automotive BDC is one of the underutilized profit centers of the car dealership.

Dealerships need F&I (Finance and Insurance) gross profit to remain profitable as a business. That means that dealerships need to sell extended warranties, financing, and other after-market products in order to stay afloat. 

How does the Automotive BDC fit into that? 

I’ve been reading a dealership book by Max Zanan, and I came across a point that I haven’t thought of before:

When a customer checks out a car but doesn’t buy that day, it is expected that the salesperson does follow up. That’s normal.

On the flipside, when a customer says no to an F&I product, such as an extended warranty, very little (if any) follow up is ever done.

Why is that?

There are two main reasons:

1. No one wants to do the work (F&I representatives have limited time)
2. No one wants to change a contract after a customer leaves

BDC Representative Aftermarket Follow Up

It would be pretty easy to set up a process for BDC representatives to follow up with sold customers on aftermarket products. 

The beauty is that every single customer is a “real” customer since the representatives would be calling customers that have already bought cars. 

The calls can be part of ensuring a perfect customer experience if they are handled correctly.

If a customer decides to re-consider an aftermarket product, the Automotive BDC representative can get the F&I manager involved to close the deal. The product can be sold over the phone by taking a credit card and mailing the documents (or e-signing!)

The Process to Set Up the Sales

When an F&I manager pitches the products to a customer unsuccessfully, they will know which products they were “close” on. When a customer says “no” to a list of six products, generally there is one or two that they were on the fence on.

The F&I manager could have an excel list wherein they put the deal number, customer name, the product they were close on, and the offered price.

That list would be emailed the next day to the BDC representatives to call. To give them a reason to call, the management could decide to offer a 15-30% discount on the product.

Here is the script that I would use for the voicemail:

Hi Steve! Congratulations on your purchase yesterday. I hope you are enjoying your new Audi Q5. Your finance manager, Jenny, wanted me to call and offer you a discount on a product that you were considering to add to your purchase. Please give me a call back @ 408-555-5555!

Alternatively:

Hi Steve! Congratulations on your purchase yesterday. I hope you are enjoying your new Audi Q5. We wanted to follow up with you about the warranty you were considering adding to your purchase- we have the ability to discount that today by 20%. It’s a huge savings on this product that I think would be very valuable to you. Call me @ 408-555-5555 if you are interested!

I don’t have any illusion that the closing ratio on these offers will be above 10%. That said, I think with proper communication between the BDC and the finance department could result in a handsome extra profit every month if this strategy was instituted.

Email Template: F&I Follow Up

Here is an email template I would use:

Dear Customer,

Congratulations on your purchase! Please let us know if you have any questions about your new car.

When chatting with my finance manager about your sale, he mentioned that you were on the fence about the 10 year/100k mile warranty. 

He said that it might be worth reaching out to you with an additional discount in case you wanted to add it to you contract. 

While he quoted you $3299 for the warranty, he said that I could discount it to $2899 if you wanted to add it to your contract today.

We don’t have a lot of time before we send everything to the bank, so let me know today!

Thanks,

Andrei Smith

PS. If you have any questions make sure to reach out to us via this email address!

Short, sweet, and to the point!

The BDC selling F&I products is a fresh idea for me, as I haven’t implemented it yet at my dealer. Have you? If so, tell us about it here: 

Ethical Internet Managers, Sales Managers, and BDC

Best Car Salesman Tips

by Andrei Smith | Apr 3, 2019 | Mastering Sales

Since I’ve recently published the new book, How to Sell Cars on the Internet, I wanted to get back to sharing some best car salesman tips on this blog. Please note that I say “car salesman” instead of “car salespeople” just because Google likes it better.

The last weekend of the fiscal quarter for my dealership just elapsed. Working up to and through that weekend was an excellent opportunity for me to get back to the basics of closing deals in person while juggling my responsibilities with the steady stream of internet sales traffic.

I maintained my sanity in the hurricane of business that came our way because of a few of the best car salesman tips that I’ve gathered of the last few years. These tips include The Five Minute Rule, The Perfect Process Rule, and The Relationship First rule. If you are looking for guidance on how to have successful Saturdays, check out this article.

I’ll be breaking down these three “best car salesman tips” in this article. If you have any best car salesman tips that you want to share with me, feel free to add a comment at the bottom or send me a message via the contact page.

If you are looking for similar content, I have some articles such as Car Sales Tips Closing a Car Deal and Internet Car Sales tips. If you sell any cars online, I have recently released the new book, How to Sell Cars on the Internet, that is full of great tips.

Best Car Salesman Tips #1: The Five Minute Rule

RULE: Anything that you can do in less than five minutes should be done right away.

There is a laundry list of tasks associated with selling cars that are only tangentially related to the sale. Before, during, and after the deal, the salesperson is required to:

1. Maintain Meticulous Notes (customer preferences, trade-ins, pricing expectations)
2. Keep Track of Issues with Inventory (low gas, damage, missing)
3. Keep Track of Car Keys
4. Keep Personal Information and Documents Secure
5. Answer All Incoming Phone Calls (In a Timely Fashion)
6. Answer All Incoming Texts
7. Answer All Incoming Emails
8. Remember When Surveys are Dropping and Then Remind Customers
9. Set Aside Loaner Cars for Service Customers

The list goes on.

How are we supposed to manage this workflow without letting things slip through the cracks?

The first step is to follow the five-minute rule. If, at any time you are not with a customer, you receive or remember a task that you need to accomplish, get it done right away. If you follow this, you will avoid having a huge pile of little annoying tasks stacking up in the back of your head. These little tasks, like ordering a key for a customer, are like little itchy thorns in your shoe. Although one won’t drive you mad, if you wait until there are five poking your foot, you are going to get uncomfortable.

I’ve found that stress is almost always related to feeling overwhelmed.

When I get overwhelmed at work, it’s rarely big projects that have piled up. It’s generally a million little small tasks that have quietly sat in the background, waiting for my attention.

The stress of these piles of “small things” combined with the outsized consequences of forgetting them is what you can avoid by adopting the five-minute rule.

Best Car Salesman Tips Example: 2nd Key

When you find out that a car that you sold is missing its second key, it can be annoying for both you and your customer. That said, it is generally an easy fix- promise the customer that you will order them a new key and usually their disappointment fades away.

Everything thing is then going to be okay.

Unless you forget to order them a second key!

At my dealership, it takes around 5 minutes to get the due bill, sign it, and make it to the parts department.

Easy right?

So easy that the task just gets written down, not a high priority to finish right away. Why spend the time to order this key right now when you can do it later?

That mindset is precisely what has got me in trouble in the past. Countless times a customer will call a week after taking their car, asking about a second key. I will stammer and delay, trying to remember if it’s here. I’ll end up making an excuse. As soon as the call finishes I run to the parts department and get the key ordered.

Unless… I just write it down to do later. 

Best Car Salesman Tips #2: Perfect Process

RULE: Respond to common problems with the same process, every time. 

What are some common problems you run into at your store? I’m referring to those problems that are part of doing business.

Things like cars with lot damage, customers that want financing but just moved to the country on a Visa, and required password changes.

What do these three things have in common? All three are common problems that occur at my store. This “best car salesman tip #2” is not about the answers to these three problems, as none of them can be prevented. What can be done is to have a perfect process in place.

What do I mean by perfect process?

A perfect process is a set “response” to these “triggers” that is followed by everyone on the team, one hundred percent of the time.

Best Car Salesman Tips: Perfect Process Example

Problem: Foreign national customer wants to buy a car, but has no-credit and is on a Visa. 

Perfect Process: When confronted with a foreign national customer with limited credit that wants to buy a car, follow the following process:

1. The customer fills out full credit applications and provides two references
2. Then the customer provides soft copies (via email) of their Visa/Passport/Social Security Card.
3. Then the finance manager calls the assigned bank representative while forwarding the documents

When we follow that exact process, the deals almost always get approved quickly. If instead, the salesperson does not support this process, the deal ends up being bounced around between the sales desk, the finance department, and the salesperson.

Problem: Salesperson’s sold car has “lot damage.”

Perfect Process: When confronted with a sold car that has “lot damage,” follow the following process:

1. The salesperson creates a group text with the sales manager and the body shop representative.
2. The group text should have comprehensive photos of the damage, the stock number of the car, and the customer’s contact information
3. The salesperson organizes with the customer for when the vehicle should be brought to the body shop to have the damages repaired

This is another example of a process that, if followed correctly, will result in the timely resolution of the problem. There are an infinite number of ways that this situation can end badly if the process is not followed.

Best Car Salesman Tips #3: The Relationship First Rule

The car business does not exist without customers. Customers are people, and people like to be treated correctly.

In the process of selling and repairing cars, problems arise. When issues arise, there are a variety of solutions with varying consequences to the bottom line of the dealership.

My advice? When at all possible, value the relationship with the customer over any one transaction. Always try to make money, but when making money would get in the way of building a strong, lasting customer relationship, shy away.

Think of all the opportunities that we, as salespeople, have to influence our customer’s choices. The most successful salespeople align themselves with their customer. Your customer should think of you as an advisor, not a scam artist.

If you prize the relationship with your customer above all, you will create fans of your business. Customers that are fans of your business will always come back and they will often bring their friends.

Best Car Salesman Tips: Review

I recommend three essential tips. They include The Five Minute Rule, The Perfect Process Rule, and The Relationship First Rule.

Let me know what you think of this content. If you found value in it, consider checking out a few other popular articles. Some of my favorites include one about requesting finance applications, one about creating successful appointments, and this one about overcoming laziness and lack of motivation!

Best Dress Shoes for Car Salesman

by Andrei Smith | Mar 15, 2019 | Mastering Sales

Since success in car sales requires the ability to build rapport quickly, every factor of the first impression is important. When a customer meets you for the first time, what signals are you sending? Part of that signaling will depend on your attire, so I wrote this article “Best Dress Shoes for Car Salesman” to help you out!

Are you letting them know, using every tool that you have, that you are a respectable and upstanding salesperson? Someone that they can trust to spend their money with?

What do your shoes look like?

It’s essential for your shoes to be professional.

One of the first questions you may ask yourself when applying for and getting your first car sales job will be what to wear. What exactly is the “car salesman dress code”? Is there a standard attire or does it vary dealer to dealer?

The answer is that although there is some variance dealership to dealership, most dealers conform to a standard dress pattern that varies between hot and cold seasons. The standard car salesman dress code is business casual (button down with tie and slacks) in the colder months, and khakis with a branded polo shirt in the warmer months. Although there are dealers that want you to wear a suit 365 days a year, their numbers are dwindling.

• “Car Salesman Dress Code”

Best Dress Shoes For Car Salesman: Must-Haves

Car salesmen have unique requirements for their shoes. The shoes themselves need to:

• Look Professional
• Handle a Variety of Weather Conditions
• Be Able to Handle the Asphalt of the Car Lot

We need to find attractive dress shoes that can withstand outdoor conditions

Best Dress Shoes For Car Salesman: The Guide

If you walk into Macy’s or browse Amazon’s shoe section you will be overwhelmed with options of shoes.

The aisles are lined with hundreds of pairs of shoes, with hugely varying prices. Price signaling would lead us to believe that the more expensive the shoe, the better it will perform for us. This is hardly the truth. Here are a few examples of shoes that look good, last a long time, and don’t cost an arm and a leg.

Best Dress Shoes For Car Salesman: Brown Leather Dress Shoes

Clarks is a brand that is well known for a variety of shoes, most commonly the more casual Clarks Chukka Desert Boots. That said, Clarks makes one of the best dress shoes for car salesman- the Tilden Plain Oxford. These shoes look professional, with 100% leather, and a durable sole.

The Tilden Plain Oxford from Clarks

When I say “durable sole” I’m referring to the synthetic bottom of the shoe:

Much More Durable

The Amazon feedback seems pretty positive as well:

These Clarks shoes are hands down the BEST dress shoe I have ever owned. I’m already shopping for pairs in other colors/styles! I’m on my feet in these most of the day, and they really cut down on my knee and back pain. They’re super comfortable and have a stylish look. I can’t say enough good things about these shoes or this company. Clarks has earned a customer for life!

Note- I’ve found the shoes above to run a bit wide. Consider sizing down a half size when you order a pair.

Best Dress Shoes For Car Salesman: Black Leather Dress Shoes

For the black leather dress shoes, I still recommend Clarks Tilden Oxfords (Black). The combination of the price point ($50-$100), the quality, and the adherence to our three car sales requirements make them the best shoe that I can recommend.

The reviews on Amazon seem to agree:

For the price, these are a great value. Super comfortable. I was looking for a shoe I could wear all day. Usually, this means you need rubber soles (no wood). You can’t resole many one-piece rubber sole heels, but that’s fine. Rarely do I do that since the top of the shoe shows so much wear, it makes me want to get a new pair of shoes no matter how much shoe-shining I do.

I own Saks 5th Avenue brand shoes, Cole Haan, and many other pricey shoes. Sure these Clark’s don’t look as sharp as Italian-made shoes. But Clark’s are comfortable. With this particular shoe, they struck the right balance between fashionable and functional–a rare feat indeed!

With Toe Cap on the Black Shoes

Best Dress Shoes For Car Salesman: Other Options

I’m confident that the first two shoes should be enough for most car salesmen to get started. That said, I have had some recommendations come in from other readers, which I thought I’d share. Your mileage may vary, as I don’t own these particular shoes:

1. Nunn Bush Men’s Norris Wingtip Slip-On Loafer:
2. La Milano Mens Cap Toe Oxford Leather:
3. Dockers Men’s Proposal Leather Slip-On Dress Loafer Shoe:

Best Dress Shoes For Car Salesman: Work in Progress

This article has been sitting in my draft folder for a few months. I don’t have much to add other than my two simple suggestions at the top, so I’ve held off on publishing it. That said, I figure it might provide some value for someone so I might as well publish it. 

This article would be a lot better with your feedback! Let me know if you know of any ideas for the “Best Dress Shoes for Car Salesman”!

You are the dealership’s representative. If you seem disinterested, tired, frustrated, or aloof, your customer is going to question how much you truly want to sell them the vehicle. The customer will then wonder how “fair” you are pricing a car if you don’t really care if you sell the car or not. 

I implore you to perk up. Drink some coffee and remember why you came to work today. When you are sitting across the customer, they should have a distinct impression that you will do anything to sell this car. This type of attitude makes any deal you offer much sweeter, as the customer believes you when you tell them an offer is fair.

• Car Sales Tips Closing a Car Deal