The process of establishing a viable Special Finance Office began by focusing on the hiring and training of qualified staff.  The next steps in the process were customer-related: using effective marketing strategies to target the special finance demographic, and stocking the dealership with inventory available to the non-prime market.  The next [...]

The Special Finance Department has been fully staffed with qualified personnel, and the dealership has targeted non-prime customers through a well-researched marketing campaign.  Now, the dealership must be able to supply these customers with vehicles which fall within their financial criteria.  Appropriate inventory is essential to any special finance program [...]

Having established a solid foundation of qualified personnel for the Special Finance Department, the next step toward success is clear: reaching the non-prime customer demographic.  These customers pose a particular challenge, though. The dealership must effectively reach the non-prime market without creating the perception that it is unsuited to serve prime [...]

Today, gaining market share in the automotive industry is a battle. Any edge a dealer can gain over its competitors can mean the difference between victory and defeat. The industry’s latest battleground is the non-prime market.  The non-prime customer population holds great promise for dealerships. However, conscientious preparation is necessary [...]

People love cars and the decision-making process: the model, equipment, color and so forth. They take pride in the possession of a new car. What they generally don’t like is the experience of shopping for a new car. They often feel manipulated and mismanaged. Regardless of the deal they negotiated, there [...]

The customer has probably spent several hours with a salesperson, and now is introduced to a new individual who has the power to make, or break, the transaction. The fear of the unknown is always scary, so there is bound to be some trepidation on the customer’s behalf. To help put [...]

The automotive industry is changing.  Profit margins are narrowing as the marketplace becomes increasingly competitive – and complex.   For the consumer, this is the golden age of choices – not only in the myriad of products that have flooded the market – but in financing options, and the companies that offer them. [...]

The transition of the customer from the salesperson to the finance manager is critical to ensure a successful transaction. Here’s how to achieve it. The chain of custody as it refers to the customer is essential in all aspects of the automotive sales process. The customer must be controlled at all [...]

Every day, countless potential sales are lost by dealerships across the country.  While the loss of profit to the dealership is cause for concern in itself, the worst part of this grim scenario is the reason behind the loss: potential customers are lost every day because their deals are mismanaged.  Virtually [...]

by Rebecca Chernek Jim Collins, author of the best selling book Good to Great, studied many U.S. companies to learn why some of them could be mediocre or “nothing special” for years, and then transform themselves into outperforming some of the most well-known and well-run of their competition. He said the question [...]