Cash PVR should be tracked to give a high-level read on performance. The Cash Deal PVR is based on the profit resulting from all-cash deals only. This performance indicator tracks that cash customers are being treated with the same level of sales expectations as finance customers.

Virtual sale versus traditional is simply a side by side comparison of F&I metrics of Virtual F&I performance vs instore performance. This will allow dealerships to improve virtual performance and create processes around the experience a customer receives virtually.

“Payment in” refers to the agreed payment before the customer settles in the finance office. Keep in mind, the customer and the dealer each have their own expectation when entering the business office. The customer has done extensive research and they have a certain set of opinions on what should be offered and what is expected. Customers are demanding transparency more than ever and the more information you can provide up front the better. “Payment out” refers to the final payment when the customer is contracted. Tracking the average payment bump can uncover trends in customers, sales associate seed planting, and manager performance.

Typically, the margins are not as high as in traditional financed deals, because the length of ownership may not justify a traditional VSC or allow for products such as GAP. However, lease clients may feel they have a higher need for cosmetic products such as Paint and Fabric protection, Dent Protection, Windshield protection, etc. Tracking lease PVR often coincides with ancillary product sales. A lot of F&I Managers have pre conceived notions of the backend profitability of a lease deal. However, by tracking lease performance and training on ancillary products lease PVR can improve.

One CSI concern customers have is time spent in F&I. Typically, the time should be between 35 – 45 minutes with 10 minutes of those minutes dedicated to an on the floor customer interview. The needs analysis interview will help customize the customer experience. There is a correlation between time spent in F&I and the time you spend on properly setting up the deal using a customer interview. Using a customer interview will allow you to maximize sales speed and ensure customer paperwork is correct.

If your organization uses a menu systems such as Darwin or DocuPad you should be using the Digital Sales tools 100% of the time. Digital sales tools provide third party product buying recommendations from companies such as Edmonds. Digital Sales tools also provide a visual learning aid. Tools such as Darwin also provide reporting metrics to track tool utilization so your store can hit usage benchmarks.

The goal here should be 100%. We have seen groups typically in the range of 80%. However, 100% is the number you should aim for because anything less than that leaves money and opportunity on the table and exposes your organization to potential compliance issues. Organizations under 100% likely have more off-site deliveries and the person who executes the delivery isn’t taking the time to go through the options with the customer virtually.

We typically suggest that F&I person’s time should be dedicated to helping sell more units when not with clients, rehashing deals, performing missed opportunity follow ups, or closing out deals. The best F&I Managers understand that nothing happens in a dealership until a vehicle is sold and that they can increase F&I Revenue by helping their store deliver more units. F&I Managers can provide sales training, assist in closing deals, desk deals, and even take an up.

We suggest F&I Managers provide training sessions for your sales team. The training sessions can revolve around F&I topics such as planting the seed or product knowledge. The sessions can also provide general sales training and closing techniques. An additional benefit is that it will provide teamwork and respect between the sales and F&I departments.

We suggest a daily set time for F&I Managers to train. Having it on the schedule creates accountability and since of importance around training and development. We know that sometimes customers or other dealership activities can interfere with a scheduled time, but having a plan for training is better than not having one at all. It is a common mistake to allow the learning to stop when they leave F&I school or when an in dealership trainer leaves. The bottom line is pros work to perfect their craft daily.

Monitoring the average products per deal can be a better gauge of F&I Department health than just monitoring VSC penetration. It ensure that all products are being offered and that prescriptive selling is taking place vs selling the core products most F&I Managers have a comfort level with. Additional benefits include a better product to F&I reserve ratio.

The average profit per product differs depending on the product itself. This will allow you to monitor price gouging or F&I Managers giving away a product to work a pay plan.

You can usually pick up around 20% of the business that didn’t originally sign up during the initial delivery. The nationwide average is around 5%. For example, working the service lane when the customer is usually sitting there experiencing a real-world scenario where one of these products could have helped them. It is an excellent opportunity to sell them a maintenance plan etc.

This is an often-overlooked opportunity within the first 30 days of a customer buying a vehicle. You should contact 100% of these customers with the goal of picking up at least 1 product on 25% of them. Also, by performing a second chance call you can also touch base to ensure the client is having a good ownership experience further enhancing CSI.

The goal here should be 100%. There is always an opportunity for a better rate, more in the reserve, etc.