March 2008 - Feature
Get Inside Pro Chrysler Jeep’s March to Victory
By Joan Shim
He credits this process for his dealership’s 83-percent and 50-percent acceptance rates on finance and service contracts, respectively.
“If a customer declines a product, often they just don’t understand what it is,” he says. “And if we present it correctly and educate the customer on the product and its benefits, we have a better chance of selling it.”
The practice of not separating special finance from regular finance also helps the customer feel more welcome and comfortable, Schenden says. Handling credit-challenged customers on the same show floor and by the same sales and F&I managers means “no one in the showroom can tell if the customer has an 800 credit score or a 550 credit score,” he says.
The dealership also offers special finance customers late-model, one- to two-year-old vehicles that still have factory warranties. Schenden does this so the customer doesn’t wind up paying for expensive repairs a few years later.
Judging by the dealership’s 98 percent customer sales satisfaction rating in December 2007 — the highest rating for a Chrysler dealership of its size — the sales process is working.
“If you treat customers right and make it an easy process for them, they’ll come back and give us another opportunity,” Schenden says. That’s why 34 percent of the dealer’s business are repeat customers.
Team Dynamics
Schenden has put a lot of thought and planning into how to get his employees working as a team.
“I don’t want everyone running around doing their own thing. I want everybody working together toward a common goal, because I think it works better that way,” Schenden explains. To that end, he has different departments meet together to brainstorm and work out problems. For example, the finance manager can work with the sales manager to figure out how to structure a deal for someone with questionable credit.
Pay plans are also structured to promote interdepartmental collaboration. Managers’ salaries are not based on sales quotas within their individual departments. Instead, their pay plans rely on the group’s success at meeting requirements and targets in both sales and F&I. For example, sales managers have conservative sales numbers they are required to hit, while F&I managers must present all finance deals to Chrysler Financial. They must also have a minimum 50-percent service contract penetration. Additionally, the used-car manager must not have any used cars on the lot past 60 days. And the dealership must have a CSI rating of more than 95 percent.
“That way, all the managers are tied to each other and they’re working together to make sure that everybody does their little piece of the pie,” Schenden says.
Training the team is also a top priority at Pro Chrysler Jeep. Schenden says he spends more money on training than other dealers in his 20 Group, as well as other Chrysler dealers his size.
F&I managers have also been required to get AFIP certification for several years. They are also sent regularly to training classes provided by CNA National, Chrysler Financial, the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association and others. Even if the training is repetitive, Schenden believes employees always come away with “something that makes them better.”
Schenden sums up his formula for success in this way: “It’s all about doing the process, taking care of the customers and taking care of the employees. It’s not a real complicated business.”
That’s because he’s got the program down pat.