“If you want to improve your world, then focus your attention on helping others.” – John C. Maxell

All professionals enhance those around them. That is what makes them professionals! Going the extra mile and thinking ahead to be prepared for the future is the fabric of champions. Another key aspect to being a professional is how we treat people. We must treat all people the same. Whether someone is our internal customer or external customer, we can focus on ways to enrich their lives.

Enhance Those Around You

The F&I master has always been viewed as someone to increase the profits of the dealership. When I was a salesperson, the persona of the F&I master was someone too important to be interrupted or bothered with my concerns. Leave them alone was the mantra. However, the evolution of purchasing a vehicle now demands a seamless process from sales to finance. The walls between what have been viewed as two departments must be brought down. They must now work together to gain the trust and confidence of customers.

When you learn something new about vehicles that will help you build value in your products, share that information. It will increase your passion for your products and provide a foundation you can build on. The finance master doesn’t need others to sell the value of the products, just to believe in them. When knowledge is increased, belief and passion are built. Get involved early in deals. It will make the customer feel more appreciated and help to sell more vehicles. Occasionally, invite a sales professional to sit in with you so he or she can see you helping and enhancing customers’ experience. Seeing is believing; the more a salesperson sees you working diligently to help customers, the more you’ll be appreciated for what you do. I hear those walls falling!

Enhance Those in Front of You

The opportunity to handle the final step in the vehicle purchasing process is a privilege through which we can distinguish ourselves and our dealerships as different. Customers think we are going to try and sell them products they don’t want and need. And they feel that if they say no, we will use the type of sales pressure that would make time-share salespeople blush! The conversation is entirely different if they encounter someone interested in them who seeks to understand their unique situations. And the perception will be that we are seeking to enhance their future, not jeopardize it. Begin by asking probing open-ended questions so that they talk, and we listen. Be genuinely interested in each and every customer. You cannot fake genuine. And the customer can tell right away the difference between selling and helping. Seek to understand, not to be understood.

As we seek to understand our customer, we are going to discover “you told me earlier” points of reference. In order to use those points, we first have to establish a connection and build a level of trust. Trust is built by a comfortable process and sharing information that can be proven by third-party resources. What is your service department labor rate today compared to five years ago? What have other customers recently paid for repairs? This can motivate customers to protect themselves and lock in the cost of future repairs before they increase. There is ample proof of these facts both online and in your dealership. Customers love and seek insight and information on which they can base their decisions. Give it to them! 

We don’t sell products; we enhance lives—both those around us and those in front of us. We are privileged to participate in this valuable and noble exercise every day.

Rick McCormick is national director of training for Reahard & Associates.