If you asked most dealers how to make a motorcycle faster, they’d say, “It’s easy! You can add a performance exhaust, air cleaner, jet kit, hot rod download, performance cams, bore the cylinders, use lighter pistons …” Ask a business manager how to speed up his or her process and your questions will probably be met with a blank stare.

Most F&I managers couldn’t tell you how to speed up the process because they’ve never been asked that question before. That’s why I’d like to introduce you to a new term: AccSELLerate.

AccSELLerate is a verb that can be applied three different ways: (1) To increase the speed of sales, (2) to cause a sales close to occur sooner than expected, or (3) to develop or progress your sales or sales skills more quickly.

Now remember, a verb denotes action. This is an important distinction because many salespeople think a sale is something that happens to them. They won’t admit it, but you can hear it in how they describe their process.

I attended a retailing symposium at which an executive from Target made a terrific point: “Retailing is pretty simple. It has two basic components. There’s the shopping experience and the checkout experience. The former you want to make as long as possible; the latter, as short as possible.”

No disrespect to the profession, but F&I is definitely the “checkout” portion of the vehicle-purchase process. That means we need to make it as efficient — and effective — as possible.

I spend time with literally hundreds of dealership each year. One of the most common complaints they have about F&I is how long it takes to complete the process. For some stores, it takes two or three hours. Unless you run into some really complicated situations and stipulations, it really should take only about 25 or 30 minutes. With that in mind, let’s look at 13 ways to help you shift your F&I interactions into high gear.

1. Establish Duties

In stores large enough for two distinct departments — sales and F&I — the salesperson should sell the bike. The F&I person should sell the financing of the unit and the back-end protection. For smaller stores where the salesperson does it all, you can still create a delineation between these processes (i.e., sell the bike first, then the financing).

When sales and F&I are intermingled, the sales process gets bogged down. For example, a salesperson who tries to sell an extended service plan while on the showroom floor isn’t helping to speed things along. As a matter of fact, the salesperson might be slowing things, especially if he or she gives the customer incorrect information or faces an objection he or she can’t handle; thereby, creating a preconceived notion of the coverage or your dealership’s approach.

Rather, the salesperson should surface the need. This can be achieved by simply telling the customer: “Do you have the service plan on your trade? Our dealership looks favorable upon trades that do.” Once you do that, you can move back to what’s important — selling the motorcycle!

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When a business manager has to change a perception created on the showroom floor, the sales process is slowed immensely. There are dozens of salesperson tasks which happen during a sale that impact the F&I process. Here are a few:

• Surface service contract need

• Surface maintenance plan need

• Proper response to rate questions

• Proper response to payment questions

• Listen for interesting personal interests or plan (i.e., dreams of riding to Sturgis) which might be useful.

• Close the bike sale; when it goes to the business office you don’t want to be picking colors or haggling over trade values.

• Discover method of payment. (If needed, your business manager can convert a customer to dealership financing, because a good business manager will have the skills to do so.

You’ll also notice credit applications are missing from this list. Why? The credit application sells the financing. Who sells the financing? Your business manager!

For those of you asking, “But what do we do during the busy times? Our business manager can’t handle the volume, and we can’t be waiting around!”

Well, first of all, you have to look at staffing. You should probably have one full-time business manager for every 450 to 500 units you sell per year. I even know of a few stores selling more than 1,200 units a year with one business manager. If this ratio gets too far out of alignment, your business manager will obviously be overwhelmed.

Second, you can and should have a backup person who can handle the early phases of the finance and insurance office (an available salesperson, sales manager or talented office staff member).

A third option is to consider having salespeople fill out credit applications for customers who plan to use dealership financing, which requires no conversion skills.

Keep in mind that sales staff members have enough to do in terms of selling a unit. They shouldn’t be bogged down with back-end stuff. Plus, you can work faster if they don’t.

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2. Have a Pre-Turnover Talk

A pre-turnover is an offline (sans customer) conversation between the salesperson and the business manager, where the salesperson can alert the business manager as to both positives and negatives of the deal. Having advance notice can dramatically help speed up the process. Plus, surprises never help.

3. Use the Name-Frame-Same Model

When it comes time for the actual turnover, it’s important for your salesperson to have a useful model to make this as effective as possible. The approach I use is called the Name-Frame-Same model.

• Name: Exchange names between the customer and business manager as you would in any polite social situation.

• Frame: This refers to properly framing the reason for the introduction. For instance, a salesperson can say: “Mark’s the person who will help you with your titling and tag information.” Just make sure to stay away from lines such as: “Mark’s got some terrific credit life insurance for you.”

• Same: Share with the customer and the business manager something they have in common. This leverages the principle of liking; we do business with those who like us and are like us.

Use the Name-Frame-Same model and you’ll notice a dramatic increase in the speed with which you establish rapport and credibility with your customers. This method is fast, effective and really handles the actual verbal turnover well.

4. Use Effective Introductions

After a comment or two about whatever it is you have in common with the customer, cut to the chase. Customers only wants to know who you are, what you’re going to do for them, and how long it will take. Anything else is just nuts. I once watched a business manager go on and on about how exciting it was when he picked up his first bike. News flash: Customers don’t necessarily want to hear your stories. Stay focused on their purchase.

5. Lose the Annoying Questions

The single most annoying question you can ask a customer is, “What bike did you get?” Have you ever counted how many times they had to repeat their answer? Heck, if a customer just spent a bunch of money with you, should you know what he or she bought.

You should also stay away from other non-related questions. You may eventually get the chance to have conversations about golf or fishing with your customers, but now is the time to close the deal.

6. Limit Need-Surfacing Questions

Some need-surfacing questions are good, but there’s a limit. You don’t need to explore every facet of a customer’s breakdown history to know what you’re going to emphasize when it comes your product presentation. So stay away from a line of questioning such as: Have you ever had a breakdown?” What happened? Were you far from home? How did you feel? How did you pay for it?” I know the rationale — you want to fully explore the customer’s experience and learn exactly how you can match your offerings to their needs. That’s all valid, but the truth is, all they really want to do at that point is split.

You don’t need a 25-minute conversation to figure out how you’re going to present your service contract. Remember, this is the checkout experience, so you want to move quickly. One or two questions will do just fine.

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7. Have an Economy of Words

Record your presentation, your conversions and your objection responses on a digital voice recorder, and then listen to them carefully. Can you say more with less? Most of us can.

8. Use the Deal Worksheet to Avoid Mistakes

Don’t run all your contracts through that Oki Data 321 Turbo Dot Matrix printer only to find out you got something wrong. Use your deal worksheet to make sure you’ve got the customer’s surnames and address information correct. Ask the customer if the information is correct and if this is exactly how he or she would like to have the motorcycle titled and tagged. Figure all that out before you run the paper.

9. Pre-Load Your Credit Applications

Pre-load the basic customer information into either your online or hard copy credit application. The customer’s name, address, co-buyer information and asset information can be entered onto the application while the customer is talking with others. Customers would rather have a frontal lobotomy than watch you hunt and peck their information into the computer.

10. Handle Cycle Insurance Earlier

Many dealers wait too long in the process to arrange for their customer’s cycle insurance. One F&I professional described this as having a great meal and then waiting 45 minutes to get the check. Most of us would be better served if we handled the cycle insurance earlier in the process.

11. Go Big First

Many dealers are menu selling, and it’s a great method — good for the customer, the dealership, and the business manager. Unfortunately, many business managers do two things which dramatically slow down the process and its effectiveness.

• Start with the smallest package first: This often requires repeated explanations of products, which can create information overload for the customer. Start with your largest package first, then use a trial close. You can always retreat with an offer for the next smallest package if the customer says no. This approach also leverages a psychological principal called concessional reciprocity, and reduces redundancies.

• Try to close every single product: Now the customer must make several decisions instead of just one.

12. Office Cam Up

Just as making a motorcycle go faster often requires swapping out some parts in the engine, your business office might require some retooling to speed up the F&I process. Consider replacing myriad equipment with a four-in-one printer/fax/copier/scanner. Why? Because once the customer is in your office, neither of you should have to leave until the deal is done. Other items to consider include a credit card machine, a small refrigerator with bottled water, and coloring books and crayons for the kids.

13. Use the Right Tools

I once knew a business manager who used the “99.9-percent-perfect” close to answer service contract objections. It’s a common technique involving a pen-and-paper review of costs. It works, but if you’re really trying to speed up your F&I exchanges, consider having multiple levels of responses to objections. Level one could be a quick verbal reply. The second level might be a paper-and-pen example. Level three might be a review of your evidence binder. The fourth level might be actually speaking to a satisfied customer. As you can see, each level requires more time and is more persuasive. So use as appropriate and you’ll speed along more conversations.

Now more than ever, we need to stand back and take a look at the role of F&I in the powersports business. If you do, chances are you will find many opportunities to AccSELLerate the speed with which you work through F&I transactions. Your customers will be glad you did.

Mark Rodgers is an award-winning author, trainer and founder of Peak Dealership Performance. He can be reached at mark.rodgers@bobit.com.