Everything we do in the powersports industry centers around riding season. It’s always a great time of year. There’s excitement in the air. Hopefully today’s economic concerns doesn’t diminish that too much. Regardless of what the future holds, downtime is always a good time to do a little house cleaning. Being organized and prepared to work smarter, not harder, is the best thing you can do to ensure riding season is a good one.

In Stephen Covey’s book, “First Things First,” he identifies a category of powerful activities which can catapult your productivity. The “first things” are those that are important, not urgent, but are needed to increase your capacity to be productive. These things include learning, getting organized, streamlining processes, and building mental and physical energy reserves. Here are 17 “things” you can do to prepare your dealership for this riding season.

1. Clean out your desk and your office

A huge amount of time is wasted looking for lost paperwork or much-needed office items. Now is the time to make sure your desk is organized. Think about how you use your office. Can you put your hands on necessary forms quickly and easily? Perhaps they should be sequenced in the order in which you use them? Do you have ready access to brochures and waiver forms? Organize your office logically with how you work.

2. See your office from your customer’s perspective

We often organize our offices based on our own perspective, which leads to serious oversight. Try sitting in the chair where your customer will be seated. What do you see? Does it send a professional message, or is it cluttered with a bunch of “sell” material? Is there a place for customers to put some personal belongings, or perhaps a purchase? Is there ample room for customers to review paperwork or sign documents? Take your customer’s perspective and you’ll easily see what aspects of your office setup you need to change.

3. Do some market research and mystery shop your competition

This couldn’t be a more important step to take with today’s credit crunch. What you need is a spreadsheet or a notebook to create a list of local lending competitors. Then use the Internet and a cell phone to do some research. How much do they require down? What terms do they offer? What is the total amount they will finance? What are their interest rates? Then call (preferably on a phone without caller ID) and inquire about a motorcycle loan. Ask questions and evaluate the level of service. You’ll be much better prepared to demonstrate to customers why financing through you can benefit them.

4. Review literature for product knowledge

In training sessions around the country, we conduct an exercise where we ask participants to read through their vehicle service contracts. For approximately 80 percent of participants, this is the first time they have ever closely read this important information. Use your slower times to carefully read all your product literature. Get familiar with product information, policies and procedures. A little time spent reviewing now can save you a lot of hassle later.

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5. Review your own FICO score

Most financial planning experts recommend that you review your own credit score at least once a year. This will keep you in touch with how your financial actions impact your score, and will reveal any unusual activities that might indicate identity theft.

There are many ways to do this. Perhaps the easiest way is using www.myfico.com. The Website typically offers credit reports at various levels of sophistication, with prices ranging between $9 and $50. Whichever you choose, it’s a great way to become familiar with credit scores, as most of your customers will not have a clue.

Don’t want to spend the money? Go to www.bankrate.com for a FICO score estimator. After answering a series of questions, it will give you a point score estimate. (This author found it to be within 10 points of his actual score.)

6. Create contingency plans for busy or unpredictable times

You know you are going to be busy. You know things are going to go wrong. A salesperson calls in sick, a form refuses to print, or a customer doesn’t show up on time. If you anticipate those things will happen, how do you plan to respond? You will never be fully prepared for every situation, but you can prepare for most. Create a procedure checklist, train backup people and learn how to do things manually. As the saying goes, “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst!”

7. Review pertinent Websites

The Web has changed everything. Information is now at most people’s fingertips. Use your downtime to become familiar with important Websites that can increase your knowledge of relevant financial and insurance information. Sites such as www.bankrate.com can be a great source for competitive lending information, and credible financial and insurance information. It also offers terrific calculators.

8. Create an evidence binder

Have you ever worked with a customer who seemed skeptical of your product benefits? Or have you had one who was misinformed by a knowledgeable friend or family member? The best way to help these customers is by using an evidence binder.

Get a three-ring binder and clear plastic slip sheets from any office supply store. Then get some tabs and categorize each section by product (vehicle service contract, GAP, life and health, etc.). Scour the Internet for credible sources with articles that support your product claims. Print them out, highlight key phrases, and then place them in the appropriate tabs in the clear slip sheets. Go to your service manager and identify those customers who have been helped by a VSC or a tire-and-wheel product. Print out the repair orders, black out the customer information and include them in your binder. Then, and this is the ultimate piece, contact customers who may have benefited from any of the products your dealership sells, and ask them to send you a letter describing their satisfaction so you can share it with other customers.

Now, the next time you have a customer who seems hesitant, you can say, “Other customers were also hesitant at first, but here are some who were glad they purchased the program.” Then show the customer your evidence binder.

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9. Program your forms

When you are pressed for time, everything becomes more stressful. Now is the time to program any forms not entered into the dealer management system (DMS). Be sure the tables and calculations are programmed correctly in these forms. You don’t have any impact on when new forms are issued, but you can make sure that what you have works.

10. Host a new-customer orientation night

Successful dealerships have started to host new-customer orientation nights. You can invite that month’s new customers to an evening dedicated to them. This is an opportunity for you to tell them how to get the most out of the dealership experience, and show them how you can help them.

11. Develop a pre-paid maintenance program

Have your dealer principal talk to your accountant about how to set aside funds, create and administer an in-house pre-paid maintenance program. Customers like the pre-paid maintenance program because it makes life easier. Dealers like it because it captures the business. You will like it because it is another thing you can offer in the business office.

12. Take inventory of all sales supplies

It’s never a good time to run out of forms, but to run out of GAP certificates during a busy Saturday is really bad. Don’t let this happen to you. Review all your supplies and make sure you have enough.

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13. Take down sell stuff

While placing F&I marketing messages outside the business office is great, there are some experts who suggest “sell” messages in the business office are not the way to go. This advice seems counterintuitive, but it’s worth considering. Your office should appear neat, clean and professional. Too many “sell” messages in your office can negatively impact a customer’s impression of the F&I process.

14. Develop a gift card program

Much like the pre-paid maintenance program, you can create a gift card or gift certificate. Sometimes your customers can’t stop by the parts and accessories or clothing departments prior to picking up their motorcycle. So create several gift card “packages” which allow customers to put a certain dollar amount into their financing deal. Then customers can shop when they want, and put their purchases into one affordable monthly payment.

15. Conduct F&I seminars for your employees

Everyone in your store should understand the benefits of your F&I department, as well as the products and services it offers. Pick one product or service every couple of weeks and give a 15- to 20-minute “mini-seminar” at your staff meetings. Employees will feel more “in” on things and will be able to cross sell the benefits of your F&I department.

16. Create, implement and improve your menu-selling program

If you are not using menu selling now, you are missing the best customer service and sales opportunity available to you. Menu selling puts everything in front of the customer so they can make an informed decision. If you’re already menu selling, come up with new package names, add new products, or try a new menu configuration. Perhaps you can add to it, or modify your current menu-selling presentation. You can always make it a little better.

17. Create a kids’ area in your dealership

You should have a kids’ area in your dealership so they have fun and enjoy the trip to the dealership. Follow that plan in your F&I office. Have a couple of coloring books or a few stuffed creatures to give kids something to play with while their parents concentrate on your important products and services.

Select a few of these of these powerful, high-leverage ideas and implement them in your dealership. Then save this article so you can refer back to it and continue checking things off your list. It’s counterintuitive, but sometimes you have to slow down, get organized and streamline processes in order to get revved up!

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