ANN ARBOR, Mich. — AIS Rebates, a provider of OEM incentive management tools for U.S. automotive dealerships, has introduced a product for the new-vehicle sales floor: customizable incentive reference sheets. Finally, dealers can leverage the true horsepower of incentive/rebate programs that OEMs provide to boost vehicle sales.

According to Troy Ontko, president and founder of AIS Rebates, “Until now, dealers had to choose between providing too much incentive information to their sales staff or none at all.”

“If a dealer provides too much incentive information to their sales staff, they run the risk of salespeople selling programs instead of cars or even worse, giving up too much information (profit) too soon in the sales process,” according to Ontko. For example, OEMs offer dealer cash programs, which can be used at the dealers’ discretion — perhaps to offset a negative equity situation. If these programs are given away before the deal is completely negotiated, you loose the ability to use the extra funds toward the trade.

Not providing any incentive information to front-line sales staff can hurt sales as well, Ontko believes. Salespeople need to have enough information to assist customers up to the point of selecting a vehicle, and should be able to discuss sticker prices minus rebates. In today’s auto sales environment, sticker prices alone do not designate the price difference between two models: rebates are an important part of the equation. A salesperson needs this information to have credibility with the customer. If a salesperson lacks credibility, there may never be a demo drive, let alone a closing situation.

With customizable incentive reference sheets, individual dealerships can determine what information to use at each step in the sales process. Different reports can be made for salespeople, sales managers, F&I managers and even the accounting office. Additional reports may be desired for fleet and internet managers. Up to six different reports can be sent to each dealership. The appropriate reports are generated and sent to the specific individuals within the dealership via email with every program change.

A significant aspect of this new capability is to modify what information is listed on each report. Dealers may choose to modify factory program information such as lease rates and APRs to attain internal profit objectives.

Customized incentive reference sheets will be marketed to all U.S. new-car dealerships. The first phase will commence Nov. 6, 2007, with the tag line:

The Right Information In the Right Hands At the Right time

Interested dealers may call 734-332-1970 or visit www.aisrebates.com.