DALLAS — F&I product provider EFG Companies today announced the launch of a new dynamic digital portal designed to boost F&I producer knowledge, reinforce training learnings, and reduce the cost of a poor hiring decision for a dealership.

The EFG Learning Opps Through Virtual Engagement, or LOVE, was developed in response to complaints from dealers and general managers about the short-term impact of sending F&I producers to training. When training isn’t reinforced in the dealership, officials noted, improvements are quickly negated by diminishing returns.

“It’s clear that using multi-sensory learning methods with interactive tools better enables F&I managers to effectively deliver measurable results to a dealership’s bottom line,” said EFG Companies President and CEO John Pappanastos. “That’s why we developed EFG LOVE for our F&I class graduates.”

In addition to fortifying the lessons learned from EFG’s in-classroom training, EFG LOVE equips dealers with information and best practices on how to both sell to, and employ, the soon-to-be largest generation in the workforce with the most buying power — Millennials.

Numerous industry studies have shown that the automotive retail industry faces a recruiting and staffing crisis. The 2017 National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Workforce Study reported that retail automotive suffered from a 43% turnover rate, an 88% attrition rate among female new hires, and a below average rate of Millennial new hires when compared to other industries. Additionally, 65% of dealers state that recruiting and hiring is their No. 1 challenge — greater than customer acquisition or generating revenue.  

Officials note the company has placed hundreds of top performers at automotive dealerships across the country in its more than 40-year history. This has resulted in the deliberate buildout of a core-competency sourcing model to identify the core qualities of top performers. EFG LOVE pairs this top performer profile with industry statistics and trends to better enable dealers to develop high-performing teams.

“EFG LOVE helps shorten the onboarding time for new hires, keeps employees motivated, and accelerates the knowledge growth needed for a successful career,” said Steve Roennau, vice president of training and compliance with EFG Companies. “We created the content to enable the user to self-select actionable lessons in multiple digital formats. The more a producer can easily select materials that help them overcome their daily challenges, the more they will display the successful behaviors that they learned in our training.”