Perfecting the sales-F&I handoff

In football and in car sales, the handoff is a foundational play that looks uncomplicated but is fraught with potential disaster if someone drops the ball.

In the case of an auto dealership, the handoff happens between a sales associate and the F&I manager, and fumbles usually mean angry customers and lost sales.

But DCH Millburn Audi in Maplewood, N.J., has spent the last several years perfecting the handoff, and the result has been not only a better sales process for the customer, but also added revenue for the store.

After much experimentation, General Manager Al Khouri says, the dealership has found that the key to a smooth transition is an early meet-and-greet away from the F&I manager's home turf.

Or put another way: a visit to the salesperson's desk — right after the purchase agreement is signed. F&I managers introduce themselves and talk to customers before offering them any products, and then leave to await customers' official arrival in F&I.

Khouri said the store, owned by Lithia Motors, sold 1,290 new and 800 used cars in 2017, using the early handoff process developed in-house about four years ago. The result was an average F&I profit gain of $300 per vehicle.

Khouri said that the dealership began experimenting with its handoff process after noticing some issues repeatedly arising when salespeople delivered their customer to F&I and moved on.

"We were finding some kind of disconnect when the customer comes back and goes to F&I," Khouri said. "The customer would say, 'The salesperson said this or the salesperson said that.' Or that they didn't know about some product or aspect of the vehicle."

Customers were also talking to a relative stranger at that point, Khouri said, because after they'd been delivered to F&I, their trusted salesperson was busy trying to get the vehicle ready to deliver or interacting with other clients.

DCH Audi Millburn has three F&I managers, including Shonta Belfield, who says that the early 10-minute meet-and-greet helps her establish a relationship with the customer and develop a more customized list of products.

"It's an interview, but it's really more of a conversation," said Belfield, who has worked at the dealership for about three and a half years. She said she mostly asks about a customer's plans for the vehicle: how long they expect to own it, how many miles they drive per year, and if they use it for work, pleasure or both.

Belfield said she returns to her office and prepares customized products that might be of interest — and skips pitching those that wouldn't be of much use.

One example: extended service agreements, one of the dealership's biggest sellers. "You don't want to offer a five year plan if they're going to only hold the car for two years," Belfield said. "We want to make sure that everything that's offered to them fits their needs."

And, Belfield said, with the introductions out of the way and information already gathered from the earlier interview, the F&I process goes more smoothly.

"It really builds a rapport," Belfield said, "because the customer isn't put on the spot. It's easier for the customer to buy something that they can see the value in because it's been personalized. And it increases how much we sell because it's a personalized benefit."