40 Under 40

Jennifer Parsons delivers efficiency.

Parsons took an already streamlined finance and insurance structure at Walser Automotive Group to new heights of deal speed and volume.

During her first six years in the business, she worked her way up from a finance manager to oversee F&I operations at Morrie's Automotive Group in Minnetonka, Minn., before leaving in 2019 to oversee F&I for Walser.

Parsons joined the auto retail industry in 2013 in the midst of working on an MBA at Hamline University and feeling unchallenged in her job. Her educational path before the MBA also was efficient — she skipped fourth grade and, thanks to taking college courses in high school, received her bachelor's degree from St. Cloud State University at age 19.

Parsons saw the job as a Morrie's finance manager as "very much a stepping stone," and assumed she'd end up in the banking sector long term.

"And then, I got into it and I just loved it," she said of auto retail.

Parsons was hired at Walser as group finance director and began to overhaul the central finance system used by the Edina, Minn., group, which has 26 new-vehicle locations today. The group features a hybrid setup where sales staff sell both the car and the F&I products. However, it delegates assembling the customer's loan and crafting the F&I menu to a single central finance department.

Parsons switched conversations between central finance and store sales staff from phone calls to written messages sent over Microsoft Teams.

"We're not on the phone 24 hours a day, which is how it was when I got here," she said.

While only one person can take a phone call, six people can view a written question simultaneously, Parsons said.

Walser already had a on vehicle prices, but Parsons extended that philosophy to interest rates with the "Walser One Rate" program.

"That created a significant amount of efficiency," Parsons said.

It eliminated the back-and-forth of sales staff trying to obtain a lower rate from the finance center, she said.

It hasn't cost Walser indirect financing business, Parsons said. In fact, the group has found itself bucking the trend of more customers obtaining financing elsewhere than at the dealership, she said.

Parsons also slashed Walser's network of primary lenders to just three institutions receiving at least 90 percent of its business. Such narrow targeting ensures each partner has enough volume to keep it happy, assures Walser they'll receive competitive interest rates and earns the group the right to call a dedicated team with inquiries rather than wait in a general dealer call queue.

"I have been really blessed to have been able to come over here and make an impact on this company since I started," Parsons said.

— John Huetter