Our guest today on the CBT Automotive Network has enhanced and transformed his dealership group’s finance and insurance department, but shining the spotlight where more focus was needed. Dan Mason, corporate platform finance director at Brandon Steven Motors, shares how updating all training methods and techniques can really make a positive impact at your dealership.
Mason believes inconsistent training for his F&I department. Whether that comes in the form of a daily meeting between peers on their dealership floor, scheduled weekly meetings, or monthly group finance meetings that discover new topics each time, Mason ensures that all thirty-six of his department managers are always partaking in self-development and skill enhancement.
A part of the reason Mason holds training meetings this frequently is because there is always something new to learn. Between rules and regulations, laws and compliance being up to date on ever-changing components will only strengthen your team and enhance your customers’ experience.
Transparency has been a focus for Mason and his team at Brandon Steven Motors. Some can even argue that infusing transparency into the finance and insurance department is the most crucial. So when Jim Fitzpatrick asked Mason how focusing on transparency has helped the team and dealership grow by 300 dollars a copy, his response was simple, “there is one way to do business and that’s the right way”. He continues, “You don’t have to lie, cheat, and steal to either your customers or your lenders in order to do good business and profitable business”.
The group has found phenomenal success with transparency by doing something very simple; full disclosure of everything. The finance director explains how a dealership does not need to hide anything if you are doing the process right and are building the value in your products.
That very practice has worked-out spectacularly for the group as F&I profit per vehicle has increased by $300 to more than $1,400 on average and decrease chargebacks by 50 percent in less than six months.
