Business managers ‘can help with awkward sales’

John Hughes,  Mann Island Finance director

Brokers and other intermediaries playing a key role in many showroom F&I operations need to be tuned in with its team structure. Most people in the development team at Mann Island Finance have been business managers, said director John Hughes.

“Business managers provide a valuable service in increasing F&I penetration and in helping to create vehicle sales, which is often overlooked,” he said. “With a total focus on F&I, including GAP and extended warranties, customers benefit from their specialist skills and knowledge.”

Hughes said business managers used brokers to help them source finance for the 20% of sales that were not straightforward. The real benefit to a dealer, though, was incremental vehicle sales.

“The same level of support is available to a non-BM dealer, but dealers can pass on awkward opportunities because of time commitments required,” he said. “Business managers are more likely to engage with technology and can confidently match a customer’s credit position and budget to the dealer’s stock listing. The outcome is a car sale when one might all too easily have been lost.”

Hughes said dealers should establish a break-even point to include the wider value of a business manager. To be successful they had to be able to generate profit from add-on products and help to close car sales dependent on the availability of finance.

“A business manager should be developing point-of-sale and digital marketing of F&I as a sales aid and promotional tool, and help to minimise stocking costs linked to finance sales,” he said. “Other roles for BMs are enhancing customers’ experience and possibly CSI bonuses, and using F&I to aid customer retention through lifetime engagement with PCP customers.”

Hughes said customers were better informed than ever, and more interested in managing their finances, but still appeared to value advice from an expert in a showroom.

♦ The 2014 AM Awards will introduce a new category – Business Manager of the Year. The award will acknowledge the importance of the role in the successful and profitable running of a dealership. For detailed category information and how to enter, visit www.am-awards.co.uk