According to usdictionary.com, “the it factor” refers to a quality or characteristic that makes someone special, attractive, appealing or successful.
Those who have “it” weren’t born with it. No, they have developed the it factor over time. The following are some of the things I have noticed about those who have it in F&I.
They know who their best customer is; the sales team is the best customer of any F&I manager. What they know is that without sales, all F&I managers are severely limited in what they can accomplish, at best, and out of business at worst.
They are never satisfied with the status quo. They never stop learning and want to know where any deficiencies may be in what they do and how they do it. They want to be coached.
They make things happen. They never come to work to wait. They come to work to work and are constantly engaged in activities that generate revenue for the department, the dealer and themselves. They are entrepreneurial in their approach to F&I.
They are disciplined in process. Those that have it go beyond trusting their process. They believe so strongly in their process that they can’t imagine doing it any other way. These individuals know everything about the products they offer. They take time to discover the customer’s needs, and they align the benefits of their products to solve customers’ problems and fulfill those needs. Their process is refined and improved as they grow professionally.
They are naturally consultative because they care about their customers. They keep the customer informed about what they are doing and why. They are experts in communication. They listen to understand the customer. They share knowledge, they invite the customer into the process, give examples and present options. They know the value of being a great opener when it comes to closing. They are transparent in their method.
They understand that time is as much a part of their inventory as the products they offer. Those who have “it” know the difference between important and urgent. They have learned to avoid the “present bias” that exists in F&I. These F&I managers know that the urgent isn’t necessarily important. They have come to understand that what is important supports their goals and their priorities and that in many instances what is urgent usually supports other people’s goals and other people’s priorities. Those F&I managers who have it know that they cannot always sacrifice what is important to them, such as professional growth and development, for the sake of what is urgent to others.
Those who have “it” set goals. They don’t chase a number or a benchmark that has been set for them based on someone else’s agenda. They approach it differently; they set professional goals based on their individual performance data and create a plan to achieve those goals. They track their performance on all opportunities. They incorporate 90-day rolling averages to establish trends. They understand the value of small, sustained increases over time, and they adjust during the month if needed to achieve plan. And finally, they know that the numbers tell the truth about performance and rarely, if ever, lie. They never make excuses.
They rarely complain about those around them. Instead, they teach. In every instance they are one of the best trainers in the dealership. They know how important the fundamentals are to exceptional execution in sales and F&I, and they reinforce and train them at every opportunity. They challenge others to improve, and in doing so make those around them better.
Mistakes are rare with these individuals. They take pride in their work. They don’t have contract-in-transit problems. They protect the dealer and limit his or her risk whenever possible. They touch a deal once. Their situational awareness ensures that seeds of noncompliance never take root. They do the right thing because it is the right thing to do.
Simply put, those who have “it” understand that consistency is the key to performance and success. They never compromise. They also know this is hard to do, and they choose to do it anyway, every time, with every customer in any situation, without exception. As it turns out, it seems having the it factor takes hard work, dedication and discipline. Do you have “it”?
John Tabar serves as executive director of training for Brown & Brown.
