I did a post last week on "not missing customers" and we are still deliberating what is going to work best for our store. I have always worked at this dealership the entire time I have been in the car business and we have always had an open floor policy. It has always seemed to work in the past, but now we are having some serious coverage issues as I talked about last week.

     I would like everyone's opinion on a closed floor vs. an open floor. I have only been exposed to an open floor and have formed my own opinions as a result. The problem I am facing is I feel like I need to make some changes but I am not convinced that a closed floor is our best bet. I'm sure their are pros and cons to both approaches. I would love some feedback from anyone out there that has worked under both systems so I can make a more informed decision

     I did a post last week on "not missing customers" and we are still deliberating what is going to work best for our store. I have always worked at this dealership the entire time I have been in the car business and we have always had an open floor policy. It has always seemed to work in the past, but now we are having some serious coverage issues as I talked about last week.

     I would like everyone's opinion on a closed floor vs. an open floor. I have only been exposed to an open floor and have formed my own opinions as a result. The problem I am facing is I feel like I need to make some changes but I am not convinced that a closed floor is our best bet. I'm sure their are pros and cons to both approaches. I would love some feedback from anyone out there that has worked under both systems so I can make a more informed decision

     We have had an ongoing battle with our sales guys to make sure the lot and the phone station (where they get sales calls and internet leads) are being watched at all times. The obvious reason for that is to make sure that we aren't missing any customers that drive through the lot. We switched to a new facility about 4 years ago and our lot/phone station coverage has been a constant issue. The old facility was set up to where you could easily see the entire lot from the showroom, so there was never an issue with customers going unnoticed.

     We have tried to institute a schedule for both the phone station and the "spotter station" to make sure we have a guy in both places at all times. Needless to say, it has been like pulling teeth to manage that schedule. We currently don't adhere to the schedule at all and rely on our guys actually doing there jobs and rely on us babysitting them.

     I'm thinking there has to be a better way to approach this issue, but can't really think of anything else outside of the worthless schedule that we have. I'm too busy to be babysitting everyone so any suggestions would be more than welcome. Maybe we need to build another facility that has a better view of the lot!!!

     We have had an ongoing battle with our sales guys to make sure the lot and the phone station (where they get sales calls and internet leads) are being watched at all times. The obvious reason for that is to make sure that we aren't missing any customers that drive through the lot. We switched to a new facility about 4 years ago and our lot/phone station coverage has been a constant issue. The old facility was set up to where you could easily see the entire lot from the showroom, so there was never an issue with customers going unnoticed.

     We have tried to institute a schedule for both the phone station and the "spotter station" to make sure we have a guy in both places at all times. Needless to say, it has been like pulling teeth to manage that schedule. We currently don't adhere to the schedule at all and rely on our guys actually doing there jobs and rely on us babysitting them.

     I'm thinking there has to be a better way to approach this issue, but can't really think of anything else outside of the worthless schedule that we have. I'm too busy to be babysitting everyone so any suggestions would be more than welcome. Maybe we need to build another facility that has a better view of the lot!!!

I wanted to do a follow-up post about the 'funding deals' post that I did last week. I really appreciate all the comments that were made. It didn't take long to figure out that our store is ridiculous when it comes to how many days we allow to fund our deals. I have been thinking a lot about the comments that were made and about ways to tighten up our process. There was a few issues that I wanted to bring up about the topic.

1- Do your finance guys do all the work when it comes to funding? Are they in charge of capping the deals, getting the deals upstairs to be sent out, checking any funding delays with both banks and credit unions, and fixing any problems in order to get the deal funded? I want to make sure our guys have the same amount of responsibility. All that stuff that I just mentioned is pretty time consuming when it is added to doing deals full time. About that.... How many deals a month are your finance managers doing? I think part of the reason we take so long to fund a deal is because they are busy to the point where funding gets put on the back burner sometimes.

2- What is your policy on "one-pays"? Our definition of a one-pay is when a customer buys a car and we do the minimal amount of paperwork. The finance guy then sets an apt for the customer to come back in to the store to finish paperwork. The reasons we do one-pays are the following: We need to work the banks or get an approval, we need to get a payoff, we need to get a trade-in here and finish an appraisal, we need to collect stips for the bank, or the customer is short on time and would prefer to come back later. Anyway, we do a lot of one-pays and I feel like it slows our guys up considerably. Do you guys do one-pays at all? What are ways to avoid having to do a one-pay?

3- I'm interested in this save-a-deal meeting that you guys recommended and wanted more information on it. Who generally conducts the meeting and who attends the meeting? Also, what are the topics covered during the meeting?

I wanted to do a follow-up post about the 'funding deals' post that I did last week. I really appreciate all the comments that were made. It didn't take long to figure out that our store is ridiculous when it comes to how many days we allow to fund our deals. I have been thinking a lot about the comments that were made and about ways to tighten up our process. There was a few issues that I wanted to bring up about the topic.

1- Do your finance guys do all the work when it comes to funding? Are they in charge of capping the deals, getting the deals upstairs to be sent out, checking any funding delays with both banks and credit unions, and fixing any problems in order to get the deal funded? I want to make sure our guys have the same amount of responsibility. All that stuff that I just mentioned is pretty time consuming when it is added to doing deals full time. About that.... How many deals a month are your finance managers doing? I think part of the reason we take so long to fund a deal is because they are busy to the point where funding gets put on the back burner sometimes.

2- What is your policy on "one-pays"? Our definition of a one-pay is when a customer buys a car and we do the minimal amount of paperwork. The finance guy then sets an apt for the customer to come back in to the store to finish paperwork. The reasons we do one-pays are the following: We need to work the banks or get an approval, we need to get a payoff, we need to get a trade-in here and finish an appraisal, we need to collect stips for the bank, or the customer is short on time and would prefer to come back later. Anyway, we do a lot of one-pays and I feel like it slows our guys up considerably. Do you guys do one-pays at all? What are ways to avoid having to do a one-pay?

3- I'm interested in this save-a-deal meeting that you guys recommended and wanted more information on it. Who generally conducts the meeting and who attends the meeting? Also, what are the topics covered during the meeting?

    We have been putting a huge emphasis on funding lately. We have had some changes in our F&I department recently and it has led to some big time funding issues. I think we have always done a good job getting our deals funded quickly, but I have nothing to compare it to. I actually think that we don't give ourselves enough time to get our deals funded compared to most dealerships.

    Our rule is that every deal needs to be funded in 14 days or less, otherwise the finance managers get penalized. The 14 days start at the actual date of purchase, not when the customer comes back in to finish up all the paperwork. There are tons of reasons as to why deals go past 14 days. The most common ones for us are: It takes a week to get the customer back to finish paperwork, the finance manager takes several days to cap the deal and get it upstairs, the accounting department takes too long to send the deal to the bank, and the bank issues a funding delay that takes a while to get resolved.

    Every finance guy that has ever worked here has attempted to get the owner to change that policy and allow them more time to get the deal funded. Needless to say, the owner hasn't budged. I think it is an attainable goal, but everyone needs to be on their A game all the time. I was just wondering if other stores out there have similar policies or if we really don't allow enough time. Do you guys give your finance department 14 days? 21 days? What is par for the course inside of the business? Let me know your thoughts.

    We have been putting a huge emphasis on funding lately. We have had some changes in our F&I department recently and it has led to some big time funding issues. I think we have always done a good job getting our deals funded quickly, but I have nothing to compare it to. I actually think that we don't give ourselves enough time to get our deals funded compared to most dealerships.

    Our rule is that every deal needs to be funded in 14 days or less, otherwise the finance managers get penalized. The 14 days start at the actual date of purchase, not when the customer comes back in to finish up all the paperwork. There are tons of reasons as to why deals go past 14 days. The most common ones for us are: It takes a week to get the customer back to finish paperwork, the finance manager takes several days to cap the deal and get it upstairs, the accounting department takes too long to send the deal to the bank, and the bank issues a funding delay that takes a while to get resolved.

    Every finance guy that has ever worked here has attempted to get the owner to change that policy and allow them more time to get the deal funded. Needless to say, the owner hasn't budged. I think it is an attainable goal, but everyone needs to be on their A game all the time. I was just wondering if other stores out there have similar policies or if we really don't allow enough time. Do you guys give your finance department 14 days? 21 days? What is par for the course inside of the business? Let me know your thoughts.

     We are currently with Dealer Specialties. They are the company we use that takes all the photos of our new and used cars. They also have an inventory management system to help us track which vehicles are advertised correctly with photos, trim, equipment and comments. We have been satisfied with the quality of our representative's work but have become increasingly unsatisfied with Dealer Specialties' management tool. There always seems to be problems with their website and they always have excuses as to why I have cars that have been on the lot for several weeks and still don't have any photos. Needless to say, we are getting very frustrated and are looking to make a change.

     I have been approached by Platinum Dealer Services and Dealer Net Solutions in the last few months and am starting to look into both of those companies as a potential replacement. Both seem like really good companies so far, but I don't know a ton about them. Platinum uses Alltech (or something like that) for the back end tool and Dealer Net uses Aeros. I'm betting both back end tools are better than what we are currently using, but I'm not sure which will be the best route. I have also heard that Vauto offers a back end tool to existing members. Again, I'm not sure how good that system will be.

     I just thought I would throw this post out there to see if any of you guys use any of the 3 companies that I am looking into. Let me know all pros & cons if at all possible. We need to make a change sooner rather than later and your input would help make me decision a lot easier. Thanks

     We are currently with Dealer Specialties. They are the company we use that takes all the photos of our new and used cars. They also have an inventory management system to help us track which vehicles are advertised correctly with photos, trim, equipment and comments. We have been satisfied with the quality of our representative's work but have become increasingly unsatisfied with Dealer Specialties' management tool. There always seems to be problems with their website and they always have excuses as to why I have cars that have been on the lot for several weeks and still don't have any photos. Needless to say, we are getting very frustrated and are looking to make a change.

     I have been approached by Platinum Dealer Services and Dealer Net Solutions in the last few months and am starting to look into both of those companies as a potential replacement. Both seem like really good companies so far, but I don't know a ton about them. Platinum uses Alltech (or something like that) for the back end tool and Dealer Net uses Aeros. I'm betting both back end tools are better than what we are currently using, but I'm not sure which will be the best route. I have also heard that Vauto offers a back end tool to existing members. Again, I'm not sure how good that system will be.

     I just thought I would throw this post out there to see if any of you guys use any of the 3 companies that I am looking into. Let me know all pros & cons if at all possible. We need to make a change sooner rather than later and your input would help make me decision a lot easier. Thanks