Our dealership has always done really well with regard to Ford customer satisfaction surveys. We train our salespeople regularly on the importance of doing a proper delivery and explanation of the survey and expect them to do it on every single new car sold. In addition, we require them to make a 1 and 2 week follow up call to remind them of the importance of the survey and how it is graded. I know we can never have it done perfectly 100% of the time, but I feel pretty confident that our salesguys do a good job the majority of the time.

     With all that said, we still get customers that, no matter what we do or say, are never pleased and refuse to give us a completely satisfied comment. Which pisses me off! I swear they do it just to spite us. Anyway, I have heard about other dealerships bribing their customers in various ways to give them a perfect survey. Or, they bribe them to bring the unfilled survey into the dealership and then they will fill it out for the customer. We have never tried anything like that. I know we have some room for improvement, so I think it might be worth looking into some different ideas.

     What have you guys tried that has worked? I want to hear about ideas that are a bulletproof way to get a perfect survey. Let me know what you guys recommend....

     Our dealership has always done really well with regard to Ford customer satisfaction surveys. We train our salespeople regularly on the importance of doing a proper delivery and explanation of the survey and expect them to do it on every single new car sold. In addition, we require them to make a 1 and 2 week follow up call to remind them of the importance of the survey and how it is graded. I know we can never have it done perfectly 100% of the time, but I feel pretty confident that our salesguys do a good job the majority of the time.

     With all that said, we still get customers that, no matter what we do or say, are never pleased and refuse to give us a completely satisfied comment. Which pisses me off! I swear they do it just to spite us. Anyway, I have heard about other dealerships bribing their customers in various ways to give them a perfect survey. Or, they bribe them to bring the unfilled survey into the dealership and then they will fill it out for the customer. We have never tried anything like that. I know we have some room for improvement, so I think it might be worth looking into some different ideas.

     What have you guys tried that has worked? I want to hear about ideas that are a bulletproof way to get a perfect survey. Let me know what you guys recommend....

     We are recently having some issues with our newer salespeople getting certified with Ford. We used to not care if our salespeople were certified, but lately we have put a lot more emphasis on it. Even though it has been more of a focus lately, we were one of only a few dealers in our region that missed out on a bonus from Ford because we didn't have 80% or more of our sales floor certified. It is a particularly sore subject because I would have got paid on a % of that money for Ford.

     As a result of missing out on that money from Ford, we have changed our policy on new hire certification to 90 days for base certification and 180 days to be master certified. There is a lot of tests involved to become master certified so I feel like 6 months is plenty of time to get them done. With that said, we are still having lots of our guys complain and request more time to get the tests accomplished. We are now making it mandatory that they meet those deadlines and they aren't that fond of the new policy.

     I'm sure most manufacturers have certification testing similar to what Ford offers. Do most dealers require their sales consultants to get master certified or are we an exception to the rule? Also, do you guys think that 6 months is enough time to get all the testing done? Let me know what you guys think so I can prove a point to our salespeople!

     We are recently having some issues with our newer salespeople getting certified with Ford. We used to not care if our salespeople were certified, but lately we have put a lot more emphasis on it. Even though it has been more of a focus lately, we were one of only a few dealers in our region that missed out on a bonus from Ford because we didn't have 80% or more of our sales floor certified. It is a particularly sore subject because I would have got paid on a % of that money for Ford.

     As a result of missing out on that money from Ford, we have changed our policy on new hire certification to 90 days for base certification and 180 days to be master certified. There is a lot of tests involved to become master certified so I feel like 6 months is plenty of time to get them done. With that said, we are still having lots of our guys complain and request more time to get the tests accomplished. We are now making it mandatory that they meet those deadlines and they aren't that fond of the new policy.

     I'm sure most manufacturers have certification testing similar to what Ford offers. Do most dealers require their sales consultants to get master certified or are we an exception to the rule? Also, do you guys think that 6 months is enough time to get all the testing done? Let me know what you guys think so I can prove a point to our salespeople!

     We are a little bit behind the times with regard to chat leads at our dealership. We have known for a while that chat leads are a very viable source to get more deals, but for some reason we have dragged our feet a little on getting it set up. We are now in the process of getting everything set up.

     We have decided to make it to where our sales guys aren't doing the actual chatting with the customers. Instead, we hired a company that will handle the leads for us 24/7 and try to set appointments for the sales guys. We decided to go that route for 2 reasons. 1- Our sales guys aren't here during nights & weekends. 2- We were worried about some our guys' computer skills and their ability to chat effectively with our customers. The company sounds pretty legit and don't charge too much so we figured it would be a good route to go.

     The reason for my post is I was wondering if most dealers handle chat leads the same way we are going to. Or do most have their sales guys do it? Let me know what you guys recommend based off your past experience.

     We are a little bit behind the times with regard to chat leads at our dealership. We have known for a while that chat leads are a very viable source to get more deals, but for some reason we have dragged our feet a little on getting it set up. We are now in the process of getting everything set up.

     We have decided to make it to where our sales guys aren't doing the actual chatting with the customers. Instead, we hired a company that will handle the leads for us 24/7 and try to set appointments for the sales guys. We decided to go that route for 2 reasons. 1- Our sales guys aren't here during nights & weekends. 2- We were worried about some our guys' computer skills and their ability to chat effectively with our customers. The company sounds pretty legit and don't charge too much so we figured it would be a good route to go.

     The reason for my post is I was wondering if most dealers handle chat leads the same way we are going to. Or do most have their sales guys do it? Let me know what you guys recommend based off your past experience.

     We have been with a company for many years that has offered a program to make our extended service contracts refundable in the event the customer doesn't make a claim against the warranty. It has been a great program for many years and has helped us to sell extended warranties at a pretty high level. Unfortunately, this company has now lost its backing and is closing up shop.

     The reason for my post is two-fold. 1- I want to know if there is any other company out there that offers a product to make service contracts refundable. They need to be a reputable, well-established company in order for us to consider them for the fact that we don't want to deal with this again.  We have done a little bit of research on our end and couldn't really find any company that seemed like a good candidate. 2- I want to know if the majority of the dealerships out there use such a product and offer refundable warranties. We have been selling our warranties that way the entire 9 years I have worked at this store. When I did finance, the main part of my warranty pitch was explaining how great the refundability was and I think it really helped me be successful as a finance manager. I couldn't imagine selling warranties and never being able to make them refundable at the end of the term.

     Let me know what you guys think. We would love to get signed up with a comparable company so we can sell warranties the way we know how. Otherwise, we may have to change our warranty pitch and re-train our finance department. Any input would be great.

     We have been with a company for many years that has offered a program to make our extended service contracts refundable in the event the customer doesn't make a claim against the warranty. It has been a great program for many years and has helped us to sell extended warranties at a pretty high level. Unfortunately, this company has now lost its backing and is closing up shop.

     The reason for my post is two-fold. 1- I want to know if there is any other company out there that offers a product to make service contracts refundable. They need to be a reputable, well-established company in order for us to consider them for the fact that we don't want to deal with this again.  We have done a little bit of research on our end and couldn't really find any company that seemed like a good candidate. 2- I want to know if the majority of the dealerships out there use such a product and offer refundable warranties. We have been selling our warranties that way the entire 9 years I have worked at this store. When I did finance, the main part of my warranty pitch was explaining how great the refundability was and I think it really helped me be successful as a finance manager. I couldn't imagine selling warranties and never being able to make them refundable at the end of the term.

     Let me know what you guys think. We would love to get signed up with a comparable company so we can sell warranties the way we know how. Otherwise, we may have to change our warranty pitch and re-train our finance department. Any input would be great.

     Like everyone knows, the finance department is arguably the most important department of the dealership. Dealerships are relying more and more for strong #'s from their finance department in order to be successful. With that said, the GM has asked me to spend time with our 2 finance managers and evaluate the entire department. I am going to review their #'s over the last 12 months and find areas where we can improve the department both in overall gross and product penetration. I'm happy to spend as much time as is needed with them due to the fact that I get paid on the overall gross generated from the sales department. If they do better, I do better.

     With that said, I know what we expect from them is a very lofty but attainable goal.  The reason I know our goals are attainable is because I was able to do them on a fairly regular basis. I did finance when times were better and banks were easier to deal with. So I'm wondering if it is a totally different game now and if the #'s that we did back in the day are still attainable.

Here's what we expect out of them:

1. Warranty penetration: 55% with $1000 in markup
2. Gap penetration: 30% with $400 in markup
3. Credit life penetration: 12% with approx $150 in markup
4. Chemical penetration: 25% with $200 in markup
5. Etch penetration: 85% with $261 in markup
6. Finance penetration: 75% with approx $350 reserve

In total, the goal is $1500 per car. That is new and used combined.

     I was wondering if those #'s are attainable or if the goals need to be modified due to current market conditions. Are there dealers who's finance guys are still putting up these kind of #'s?? Let me know

     Like everyone knows, the finance department is arguably the most important department of the dealership. Dealerships are relying more and more for strong #'s from their finance department in order to be successful. With that said, the GM has asked me to spend time with our 2 finance managers and evaluate the entire department. I am going to review their #'s over the last 12 months and find areas where we can improve the department both in overall gross and product penetration. I'm happy to spend as much time as is needed with them due to the fact that I get paid on the overall gross generated from the sales department. If they do better, I do better.

     With that said, I know what we expect from them is a very lofty but attainable goal.  The reason I know our goals are attainable is because I was able to do them on a fairly regular basis. I did finance when times were better and banks were easier to deal with. So I'm wondering if it is a totally different game now and if the #'s that we did back in the day are still attainable.

Here's what we expect out of them:

1. Warranty penetration: 55% with $1000 in markup
2. Gap penetration: 30% with $400 in markup
3. Credit life penetration: 12% with approx $150 in markup
4. Chemical penetration: 25% with $200 in markup
5. Etch penetration: 85% with $261 in markup
6. Finance penetration: 75% with approx $350 reserve

In total, the goal is $1500 per car. That is new and used combined.

     I was wondering if those #'s are attainable or if the goals need to be modified due to current market conditions. Are there dealers who's finance guys are still putting up these kind of #'s?? Let me know