The podcast episode can be found here: Activating Your F&I and BDC to Improve Dealership Performance

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In this episode of the KPI Cafe, Laurie Foster of Foster Strategies Group challenges the status quo to dealerships' sales process. With compressed margins, increased competition from new players like Carvana, and the fluctuating circumstances of the economy, it's more important than ever that your process gives you more at-bats with every opportunity. 

Part of that means activating your finance managers earlier in the process because you know that in-market car shoppers have questions regarding financing and leasing; part of that means thinking about your Business Development Center as more than a call center. 

Laurie also gives insights about how to get buy-in from your team with these fundamental questions, as well as some tips about compensation for the new duties assigned. In the end, it's all about alignment.
 

3:22 Laurie’s Automotive Origin Story

• Furniture Sales

• Projected Growth Path in Automotive

• Possibilities

4:45 Foster Strategies Group

• Leadership

• Serving Others

• Maximize Management
•  
• Potential

• Vendor Partnerships

6:37 Context for the Episode

• Inventory

• Margin Compression 
• Issues

7:03 Activating Your F&I

• Role Redefinition and Clarification

• Current Process and Its Issues

• A Fresh Approach

16:40 Good Customer Experience. Better Results

• Customer Intent

• Friction
• Dollars and “Sense”

• PVR

• Less Time

• Product Penetration and Revenue Projections

21:18 Getting Buy-In

• Know Your Audience

• Measurement

24:00 Training for Comfortability

• Roleplay

• Priming the Customer

25:26 Managing Other Staff Concerns

• Getting the Help Wanted

• Greater Communication

27:53 What Does the Whole Process Look Like

• Forward Momentum

• BDC Statistics

29:40 Optimal BDC

• Break It Down

• Current Role / Responsibility

31:41 Alignment on Shifts in Roles

• Top-Through
• Cohesion

• Tap the Brakes

33:51 Perception vs. Reality

35:43 Customer-Centric. Dealer-Centric.

• Good Experience Across Touchpoints

• Dealership Customer

37:17 Better Together

• More Opportunities
• Market Statistics
• The Right Principles

38:45 Breaking Down the Silos

• Value and Elevation

• Business. Development. Center.

• Football Analogy

44:06 The Hiring Process

• Change Our Words

46:01 What’s Coming Up with Laurie