Finance Manager 101: Why Pull a Credit Bureau?
If you’re a Finance Manager in a car dealership, I’m going to give you one little secret that is a key ingredient to your success selling aftermarket products. Hopefully, you're already aware that a key objective in sales is establishing an advisory relationship, and in this video I’m going to show you one great way to do that in the business office.
First, exactly what is an advisory relationship and why is it so important? Well, if you go see a lawyer, or a doctor, or a dentist, for advice, those would be examples of advisory relationships. Where one of the parties is a professional providing the other party professional advice that is in their best interests to take. In the case of a lawyer, for example, that relationship is established when you walk in, by a combination of the plaques on the wall and the two hundred plus an hour you’re likely paying, and that’s for a bad lawyer.
If you work in a car dealership, you have considerably more work to do to establish that advisory relationship. The kind of relationship where the client looks at you as a professional acting in their best interests. The kind of relationship where you recommend a certain product, or package, and the customer is more likely to buy it because they trust your judgement. If you don’t actually take the time to establish that relationship, especially in the business office, then you’re just another salesperson to the customer and your road to a sale is a rough one.
If you don’t actually take the time to establish that relationship, especially in the business office, then you’re just another salesperson to the customer and your road to a sale is a rough one.
I’m going to tell you about an old sales guy I knew back when I was selling used cars at a Ford store a lifetime ago. His name was Tom. Tom was not a closer. Tom was a sixty-five-year-old guy who puttered around the store for decades selling eight to ten cars a month. He could talk your ear off. The young salespeople would literally laugh at this guy. Tom would grab a customer, usually in the service department, or maybe just an early walk in, and he would spend all day with them just talking. Hours and hours and hours. Honestly, you felt sorry for the customer.
But here was the amazing thing about Tom. Every deal he did was a full-price deal. Every one. It was like magic. Like he put those customers into a trance after like a six to ten hour talking marathon. Honestly, at the time I thought it was funny. I’d be like, “There’s Tom, he’s got another one, poor guy should have packed a lunch!” Now, after years in the business, as I reflect on it, Tom was doing what salespeople so often fail to do, establishing an advisory relationship with a client to the point where, if he said this is the right vehicle and this is the price, the customer just signed. Eight to ten full-price deals a month is a pretty good living.
But back to the business office. You’re the finance manager, your path to establishing an advisory relationship is much easier than that of the salesperson. You're at least starting out with a title. But if you’re not careful, you can screw it up pretty quickly by turning into a salesperson and ruining a great opportunity to establish the type of relationship with a client that leads to increased sales. A relationship where the client views you as an expert. The connection between them and the finance institution. The person that is going to protect them, and work in their best interests.
You may want to start with a few of those plaques on the wall…seems to work for those other professionals." In a perfect world, you know your stuff too. You know all about your available warranty options. You know everything you need to know about the group insurance options you offer. You’re an expert. But one sure way to send the message that you’re in finance, and that you have knowledge and authority, is to pull a credit bureau right in front of the client. That’s right, a credit bureau. If you’re providing financing, you’re doing a credit application, and if you’re doing a credit application it should be the kind that gives you the authority to pull a credit bureau, not just the bank. That act alone will do so many things for you.
One sure way to send the message that you’re in finance, and that you have knowledge and authority, is to pull a credit bureau right in front of the client.
First, it will give you a heads up if there are any likely obstacles to getting the approval. Second, it may provide you some insight about the client, how they pay, how they manage credit, that you can leverage… or... refer to, when recommending products, but most of all it sends the clear message to the client that you are in finance. That you are a professional with the authority to pull their credit bureau and see their credit. In many cases, you should take the opportunity to ask the client if they would like you to go over their credit bureau with them, firmly establishing that advisory relationship with the client, so that when you say, this is the right insurance for you, or I would recommend this warranty product, GAP product, whatever, the client sees it as the right thing to do, not as a choice to buy something or not buy something. Most of the products offered in the business office are about protecting credit. How can you intelligently speak about protecting credit, if you haven’t actually looked at the credit?
The message is simply this. Whether you are new to the business office or you’re a seasoned veteran, take the time to reflect on what you are doing in your process to firmly establish that advisory relationship with a client, whether it’s a few plaques on the wall, more time spent qualifying and building trust, or pulling a credit bureau to send the message that you are actually a finance representative, not a salesperson. I guarantee you, the more time you spend focusing on building that relationship, the less time you will have to spend hammering away and discounting the crap out of that extended warranty. Check back and learn more ways to drive your gross in the business office!
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