Hiring and Training an F&I Assistant
Where to recruit an F&I assistant
* Try looking for F&I assistant candidates at credit unions, where loan officers typically approve small salaries and larger commission opportunities for their assistants.
* Call on college students, who typically need money and are usually well organized. You will need to sell them on your products first.
* Direct your search to dealership title clerks/contract desk employees – these are in-house people who know the internal documentation and may be looking for advancement.
* Look for mortgage lenders who are tired of beating the street for prospects. They know the value of a customer and know the loan products. They are generally quick studies and adapt well to change.
How to train the F&I Assistant
* Start by mapping the F&I process. A full understanding of the process will get the assistant off in the right direction.
* Make a list of every department the assistant will interface with. Create a schedule with the new hire assigned to shadow a departmental producer. For example, arrange for the assistant to shadow a service writer in the service department for the first few hours of the morning. The customer’s expectations are different once they approach the service drive. It is critical for the person presenting service contracts to see how the customer interprets the disclosures of coverage and to experience the repercussions of overselling the products.
* Schedule a time for the F&I assistant to sit with the office staff charged with tearing down the deals. Learning how a missed signature or a current registration affects the paperwork flow can be a real eye opener. The assistant will soon see why DMV clerks are so often justified in their frustration with the F&I department when they receive incomplete paperwork.
You may also want to toss into the orientation mix a few days with the warranty processor for good measure. Witnessing all the steps required to process both factory warranties, as well as service contracts, is a valuable lesson in the benefits of accuracy and audit trails.
* Finally, arrange the afternoons for reading the forms and verifying understanding with written exams. My counsel is to separate the paperwork into the following five categories for review and testing purposes:
1) Loan documents, complete with disclosures
2) Policies
3) Title work – for the sold vehicle and for the trade vehicle
4) Internal documents
5) Claim forms and processes
Written tests of the skill set are a valid way to measure comprehension of the material. The producer in F&I must understand the documentation as well as the underwriting guidelines of all the products and services presented to customers.
A video recording of the presentation and objection handling is another way to assess skill acquisition. While no one particularly enjoys videotaping, it provides incomparable feedback to ensure that customers receive accurate information about the products.
If you are lucky enough to have more than one F&I producer, arrange for the assistant to sit in on a deal, perhaps once each week. Completing a deal with someone else watching also helps to keep even the most experienced manager sharp!
F&I is more than knowing where to sign
F&I is more than documentation. The F&I experience imprints the “face” of the dealership for the customer. Knowledge builds confidence. Confidence builds enthusiasm. And it is enthusiasm for the dealership, as well as its products and services that continually boosts the bottom line.
Whether you need to acclimate a new F&I assistant or tune up the skills of F&I “old hands,” put the emphasis on process, product and presentation points to come out ahead.
World of Special Finance, July 2006