For Lexus dealers, it’s common for customers to spend weeks waiting on a vehicle.
Orders are placed well ahead of delivery. Buyers arrive confident in the car they want. And by the time they show up, many expect the financing and protection conversation to be quick, light, or already decided.
The problem: That dynamic compresses F&I into delivery day.
And when finance only enters the picture at the very end, the business office is expected to educate the customer, explain protection options, structure the deal, handle compliance, and close products, all in one sitting.
Naturally, that’s not a setup Justin Lasky, a business manager at Lexus of North Hills in the Pittsburgh market, is comfortable with because it works against both gross and the customer experience.
So instead of letting the backend get squeezed, his team changes when the conversation starts and who owns each part of it.
Here’s what that looks like in practice: First, sales introduces protection early in the process, at the same time they’re reviewing customer-facing numbers.
Their role in that moment is just to explain what’s available, why customers choose it, and to make the conversation familiar. Not to close products or push decisions.
In doing that, by the time the customer reaches the business office, nothing is brand new.
And that’s when finance takes over.
Up next: Once the deal reaches the business office, the focus shifts from introduction to personalization.
Finance walks through options based on how the customer plans to use the vehicle, how long they expect to keep it, and what coverage actually makes sense for that ownership timeline.
As Lasky explained: “The biggest problem is, ‘I had three weeks to kind of think about this, but I didn’t think about anything for my vehicle,’” Lasky told Daily Dealer Live hosts Sam D’Arc and Uli de Martino. “I know I love the vehicle I’m coming to. But what is the financing process, and what do the ancillary add-ons for this vehicle look like?”
In other words, without early exposure, finance is forced to educate and close at the same time. But with it, the conversation becomes about fit instead of pressure.
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Between the lines: To make that handoff work, sales compensation is structured around overall performance, not individual product sales, so the team and process feel more collaborative than transactional.
“They’re rewarded for how well they’re paid on it,” Lasky said. “It’s not that they’re paid per product, but they’re paid on average overall performance.”
Beyond that: He said leadership fills in the gaps where needed.
“Great finance managers will be involved with their sales floor,” he said. “If I didn’t have the support of my desk, I couldn’t be where I’m at right now.”
With this strategy: Lexus of North Hills just wrapped December with record performance.
Lasky said both finance managers cleared $2,100 in PVR, total F&I profit reached a new high, and the store did it without rushing customers or sacrificing consistency.
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