Presented by:
Hey everyone,
Wanna share a buy-sell? Send us a note with the closing date, and:
Buyer’s name | Seller’s name
Old name | new name
Advisors | location
to [email protected].
Have a great week!
— CDG
Continuing last week’s “nobody knows the basics anymore” theme, we’re moving off the sales floor, and into F&I and fixed ops.
Like before, some tips may feel Captain Obvious to the seasoned.
But it’s not obvious to everyone.
So… We asked operators from two dealer groups to share their best tips for keeping F&I honest with shoppers, protecting every dollar inside a repair order, and training every sales person to pitch F&I.
Any decision made outside the customer’s view is a hit to transparency.
Jennifer Parsons, senior director of F&I at Walser Automotive Group in Minnesota, said their model of salespeople selling F&I helps set them apart.
“The number one word I would use is transparency," Parsons said. “We don't hide anything from the customer.”
Jennifer Parsons
Walser
Automotive Group
In other words: Everything happens in front of the buyer.
"We're not bringing people in a back office, and manipulating them into buying products that they haven't heard about before, or negotiating prices to get products sold," Parsons said.
Additionally:
The same salesperson handles the vehicle sale and F&I from start to finish.
Salespeople quote payments and pull up pricing software directly on-screen for customers.
And every bit of information is available to any customer, not gated behind a manager conversation.
Onto the service lane: Danny Negalha, fixed ops director for McGovern Automotive Group in New England, described a similar instinct for his department.
“We need to have transparent trust with customers,” Negalha said. “Fully transparent with what a service costs, right?”
Danny Negalha
McGovern
Automotive Group
He said their policy of sending out itemized written estimates beforehand, usually accompanied by video or photos, builds trust in the service lane.
Not only that: It adds an average of $180 more per repair order and a higher closing ratio.
They also:
Send real-time status updates during service.
Communicate costs, timelines, and service details upfront, so they’re not discovered at pickup.
Transparent take: Now’s the time to tighten up transparency, not only to help retain customers, but to stay compliant amid changing rules.
A quick word from our partner
Protect Your Gross on Every Trade-In.
Catch What a Walk-Around Can't.
16% of consumers admit to hiding known issues when trading in a vehicle, and unchecked recon surprises can cost dealers up to $12K a month.
A full diagnostic scan during appraisal helps you price every vehicle right and protect your gross, not guess and hope.
Discipline and culture must be maintained, not assumed, across every department.
Negalha told us while fixed ops may change, by way of tools, the pacing, and expectations, the underlying discipline will not.
"The future of fixed ops for dealerships are not necessarily just the big ones," Negalha said. "It's the dealerships that are disciplined that are going to be successful."
He also told us the environment is no longer simply about increasing RO count.
"It's about protecting every dollar inside the repair order and improving the customer experience at the same time,” Negalha said.
Regular accountability: He said dealers waiting to catch problems in the end-of-month stats are too late.
What they clock:
Effective labor rate, customer pay only, tracked daily against a 90% door rate target
Parts margins tracked daily, aiming for 45% or greater on customer pay
Technician productivity tracked biweekly, during payroll, against a 115% or greater target
GM, service manager, GSM, and parts manager reviewed monthly against a shared KPI template covering total service growth vs. forecast, operating profit vs. forecast, CSI, advisor closing ratios, and digital platform utilization
The payoff: McGovern’s fixed operations department overall did about $330 million in revenue last year, and are pacing toward $390 million this year.
Back to the future: McGovern only adopts new tools when they're tied to a trackable outcome—even their Ozzy Osbourne-playing parts-delivery robots have to keep proving their worth.
And, they keep renovating what they have.
For instance: Video inspections may "not be as shiny anymore," Negalha says, but it remains one of McGovern's highest-leverage tools.
On Monday, they’re sprucing up video offerings by sending a link to customers for a behind-the-scenes look at service techs doing their thing in the service lane.
Other tweaks in progress:
Running an internal video contest, (using a template borrowed from CDG) to push advisors toward higher-quality videos
Tracking send rates by advisor
Send rates and video quality now feed into the technician incentive program directly, tying the metric to pay
They also use the "Full Path" strategy that trains service managers to sell to customers with dusty files in the service-not-sold, inactive, and lapsed categories.
Timeless traits: Negalha said accountability and culture hold it all together.
He shared McGovern's "three-legged bar stool" culture philosophy: employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and profitability, with each leg dependent on the other.
Seems legit: Negalha said their fixed ops turnover rate sits around 20% to 21%, well under the mid-30s national average he estimates for the industry.
"Culture plays a pivotal role in shaping the success and longevity of a business," Negalha said. "Strong positive culture reflects in customer interactions, which enhances brand loyalty and reputation. It also differentiates us from the market."
The best F&I teams have short, simple menus and thorough training.
Every salesperson at Walser knows how to sell F&I because it's part of their training, which involves a three-and-a-half-week program combining:
Classroom training, AI-assisted role-play, and an assessment
Many of the trainees join with no automotive background, Parsons said.
Keep it simple: Walser caps its F&I product menu at five or six core products and limits service contract term options to a handful of clear choices.
And, the prices stay fixed with no negotiations. Even if someone pushes for a discount, the answer is no.
The group also created a dedicated F&I lead/department-head role to support salespeople navigating tough deals and such.
"Simple is better, especially in single point, because you can't complicate it for salespeople," Jennifer said.
Parsons suggests resisting the urge to chase short-term revenue at the expense of the relationship.
Meaning, think about what an extra $1,000 for a product really amounts to, especially if it means sacrificing a return customer.
"It might feel like you're doing the right thing in the moment, because you're making more money on that one particular situation," Parsons said. "But big picture is what's best for the business, and I think we probably don't question that enough as an industry."
The bottom line: Keep it simple… You know the rest.
Resist the urge to overthink and oversell. Adapt, make smart changes, and try unique approaches.
But remember, some things stay in style: like staying transparent, and prioritizing people and relationships.
It’s almost like there’s a theme here.
