Articles by Kris Wright - President

Kris Wright - You have to ask for the money down. You have no choice, and if the customer loves the vehicle, they will jump small mountains. We are trained to show the customer what they want (even if you know it is impossible to do with the finance company).

Kris Wright - In this market, it is time to sharpen your skills. When the going gets tough, the tough keep going. Sharpen your skills on closing, handling customers, buying inventory that allows profit from the “less desirable” inventory (not SUV’s or full-size trucks), follow-up and customer satisfaction.

Kris Wright - Don’t Panic. The market is tougher than I have ever seen it. The old days are back—big fees, low advances, short terms and high interest rates. Thanks mortgage market for causing this overcorrection.

Q. Do you recommend paying on front gross or a combination of front and back gross profit? Do you feel pay should be based on all deals or just SF deals? If only on SF deals, how do you count an SF deal? What do you feel is the optimum way an SF manager should be paid?

Kris Wright - Pay plans should evoke teamwork. Many stores I visit have pay plans where everyone gets paid from sales gross regardless of where it is derived from.

Q: With the so many finance companies tightening their buying or getting out of the special finance market altogether, is it worth trying to keep my department going? If so, what is the best advice you can give?

Kris Wright - The business of automobile financing has come full circle. I remember the days when I could call the dealership’s main lender with a shaky deal, package it with a couple of good deals and get it bought; but with that real “special” paper, it took a local finance company to get the deal done.

Kris Wright - Dealers often spend advertising dollars without tracking the “true” productivity of each medium. Since the market is more competitive than ever, we have to compete to have the most effective advertising mediums as well.

With the mortgage market in turmoil and rumors of how it will effect our lending institutions, most of us are seeing customer traffic flow dwindle. During times like this special finance managers, need to ask themselves “What can I do for the dealer?” not “What can the dealer do for me?”

While training and developing special finance departments in dealerships, I have heard every excuse in the world as to why dealers do not need a particular type of software or technology.