Hiring great talent in today's modern business climate has evolved. Long gone are the days of simply putting a classified ad in the paper or reaching out to your HR department and expecting to snag the best of the best. It takes work.

Buying a car has largely been an in-person process. Customers want to see their vehicle and take it for a test drive before signing on the dotted line. At the same time, those same customers have also taken to spending a significant part of their path to purchase performing online research.

In recent years, and especially during pandemic lockdown measures, the rise of digital retail has become increasingly apparent. Modern retailers have redefined the boundaries of what can successfully be sold over the internet, as well as the types of quick and efficient customer experiences shoppers have come to expect. Now, with a whole new landscape emerging, your dealership must find its place in the evolving industry.

The auto retail industry invests a lot of time and energy into formulating more effective car selling strategies, marketing campaigns and customer retention techniques. And while these efforts are undoubtedly valuable, it’s also important to emphasize the value-adding activities of other departments in your dealership. 

Your organization's website is a major point of contact between your business and your audience - and if it’s not today, it can be. 

Virtual F&I (VFI) meetings are a modern approach to an established part of the vehicle sales process. Products typically sold through in-person meetings are now being handled via video conferencing software. While implementing a new process change at the dealership level can sometimes be met with resistance, Virtual F&I can have numerous advantages, giving the car-buying public a customer experience that matches their expectations, and may even lead to greater long-term loyalty and engagement.

Whether you’re seeking to complete an all-digital transaction or meet the needs of your in-store buyers, Virtual F&I (VFI) is a seamless, customer-focused way to achieve these goals. There is a clear demand from customers for a personalized, simple buying experience, and VFI is the final piece of that puzzle for dealerships.

Consumer preferences have changed, and our industry is shifting quickly to keep up. It's important that you are seizing every opportunity to do business with your customers in a way that’s efficient and convenient for them. Virtual F&I (VFI) is the latest evolution of our business and is a customer-focused solution that also increases sales and revenue. Successfully implementing Virtual F&I can enhance your profitability and give your customers the experience they prefer.

As VFI offers a brand new solution to the F&I buying process, we've compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions we’ve gotten from dealers using the program.

Thanks to the ongoing digital revolution, today’s car buyers have a near-limitless amount of information at their fingertips. Historically, auto sales professionals were the primary point of contact for consumers looking to buy or lease a vehicle. But with the rise of third-party comparison websites, and the transparency they now expect from dealership websites, shoppers can research makes and models, sticker prices and local car dealerships without ever having to leave their homes. 

Reputations can be hard to change, and no one knows that better than someone in the car business. Despite the drastic shift in our industry and the culture of a dealership, when some people think of a career in auto sales, they still imagine long work hours and stressful negotiations.

Competition in the auto retail world has always been fierce, and as the industry moves toward more digital-centric sales processes, car dealerships have to get creative to score new leads.

Let’s face it, the auto retail industry is changing and many dealerships are having to get creative to meet their sales quotas and secure long-term profitability.

Today’s auto dealerships contend with a staggering number of state and federal laws that seek to protect consumers and employees from questionable practices.

Reaching your audience in a sincere and honest way, no matter the approach, is crucial to gaining the trust and confidence of your prospective customer. 

Communication is one of the most important pieces of the sales puzzle, let’s dive in and explore how you can use communication to improve your sales process.

For any organization to grow and stay on an upward trajectory, leadership must be able to pinpoint what their employees can bring to the table.

Understanding what your team is capable of as a whole and on an individual level should be one of, if not, the highest priorities you have as a leader.

Virtual education is a proven way to learn something new from anywhere. It’s been around for years, and there’s no doubt you’ve participated in a self-paced training for your dealership or even been part of a full-scale live classroom.

If we have learned anything in the last month or so, it’s that the game has changed.

Due to the unforeseen challenges COVID-19 has sprung on all of us in the auto industry, we are all adapting and changing the way we conduct business. 

Here you’ll find a series of checklists with communications methods you will want to consider implementing within your dealership during COVID-19 and the recovery period to follow. By completing the items on these lists, you can help boost business, ensure customer confidence and keep a consistent message across your channels.

The way we are serving our customers is changing, and digital transactions are part of that new service model. Here are some best practices to keep in mind while you are selling F&I products online.

Ah, the elusive question. It’s the eternal elephant in the room - the Next. Big. Thing. Analysts, researchers, industry pros and change leaders all try to pinpoint what it is and tell us how to prepare for it.

You probably came to this blog looking for an answer. And I have one for you, but it’s probably not what you expected to find. It’s better.

Let’s face it, the auto industry has experienced a major shake up over the past few decades. 

Over the past few decades, the auto retail industry has undergone several major transformations that have reshaped how vehicles are marketed, bought and sold. Staying one step ahead of shifting market conditions has been a constant pain point for dealers operating under traditional business models, often leading to compressed margins and a decline in customer retention. So how do you prepare your dealership for the future?

Today’s auto industry is fiercely competitive, and car dealerships of all sizes sometimes struggle to maintain a foothold in their local markets. The rise of digital retail has put a lot of pressure on dealers to modernize their internal operations, streamline their path to purchase and offer more personalized customer experiences - but adapting hasn’t always been easy. 

While it pays to hire employees for your auto dealership who bring valuable experience and soft skills, there's no way to find all the necessary competencies through the talent search alone.

The interaction between your salesperson and your customer is where auto sales are made. Hiring employees with developed communication skills is an essential part of improving the performance and overall success of your dealership.

There are a million books and articles to read about leadership, and it’s hard to know where to start or what will work for you. You can lean in, embody the seven habits, live by your emotional intelligence score or follow another philosophy. But I’m sure you’ll agree auto dealerships are a very specific animal...

“It’s not what you make that counts, it’s what you keep.” It’s a common saying, but it certainly applies to dealers offering F&I products.

It all boils down to this: There are a million ways to get results, but getting the results you want takes a lot more thought and consideration.

What if I said you were only minutes away from increased sales and improved customer relationships?

Too good to be true? Maybe so, but those few precious minutes with each customer can make that a reality, and it all happens in your service drive.

Across the industry, manufacturers are asking (or requiring) dealerships to upgrade their facilities. And we’ve seen that most dealerships could probably benefit from some spiffing up...

These days, convenience is king. Customers’ time should be at the forefront of a service department’s focus.

At the end of the day, nobody has time to waste. Everyone’s time is valuable. When a customer schedules a time to come into a dealership, it’s important to be respectful of that.

Here are five steps to get your customers in and out of the service lane in 25 minutes or less.

Ready to take a look at your operating expenses to combat margin compression?  We talked to NADA’s former Dealership Management Consultant Steve Emery about 11 cost-cutting strategies that you can use to get started.

We all want to find that silver bullet.

You know the one… the perfect thought track that leads to trust, credibility, and long-term loyalty. The truth is - there are no silver bullets (sorry), but there are a few tried and true methods that will pay off if they are built into your process with every customer.

In an effort to combat margin compression and reduce operating costs, many auto dealers around the U.S. have started taking a closer look at their hiring practices. This should come as no surprise, as attracting and retaining top talent has always been a bit of a pain point for the auto retail industry.

If you’ve spent any time working in the auto retail industry over the last few years, chances are you’ve noticed a shift in how dealerships operate. The tried-and-tested business models of the past are starting to fall out of practice, giving way to more personalized customer experiences. But what’s causing this transformation within the marketplace?

Like many dealerships, the Anderson Automotive Group in Raleigh, N.C., is a family business. 

Fred Anderson started working in his father’s dealership in 1970 and grew that operation into the powerhouse that it is today.

So what’s next?

Regardless of the industry you work in, you will always find salespeople who are more successful than the rest. 

These associates seemingly steer clear of the pitfalls that plague their peers and always know what to say.

What’s their secret?

If you ask any dealer owner to name the area of the dealership where he or she focuses the most time, effort and resources – you’ll most likely get one answer: the sales department.

We all know this: Effective customer communication is the cornerstone of any successful business. 

And dealer personnel who are able to consistently and effectively communicate with their customers enjoy stronger relationships and increased sales success.