over the curb / dealership perspective
The Hybrid Challenge Combining the Roles of Two People into One
Kelly Wadlinger is the Studio Lead at Faulkner FIAT of Harrisburg, PA, a position which encompasses the roles of both finance and sales manager. After joining the business as a salesperson in 2006, Wadlinger quickly determined that she had a passion for the industry that needed to be shared.
KWadlinger@AutoDealerMonthly.com
Las Vegas during "Examining the Hybrid Manager," a panel discussion on the theory that hybrid managers can solve dealer financial woes by combining the jobs of two people into one. Traditionally, as an industry, we have imple- mented this theory by creating a combination of sales man- ager and finance manager, which is what I am. But many
I
n September, I had the honor of speaking at the 2012 Industry Summit in
attendees were also interested in discussing another potential hybrid: the salesperson-fi- nance manager. I hesitate to call this person a "hybrid," as I think it is a rather vague term, and a good portion of our discussion at the Industry Summit was spent on defini- tions of titles alone. Let's use the term "expanded function salesperson." In essence, these people will have the primary responsibilities of salespeople, plus the traditional finance
manager roles such as submitting applications and completing paperwork.
The resurgence of this idea as of late I attribute in part to the introduction of the mobile menu to the market. Of course, most every tablet-style menu provider will insist they do not endorse the hybrid sys- tem, but if we can replace the sales pitch of an F&I; pro with a "cool" device, why would we pay for the expensive finance guy? And even if we aren't 100 percent sold on the new menu concept, isn't it more customer-friendly to have the one-touch experience, where the customer deals with the same person from A to Z? It's the salesperson who has spent hours (and possibly days or months) working with this customer to get them to buy
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the car. Surely they can con- vince the customer to spend a few more dollars to "protect their investment." On the sur- face, it sounds like a great so- lution. Margins are getting slimmer; we need our people to produce more with less. And if you can sell cars, you can sell F&I;, right?
Wrong.
Even I will admit to being guilty of this flawed logic. When I was a green-pea sales- person, I thought finance was a piece of cake—sell a few products, print forms and show the customer where to sign. I didn't know how much actually went into being an F&I; professional, but I was sure that I could do it.
Everyone thinks they can do
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