Great Work!

Your office is organized, your forms are in a sensible order and you have become an expert on your product offerings. 

Now, map out the steps of a deal from beginning to end.  Think a deal through and bullet point each step.  Everyone will have a different process that they follow although the steps will ultimately all be the same, the order just may flow differently from one business manager to another.   Here is an example of a typical deal flow:

First Customer Visit (customer and salesperson have agreed on a car and price)
    1)  Customer is introduced to business manager and salesperson does a turnover
    2)  You express CONGRATULATIONS to your customer with genuine excitement for their purchase
    3)  Warm and sincere rapport, get a feel for how excited your customer is about their purchase
    4)  Introduce yourself and explain what your role at the dealership is and what you will be 
         doing together
    5)  Let your customer know approximately how much time you will take and get their agreement

If the customer is looking for monthly payments as a condition of purchase, find out what their budget is and quote monthly payments with at least life insurance and possibly an extended warranty .  Adjust the amortization and cash down if needed to meet their budget.   Some business managers will quote a payment much more loaded than this and some will quote a "bare bones" payment.  My experience is that this method works best for most customers as the two most critical added value products are now addressed.  If your customer is extremely budget conscious, you may want to only include the life insurance premium in your quote.  In either case, be certain to disclose what the payment includes.   Once you have agreement that the payments are manageable, continue the process and ALWAYS be considerate of the time.  If you are taking more time than you committed to, acknowledge that and ask for permission to continue.

    6)  Start the formal process by asking for their driver license(s)
    7)  Enter the data from their driver license to your database, asking them for confirmation of 
         address and phone #'s as you enter the data
    8)  Hang on to those driver license(s)...you will need to photocopy them soon
    9)  Print the credit application 
  10)  Ask more questions and hand-write notes on the credit application 
         *this is a great opportunity to ask if your customer's mortgage payment is life or A&H insured
         *be certain to ask your (homeowner) customer the market value of their home and the 
           mortgage balance
         *if the customer was at their address for less than 2 years be sure to get the previous address
         *if the customer has worked at their present employment for less than 2 years, get the 
           previous info
         *on the back of the credit application, list other monthly obligations, total owing and monthly
           minimums
         *ask if there have been any credit challenges in the past 7 years
         *this is your information gathering moment and it is your prime opportunity to get to know
           as much as you can about your customer without seeming snoopy.  If something seems 
           odd to you, inquire further, there is probably a story deep down.  Be delicate with your 
           questioning
           but zero in on those areas where your mind flags a question
  11)   Once you are satisfied the credit statement is complete, have the customer sign the application
  12)   Photocopy the driver license(s) 
  13)   Ask how they would like to make the deposit and process payment
  14)   If questions arise during this latter process regarding monthly payments (this deal was not 
          conditional on monthly payments), defer them, confirming that you will go over that together 
          in a couple minutes
  15)   Now is an ideal opportunity to present the protection package treatments.  This is done after 
          photocopying the driver license(s) and after taking the deposit because those steps create 
          some movement in the flow...you need to move to get those things done
  16)   Emphasize that these products can be applied while you are detailing their new car, 
          before they pick it up
  17)   Remind your customer that they can include the package in their financing and 
          pay a little extra on their monthly payment without having to pay the entire amount up front!
  18)   Once they have decided on the protection package they want, add that to their loan and talk
          about monthly payments with life protection AND the protection package AND the 
          extended warranty (if that was already included in a previous payment quote and 
          acceptable to your customer), and disclose that those products are included

Remember, this is simply an example of a deal flow.  Which products you present and when you present them can be influenced by your dealership's unique style of doing business and that always takes precedence.   Above all, you must be comfortable with the format you use.  The idea here is to simply get a couple of the added value products addressed before the customer picks-up their car as there will only be half as many products to present at delivery.

Later this week, Part 2, the Delivery appointment!