Are the salespeople at your dealership undermining the F&I process? Unfortunately, in some dealerships, I still encounter situations where the salespeople are so focused on closing the deal that they don’t prepare the customer for the F&I process.

Changing a dealership management system (DMS) has been likened to getting a heart transplant for your dealership. For this reason many dealers are reluctant to switch DMS providers. However, just as medical advances have improved patient outcomes for heart transplants, so too has technology improved the DMS conversion process

On one side are the old-timers — the loyal, dedicated Service Writers and Technicians who’ve been with you for 10 or 20 years. On the other side are the newbies — young and eager, but without decades of experience to back them up, their opinions are often ignored.

Expert says salespeople play a critical role in what happens in the F&I office. She lists four ways they can successfully pave the road to back-end sales. As seen in F&I and Showroom, by Anna Puzier.

Running a car dealership has been and always will be challenging; but several workforce trends in 2017 will make it even more challenging for dealers who insist on doing "business as usual". As seen in Autosuccess by Mike Esposito.

Are the service advisors at your dealership still handwriting repair order (RO) estimates? I’m guessing, based on interactions with many of our customers, that up to 50 percent of dealership service departments still handwrite estimates. If your service department is one of them, your dealership could be losing out on substantial profits. As seen in Autosuccess by Ken Rock.

When ales stagnate, don't just survive: Thrive. As seen in DrivingSales DealerExec Magazine by Mike Esposito.

Multistore dealers are using centralized accounting practices to improve consistency, productivity, and customer and partner relationships — and, most importantly, save time and money. As seen in Auto Dealer Today, July 2016.

The carrot-and-stick approach is losing its appeal as leaders find new ways to encourage productivity. As seen in Auto Dealer Monthly, June 2016.

Got customers who are reluctant to open their wallets when they enter the F&I office? Follow up with them months later, after they've had time to adjust to their vehicle payment, suggests Mike Esposito. Dealerships should also use technology to shorten F&I wait times and customize each F&I product menu to the consumer at hand.

The good news is it's not only possible, but actually pretty easy to increase profitability in your parts department. All that's required are a few tweaks to price settings in your dealership management system (DMS).

If you enforce the system and prevent cherry picking of jobs, then your service department will operate more efficiently.

After a year of automatic matrix-pricing and rounding up to .99, could your gross margin have soared by 50%? As featured in Service Drive Magazine by Ken Rock - August 2015

Taking a Long Term View. By Mike Esposito, President & CEO, Auto/Mate Dealership Systems - Spring 2015

Human resources expert returns for Part 2 of his two-part series on costly hires. This time, he lays out a hiring process designed to weed out unqualified or untrustworthy candidates. As featured in F&I Showroom by Dave Druzynski - January 2015

Human resources expert lays out the costs of a bad hire in Part 1 of his two-part series on dealership hiring practices. As featured in F&I Showroom by Dave Druzynski - December 2014

Good leaders are great at setting priorities, directing resources, keeping strategies on track, overseeing process accountability and operations. These are all important and necessary skills, but sometimes, the very qualities that make a good leader can naturally create a “top down” leadership style that negatively impacts employee morale, customer service and profits... As featured in Dealer Magazine by Mike Esposito - August 2014

Is it time to take another look at Auto Dispatch? As featured in Fixed Ops Magazine by Larry Colson - June 2014

Empower your staff by making your objectives clear and giving them room to work. As featured in Auto Dealer Monthly - June 2014