At the ACE Group, we know it’s a big decision to rely on us for some of your most essential dealership services. Among these are the products you’re able to offer your customers. While it takes many different factors to make customers happy, lacking solid F&I products is one of the most reliable ways to leave them unimpressed. That’s why we go the extra mile when it comes to selecting the administrators with whom we choose to work.
3 Essential Traits We Look for in Administrators
Partnering with the best possible administrators have played a massive role in our success over the years. If it wasn’t for spending so much time finding the best in the field, we wouldn’t have the reputation we do for offering top-shelf dealership services.
While we do plenty of research before ever partnering with an administrator, here are the three most important traits we look for:
1. Experience with Extended Service Contracts and Service
There’s no substitution for experience. However, we believe that it’s important for administrators to have experience working with service contracts and on the service side of things.
Among other things, experience with the repair process also helps them better empathize with the customer. They know what the mechanics must do, but they also appreciate need from their service contract after an accident happens.
Of course, it’s also vital that they have a strong familiarity with every department at a dealership. The better they understand each of these departments, the better they’ll be able to do their jobs.
2. An Accounting Background
Another trait that we’ve identified as an absolutely “must have” from our administrators is a background in finance. Again, it comes down to understanding what customers need – in detail – and then being able to execute as efficiently as possible. An administrator with a background in finance is going to have a much easier time going through the all-important reconciliation process. This is a massive advantage. The process goes much faster, leading to much happier customers.
3. Strong Communication Skills
Finally, without good communication skills, the two traits we just listed wouldn’t account for much. As we mentioned in the first section, F&I administrators must understand the responsibilities of every other department. One reason for this is so they’re able to effectively “speak the language” of each. If they’re unable to do so, their performance will falter.
Poor communication skills aren’t just inconvenient, either. They can cause unnecessary delays with the processing of claims which, in turn, means they get paid out late. That never leads to a happy customer.
The Importance of Choosing the Right Administrators for Our Dealership Services
Experience has taught us that offering the best possible dealership services to our customers begins with choosing the best potential partners. The list of traits we’ve identified above has made it extremely easy for us to choose the kinds of administrators that can reliably satisfy our customers again and again.