In response to dealer request, Becky Chernek of Chernek Consulting, LLC, announced a new workshop, F&I is Under Assault – Winning with Menu Selling, to help dealers maximize F&I profit in the changing marketplace. Slated for December 4, 5 & 6 in Alpharetta, GA, the workshop focuses on menu evolution and how to capitalize on trends – whether using a digital menu or the traditional paper format.
“The menu is still a powerful sales tool,” said Chernek. “This workshop is about how to maximize its potential based on current market dynamics. Traditional F&I is under assault because it hasn’t evolved with consumer demand. Today’s tech-savvy consumers have different preferences and expectations.
“I developed this workshop to help dealers transition from a paper menu to a dynamic tablet presentation,” she added, “but we’ll also show dealers using paper menus how to boost performance by refreshing and decluttering their presentations to better engage Gen X and Millennial customers.
“A digital menu provides a more interactive and intuitive experience for the customer,” said Chernek, “but moving to a digital menu isn’t intuitive for the F&I staff. It’s like switching from playing piano to playing guitar. Not every F&I manager is confident with the change, so proper training is essential. Some of the basics still apply, but there’s a learning curve involving word tracks and best practices – basically the psychology of the presentation – that impacts customer perception.
“We’ll also talk about the difference between paper and digital menus. The digital menu isn’t just a paper menu on a tablet.” The digital menu software draws on databases that incorporate information about consumer demographics, preferences and trends to provide a feature called “prescriptive selling.”
Jeff Stafford, an executive with Darwin Automotive, a digital menu provider, will speak at the workshop. He’ll discuss the technical aspects and concept behind the digital menu. The company has digital menus in 3,000 dealerships in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
Becky Chernek has been providing menu training since 2001. A self-described “menu guru,” she helped launch the menu-selling concept in AutoNation’s megastore in 1997.
