Latest / Auto Collabs / Why Trust and Relationships Matter More Than Ever in F&I with Adam Marburger | Public Policy Day 2025

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Why Trust and Relationships Matter More Than Ever in F&I with Adam Marburger | Public Policy Day 2025 · Auto Collabs

• 0:01
  We're here again with Adam Marburger, president and CEO of Ascent Dealer Services. Um, you have a prop there in your hand, but it's a lot more than a prop. [laughs] I was just handed this prop, by the way.
• 0:10
  [laughs] It's- you're like, "Uh, this is you. We s- you signed it, so it's yours now." No, but a lot of people say they wanna write a book, not a lot of people do write a book.
• 0:19
  Can you just tell us about the title, the premise, and what made you think, "I'm gonna actually put the time and energy and effort in 'cause I have something to say"? Yeah. Great question.
• 0:27
  So this was a work in progress over the last couple of years. We do a lot of workshops with a lot of big dealer groups across the country, so we're always creating new content.
• 0:35
  So I wanted to create, like, the F&I Bible, right? So that's kinda what I did here. This touches every aspect of an F&I operation, and it's duplicatable. So I've created- Can you read the title again and the subtext?
• 0:46
  You're gonna love this. Yeah. I am. Ser- The Servant Leading F&I Manager: Leadership Defined. So this is a true leadership book.
• 0:51
  I mean- Yeah, so, I- I- I think, like, let's just stop there because you just said it's an F&I playbook, but it's centered around leadership.
• 0:57
  It's not, uh, centered around, like, first sign this document, then sign this document. It's a people-centric m- roadmap to, like, leveraging leadership- Yes... within a particular function of a dealership. Yes.
• 1:10
  How does that work out in, like, your story of origin and how that makes sense for how you're training now?
• 1:16
  Okay, I wanna say one thing first, so don't let the title, uh, fool you because this book's for salespeople, general managers, dealers- Exactly... anybody that wants to be- Good clarification...
• 1:23
  a better lever- leader and help people at a higher level, this is who this book's for.
• 1:27
  I just know the way things used to be, and the way things used to be is we wanted to get the customer in the F&I office as quick as possible.
• 1:34
  We didn't build relationships with them, and our idea was to sell as many F&I products for as much gross profit as possible. And some F&I people back in the day didn't care if they ever came back. Right.
• 1:43
  So I wrote this book because the industry shifted. It's about building relationships with people, getting them happily engaged in service so you can build this culture.
• 1:51
  So I wrote the book because we've been training wrong in the industry for a long time, and it's time that F&I people slow down a little bit more, connect intimately, build relationships, understand s- personality types.
• 2:03
  Well, what do we- what have we have wrong? You said we've been training wrong. How have we been training that's wrong? In the past, you know, uh, trainers trained on just selling F&I products, selling F&I products.
• 2:12
  But we're not training our F&I people to mentor the staff. We're not training our F&I people to get up out of their ivory tower and go sit at the sales desk, serve the salespeople, serve the service department.
• 2:22
  Get back and talk to your service writers. Get to know people.
• 2:25
  You can build this incredible culture out of the F&I office that mutually serves each department, that ultimately gives a better buying [laughs] experience for the customer.
• 2:34
  So that's what this is all about, is helping and serving people. And by doing that, people end up buying products from people that they like.
• 2:40
  Yeah, funny thing about that- Yeah, you know, it's interesting because, like, I...
• 2:42
  Especially maybe four, five, six years ago, there was this heavy pressure, and then even through COVID, to, like, move all of, uh, all of the financing operation into, uh, you know, a speedy online transaction where people were just gonna buy everything and complete the transaction online.
• 2:56
  But we are seeing more and more people desire the in-person interaction, a fluid one, a c- a, a s- uh, one that honored their time, all of those type of things, but they're desiring that kind of, like, one-to-one interaction.
• 3:09
  And so how are you seeing that play out into progress with this type of training? Well, it's, uh, it is playing out like that.
• 3:15
  So you're- what we're finding is the consumer will do some of their homework and do some of the transaction online, but they do wanna show up. Right. They wanna drive the car. They still want that.
• 3:22
  They wanna talk to people. So how that's playing out, it plays out well because the consumer comes in more educated.
• 3:28
  They kinda got an idea of what they're trying to accomplish, so now our job's a little bit easier and we can just work on serving and connecting and helping them transact the way they wanna transact.
• 3:38
  In the past, dealers would force the way they wanna transact. We're gonna force square everybody. Right. Right? [laughs] Let's, let's not give the information upfront. L- How dare you share F&I products upfront?
• 3:50
  How dare you? No, no, [laughs] no. We don't wanna do that now. Right. Yeah. We wanna give information.
• 3:53
  Well, and I think, I mean, we're here at Public Policy Day, and so much of the conversation around policy making has been because we've r- like, as an industry, we earned a bad name, specifically around the F&I function.
• 4:05
  And, and so policy is, uh, uh, a- and the CARS Rule and a lot of those things are trying to combat against that. And so the, the retaliation is not fighting, it's- it's retraining, really, from your perspective, I think.
• 4:18
  It's retraining and understanding that people buy from people that they like and trust, and that- and that's really where the rubber meets the road.
• 4:25
  People transact with people that they like and they trust, and the retail customer has to be in control of the way they wanna transact. That's right.
• 4:32
  So if we know somebody does not wanna come in to the dealership, well, we're gonna build our transaction based around that. Or if we have somebody that is- is maybe a, a, an introvert, we're gonna allow them options.
• 4:44
  We're gonna give them visuals. We're gonna let them select without us trying to, to spray and pray, right? So we transact the way the retail consumer wants to transact, and we're shifting in a positive light.
• 4:54
  Things are [laughs] getting a lot better in the... Speed time. Our speed time in F&I has reduced dramatically from- That's right... where it used to be. Yeah.
• 5:01
  I mean- You know, imagine a world where all of a sudden leadership springs up from within the F&I office.
• 5:06
  It really could be a tone-setter, and I think those, those outstanding F&I departments that h- have that leadership, it shows across the organization.
• 5:14
  Um, I love the effort you're making to make that the norm- Appreciate it... in the industry. Adam, thank you so much for writing the book. Yep.
• 5:19
  Investing in this industry and investing, uh, in being here at Public Policy today. I appreciate it. It's my purpose. I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing, so I appreciate that, so...