The Subprime Auto Report

Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving and the New Year is around the corner. I thought I’d give you some tools and motivation that I think can help your special finance departments make a little more money in 2008. It’s time to think about what we will accomplish next year, right? To be honest, I’m in a pretty big rut right now and maybe I’ll learn something here.

Plan Where You Are Going and You Will Find the Road to Get There

About a year ago I wrote a post on setting up a special finance department to make $1,000,000. I thought I’d remind you that anything is possible if you plan well and focus on your goals. If you follow these steps I think it will help you make more money:

1. chart out exactly which channels of business can make you the most money (walk in traffic, special finance leads, mailers, direct mail, etc.)
2. fill out a 2008 Yearly Forecast with those channels using realistic profit and volume estimates (Subscribe to TheSubprimeReport and I’ll send you a preformatted Excel forecast)

   

3. take your plan to your dealer principle and get him to commit to spending the money you need to succeed.
4. Tell him you are going to need a budget of ten percent of your monthly revenue to purchase internet leads, pre-approval sales and to advertise (set his expectations early and don’t ask; tell him)
5. talk to your vendors about your goals and get their buy-in and their committment to help out (tell subprime lenders you want their help funding deals; tell special finance lead providers you want quick refunds on bad leads; etc.)

Meanwhile, take a look at the original post for more information.

Find New Ways to Make More Money From Your Existing Traffic

Take a look at my post on Leveraging Your Existing Special Finance Traffic to make more money. The key is to maximize your profitability on the business you already have. Every customer is an opportunity to sell five or ten more customers.

Alright, Let’s Throw in Some Motivation

This video was sent to me by a competitor when I was in the special finance leads business. Favorite quote from the clip, “You put your butt in a corner and you’d be surprised what you can achieve”. Each and every one of us is an entrepreneur, even if your dealer principle signs your checks.

But, Don’t Let Life Pass You By: Slow Down

All the success and money in the world can’t replace quality time. There is more to life than money.

Sometimes we forget to appreciate the things that truly matter: friends, family, nature and even ourselves.

There’s nobody better to appreciate life than someone who is losing their own. This is a poem written by a terminally ill girl in a New York City hospital.

Slow Dance

Have you ever watched kids On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.
The Music Won’t Last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?

When you ask: how are you?
Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?

You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Ever told your child
We’ll do it tomorrow?

And in your haste
Not seen his sorrow?

Ever lost touch
Let a good friendship die?

Cuz you never had time
to call and say, “Hi”?

You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day
It’s like an unopened gift thrown away.

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower.

Hear the music
Before the song is over.

I know all of you work many hours every day. The car business is tough on family. Make sure you’re taking the time to slow down and hear the music with the ones you love. Happy Thanksgiving. Don’t think about work tomorrow.