It takes “far longer,” according to Merry, to teach a new employee for a hybrid function than it does to train a salesperson, and it takes roughly a year to completely develop that person. Her response was, “There’s a lot of mentorship going on.”
For a hybrid sales and F&I manager, though, Merry said Continental streamlines their roles. F&I options are presented by a F&I hybrid employee, but the sales manager handles deal finance and contracts are prepared by an agreement specialist. Other than the hybrid staffer, the other two professions do not deal with customers; they operate behind the scenes.
Merry stated that the dealership strives to minimise “the stuff they’re not good at” for the hybrid team member. As a F&I manager, a dealership’s top salesperson “generally doesn’t know anything” about accounting or paperwork, she said before.
On top of that, Continental reduced the deal for its hybrid process. Instead of jacking up interest rates, the company charges a fixed fee for loan arrangements. There were fewer options on the menu.
Wilke explained that hybrid employees at RocketTown are compensated with a salary derived from both sales and F&I revenue. She stated that RocketTown did not alter the F&I pay plan, but that the sales pay plan was altered. Although it paid a set sum rather than a portion of each vehicle sold, she claimed.
For the hybrid format, Merry claims Continental altered its compensation plan. The hybrid worker is paid a set sum for each vehicle and F&I product, and a bonus for CSI is included, she explained.
Wilke claimed that a year and a half later, there are still only three hybrid team members working at RocketTown. As a manager, she said, this is preferable since “you feel like you’re babysitting” if you have too many people in the sales department.
Wilke believes the experiment has been such a success that if the inventory situation in the sector improves, she may start hiring hybrid staffers in the future.
According to her, “it’s amazing.” she says.