Alphera calls for dealers to get IMI finance accreditation

Alphera Financial Services is looking to gain support from dealers for the three Quality Assured Programmes (QAPs) it has developed with the IMI to foster high standards in the sale of finance and insurance (F&I) products.

The QAPs are designed for F&I sales specialists and dealership business managers, providing a training platform to promote high standards. Participants who successfully complete a QAP receive an IMI-certified qualification. The three new QAPs are Funding Essential Skills; Selling to the Business User and Developing the Manager.

Training is given by IMI-assessed individuals and accreditation is carried out by independent IMI assessors. Spencer Halil, director of Alphera Financial Services, believes the time is right for the new programme at a time when finance products are under increased scrutiny from regulators.

“Alphera has always been a champion of developing performance through training. It is about providing the highest quality advice to our customers when delivering these regulated products. It is an example of self-regulation in the industry which the regulator would very much appreciate,” he said.

According to Halil the training fills a vacuum in the retail finance sector but it will need to be supported by dealers.  The programme does not conflict or replace the existing FLA’s Specialist Automotive Finance (SAF) scheme (launched in 2007),which broadly put is theory based while the IMI-backed scheme has a practical bent. They complement each other.

“At the moment there is no universal or easily accessed record of who is trained and who is qualified, nothing that tells the customer the person they are dealing with is qualified. That is what we are working towards,” said Halil.

“If it is going to work as a Kitemark or a Gold Standard of consistent quality across the industry it is going to need a lot of people to be involved. It cannot be just Alphera or our dealers, it needs to be broader,” he said.

Currently, the plan is to get 150 people through the training in year one with hopes that through word of mouth and publicity, the numbers will ramp up thereafter. The group estimates that there are approximately (there are no official figures) 80,000 sales staff who have exposure to car finance so the initial training aspirations are modest.

“We did some analysis and there are tens of thousands involved in F&I, we are probably expecting to roll out training to 150 people each year. We are opening up dialogue to larger Plcs and big groups to see if we can get their training teams to engage directly with the IMI to get their training accredited. 150 is only going to scratch the barely surface, we need to engage support across the industry to get more players on board.

Alphera is also extending invitations to all of the other lenders in the industry who might like to avail of the IMI training.

“Most of them think it is a good idea. Obviously with the sensitivities around anti-trust, the conversations are better intermediated so we are putting them in touch with our contacts at the IMI and to help them understand the process.”

But is it likely that other finance companies will want to avail of the IMI courses?

“I am mostly expecting those other lenders will accept the offer of support in the form of an introduction to the IMI so they can then set up their own programmes independently of Alphera.

Halil is aware that the numbers are small but the important thing for him is that the programmes are good and numbers will grow.

“If you cast your mind back to when the FLA launched the SAF programme, the numbers in that instance started quite low but by word of mouth more and more dealers got on board, big Plcs got on board and now it is rare to speak to a dealer that does not put his sales team though SAF. And that is where we want to get to as well,” he said.

Quality Assured Programmes

• The Funding Essential Skills programme is aimed at vehicle sales executives, offering a combination of theoretical and practical training methods to help participants understand the various consumer funding products and the role of finance in the current car market
• The Selling to the Business User programme aims to improve business managers’ knowledge of F&I products targeted at business customers, and build on the skills necessary to sell these products effectively and professionally
• Developing the Manager is also for business managers, and is focused on the development of soft skills to improve team performance and develop greater interpersonal skills