Strategic sessions and honoring its best performers highlighted the latest event hosted by EFG Companies.

The company recently held its annual Agent Council when agents from across the U.S. gather to discuss industry trends, current business challenges, best practices and new product innovation.

Going into 2020, the company highlighted that agents are primarily focused on helping dealers compete in an industry where profit margins continue to tighten and fortify their customer retention models.

“As we’ve seen over the last few years, agents are evaluating how to restructure their agencies to better serve their dealer clients and support a larger dealer book of business,” said Adam Ouart, vice president of agency services at EFG Companies.

“It’s become clear that the true differentiator for agents is transparency, partnership and engagement,” Ouart continued in a news release. “However, creating a business culture around these values takes more than a pep talk. We’re seeing agents invest heavily in training for their own teams, as well as training for their dealership partners.”

As agents implement policy and process improvements, EFG acknowledged they are also working with dealerships to improve their own service models, especially in the service drive. This includes training service managers on both customer service and sales, recognizing the fact that a service manager has a much bigger opportunity to close more customers on small, credit-card-sized F&I products tailored to specific individual needs.

In addition to discussing the path forward, EFG also recognized two agents for their demonstrated success in 2019.

Empire Dealer Services was given the Top Agent Award. This award is determined by overall performance, effective training, and comprehensive achievements throughout the year.

Heart Dealer Services was recognized with the EFG Rising Star Award. This award was created to recognize the achievements of those agents who made the largest strides when it comes to improving their value proposition with their dealer clients.

Hosted annually, EFG’s national Agent Council is designed to provide a collaborative environment in which agents can formalize their strategies to better serve their dealer clients, improve F&I performance, and increase dealer profit. This year, EFG’s premier agents from across the United States attended a four-day roundtable in the Bahamas.