Joel Cochran

Hold responsibility for the sales desk, one accountable leader for deal flow from first pencil through funding, in a combined Sales Manager and Finance Manager appointment held since February 2026. The sales desk runs in a special finance market: desk every deal with the lender's eyes on it, because in this store the structure that gets a subprime customer approved is decided at the desk, not in the finance office.

Scope: the sales desk at Big City Cars, with F&I responsibility spanning four stores (Big City Cars Fort Wayne, Big City Cars Goshen, and two The Auto Brokers locations). In this same February 2026 appointment, took on the books at The Auto Brokers (4820 Lima Rd, Fort Wayne, IN 46808) and The Auto Brokers of Waynedale (4301 Bluffton Rd, Fort Wayne, IN 46809), worked directly through August 2026 and stepped back from direct work on them for the last two months.

Core responsibilities

• Desk deals and structure financing for a customer base with a heavy special finance mix.
• Lead and coach the sales team.
• Recruiting and hiring for the sales floor.
• One accountable leader for deal flow from first pencil through funding.

Results

Store results in this period against the prior period: front gross per deal up 51.8 percent, total gross per deal up 36.2 percent, units per month up 6.8 percent.

Hold responsibility for the finance desk in a combined Sales Manager and Finance Manager appointment, one accountable leader for deal flow from first pencil through funding. Special financing is the specialty: desk deals, structure financing, and present F&I products through menu selling for a customer base with a heavy special finance mix, and work the full credit spectrum from deep subprime to prime.

Scope: F&I responsibility spans four stores: Big City Cars in Fort Wayne, Big City Cars in Goshen, and two The Auto Brokers locations (The Auto Brokers, 4820 Lima Rd, Fort Wayne, IN 46808, and The Auto Brokers of Waynedale, 4301 Bluffton Rd, Fort Wayne, IN 46809).

Core responsibilities

• Desk deals and structure financing across the full credit spectrum, subprime through prime.
• Present F&I products through menu selling.
• Work lender relationships across prime and subprime programs to get challenging deals structured, approved, and funded.
• Maintain F&I compliance discipline across contracts and lender documentation.
• Run the full finance function for the Goshen store, including all F&I, AI lead contact, and funding.
• Carry F&I responsibilities for the two The Auto Brokers locations.

Results, Fort Wayne (Jun 2025 to Oct 2026)

• Back-end gross per deal up 16.4 percent on financed deals (first three months to last three, $1,449 to $1,687 per copy). Most recent six months averaged $2,149 front and $1,790 back per copy, $3,939 total, on financed deals.
• Share of the store's F&I deals up from 19.9 percent to 33.7 percent; across 17 months, 574 F&I deals worked and $788,269 in F&I back gross produced, 27.4 percent of the store's deals and 25.2 percent of its back gross.
• Median contracts-in-transit time cut 50 percent, from 4.0 days to 2.0 days, with 81.1 percent of deals funded within 7 days and 70.3 percent within 5 days.
• Service contract penetration 51.8 percent across 438 financed deals.
• Funding spread across 48 distinct lenders, with no single lender above 12.3 percent of financed volume: the full-spectrum lender bench, prime and subprime, that special financing at this scale requires.

Results, Goshen

• Full finance function; started September 2026, on site for the first month and remote since. In my first month (September 2026), total gross per deal rose 74.9 percent and back gross rose 113.6 percent against the monthly average of the six months before I started, with store total gross up 104.0 percent over that average (prior window under the previous manager; a single opening month against a six-month average, read as an opening sample, not a trend. October 2026 is left out until that month settles).
• First month credited under my name (September 2026) funded at a 1.0-day median, with 88.9 percent of deals funded within 7 days (small sample, labeled as such).
• AI lead contact at Goshen: after the follow-up automation went live on October 4, 2026, received lead traffic rose roughly 60 percent in the first two days.

Results, The Auto Brokers locations (4820 Lima Rd and 4301 Bluffton Rd, Fort Wayne)

538 deals, Jan to Oct 2026: combined median time to fund cut 44 percent, from 9.0 days in January 2026 to 5.0 days by March 2026 while I worked the books directly, and it held at 5.0 days in September and October 2026 after I stepped back.

Selected results, June 2025 to October 2026: median time to fund cut 50 percent, from 4.0 days to 2.0 days, with 81.1 percent of deals funded within 7 days. Back-end gross per deal up 16.4 percent on financed deals from the first three months to the last three, and the most recent six months averaged $3,939 total gross per copy on financed deals. Service contract penetration 51.8 percent on financed deals. Deals funded through 48 different lenders. Share of the store's F and I deals up from 19.9 percent to 33.7 percent. At The Auto Brokers (4820 Lima Rd, Fort Wayne) and The Auto Brokers of Waynedale (4301 Bluffton Rd, Fort Wayne), monthly median funding time fell from 9.0 days to 5.0 days while the books were worked directly, and held at 5.0 days after stepping back. At Goshen, first credited month (September 2026) posted a 1.0-day median time to fund.

Stepped into a dual sales and finance role, drawing on prior command of the store's finance systems to help the finance office absorb a heavier sales load. Handled lender submissions, deal structuring, menu presentations, and funding support while continuing to sell on the floor: special finance deals worked from both sides of the desk, sold on the floor and structured for subprime and prime lenders in the office.

Core responsibilities

• Lender submissions across prime and subprime programs.
• Deal structuring for a heavy special finance mix.
• Menu presentations.
• Funding support for the finance office.
• Continued selling on the floor alongside the finance work.

Results

Results for the era (Jun 2025 to Jan 2026, from the store's sold-unit logs): carried 19.9 percent of the store's F&I deals in this period, the base from which the share later grew to 33.7 percent in the manager era.

Returned to Big City Cars and got back to my roots: selling. Dug in on the floor and worked the full sales process, from first contact through delivery, in a special finance market, selling to the same credit-challenged customer base the finance office serves.

The production carried straight into the finance office: moved into an Assistant Finance Manager role within a month, and promotion to Sales Manager and Finance Manager followed in February 2026.

Core responsibilities

• Full sales process on the floor, first contact through delivery.
• Sell in a special finance market, structuring each sale around the customer's credit position.

Ran the finance office: lender submissions, deal structuring, menu presentations, and funding follow-through, with direct bank and lender relations across prime and subprime programs. Special financing was the heart of the desk: a heavy special finance mix, worked across the full credit spectrum from subprime to prime, with direct relationships on both the bank side and the lender side.

Modernized the office by introducing e-contracting and new funding processes that delivered faster funding times and tighter documentation discipline.

Core responsibilities

• Run the finance office end to end.
• Lender submissions and deal structuring across prime and subprime programs, the full credit spectrum.
• Menu presentations of F&I products.
• Funding follow-through on every deal.
• Direct bank and lender relations.

Results

Results: median time to fund on my deals cut 42.9 percent (7.0 days in the first two months to 4.0 days in the last two), with the share funded within 7 days up from 58.3 percent to 78.1 percent. Store-wide median time to fund fell from 9.0 days in the three months before the stint to 3.0 days in its final two months. (October and November 2022 monthly figures are deliberately not quoted; the samples are tiny.)

Selected results, August 2022 to March 2023: median time to fund on my deals cut 42.9 percent across the stint, from 7.0 days in the first two months to 4.0 days in the last two months, with funded within 7 days up from 58.3 percent to 78.1 percent. Store-wide median time to fund fell from 9.0 days in the three months before the stint to 3.0 days in its final two months.

Directed inventory across the region for a subprime-focused auto group. This was my final role in a two-year progression at RightWay: Sales Associate, then Sales & Inventory Manager at Kokomo, then Regional Inventory Director. Regional inventory in a special finance group is a lending decision as much as a stocking one: the cars on the ground decide which credit tiers the stores can sell to.

Core responsibilities

• Direct inventory across the region, aligning stock with the full credit spectrum the stores serve, from deep subprime to prime.

Managed sales and inventory for the Kokomo location, holding both functions at one store in the step between front-line sales and regional inventory leadership. The sales side ran on the same special finance model as the floor role below it: a subprime customer base, where the right inventory at the right price point is what makes a special finance deal fundable.

Core responsibilities

• Manage sales at the Kokomo location, a special finance store.
• Manage inventory for the Kokomo location, keeping stock matched to what subprime buyers and their lenders can carry.

Front-line vehicle sales in a subprime-focused retail environment: special financing as the store's core business, not a side desk. This role is the foundation for later special finance management work, two full years of selling into the subprime end of the credit spectrum.

Core responsibilities

• Front-line vehicle sales in a subprime-focused store.
• Work credit-challenged customers through the sales process, structuring every deal around what special finance lenders will approve.

Vehicle sales in a buy-here-pay-here and special finance retail model, working directly with credit-challenged customers. This is where a sales career built on special financing begins: selling to customers whose credit puts them outside prime lending, inside a store built to finance them anyway.

Core responsibilities

• Front-line vehicle sales in a special finance store.
• Work directly with credit-challenged customers through the buy-here-pay-here sales process, matching each customer to a vehicle and a payment the in-house financing model can carry.

Directed the company's e-commerce and technology operations for over eleven years (11 years, 5 months). Acousticom was a manufacturer, with a full factory attached to its office operations, and the role reached well past the office: I spent a lot of time involved in the day-to-day operations on the manufacturing side of the business.

On the factory side, I designed and implemented robotic machinery, and designed and built the Sound Egg chairs. The hands-on work spanned CNC design, mill work, electronics, mold design, and 3D printing.

Scope: the company's full e-commerce operation and its technology function, held as a single directorship across the entire tenure, alongside the manufacturing involvement above.

Core responsibilities

• Direct e-commerce operations and online sales channels.
• Oversee web development.
• Lead the company's technology operations.
• Design and implement robotic machinery.
• Design and build products, including the Sound Egg chairs.
• Hands-on manufacturing work: CNC design, mill work, electronics, mold design, and 3D printing.
• Involved in the day-to-day operations on the manufacturing side of the business.

Owned and operated a small photography business, concurrent with the Acousticom directorship.

Core responsibilities

• Own and operate the business.
• Photography work for clients.