ROBERT SMITH, FOUNDER & CEO

Robert Smith has invested 27 years in designing and employing management, sales, and F&I strategies that maximize franchised automotive dealerships’ financial performance. In his career, which includes experience with both auto wholesale and retail markets, he and his teams helped more than 1200 franchised dealers across the nation achieve outstanding results.

Uniquely, Robert’s experience is not limited to the auto industry. Like many auto dealers, Robert is an entrepreneur at heart, having launched and managed the successful growth of eight ventures in multiple industries. Robert’s companies have been considered top producers for some of the largest corporations in the world, including GE Capital, Toyota, Citigroup, Allianz, Verizon, American Medical Response, and Travelers Insurance.

A dedicated student and practitioner of best practices in management and strategy, Robert’s cross-industry experience allows him to identify and transfer innovative approaches to the auto retail industry. The common factor in all of his work is his clear understanding of how top-tier, best performer success is achieved and sustained.

After having built a best-in-class F&I product offering and developed and tested a comprehensive approach to improving auto dealerships results, he founded P1 – F&I Performance Solutions to offer these solutions and strategies to auto dealers nationwide. His acute understanding of the risks and rewards of operating a business is evidenced in the recommendations he provides P1’s clients.

A trademark of his career, Robert has a unique ability to identify and capitalize on gaps in the market and overlooked opportunities. This aptitude fueled his own management, sales, and F&I successes and serves as the foundation of he and his team’s approach to improving auto dealerships’ financial results in a manner that inherently strengthens their internal operations.

Robert has instilled a culture of integrity, innovation, and collaboration at P1, which in addition to aligning with his personal values, models how the highest performing auto dealerships succeed in the modern marketplace.

In addition to being a member of multiple trade organizations, Robert is a charter and current member of the Association of Finance & Insurance Professionals (AFIP) and is AFIP certified. He previously served on GE Capital’s National Council and is a founding and current member of Verizon Wireless Consortium for Medical Data Exchange.

Married for 25 years to Marilyn and the father of three, Robert deeply values his family and his faith. Committed to improving the lives of children domestically and abroad, Robert is also former Board member of Make-A-Wish East Tennessee and current Board member of Foundation for Sustainability & Peacemaking in Mesoamerica, an organization committed to sustainable development and peace promotion in Central American and Chiapas.

As both a participant and spectator, Robert’s has a life-long, personal passion for competitive and high-risk sports. He credits his experience and achievements as an athlete as a key influence in his professional career. In fact, P1 – F&I Performance Solutions’ name is an active acknowledgement of the kindredness he recognizes between achieving success in competitive sports and in business.