SOUTHFIELD, Mich. -

Rather than just attributing double-digit growth in unit and dollar volumes as well as the number of active dealers using its platform only to market conditions and the possibility some competitors pulled back during the first quarter, Credit Acceptance Corp. leadership applauded the efforts of its nationwide salesforce.

Credit Acceptance reported that unit and dollar volumes grew year-over-year by 28.4 percent and 32.5 percent, respectively, during the first quarter. The company’s number of active dealers climbed 18.5 percent, and average volume per active dealer moved 8.5 percent higher.

All of those increases pushed the number of financed contracts Credit Acceptance originated in the first quarter to 83,854, an amount coming from 5,996 dealerships.

Furthermore, 857 stores joined Credit Acceptance’s network in Q1.

“I'd like to think our salesforce is maturing and getting more productive,” Credit Acceptance chief executive officer Brett Roberts said. “Certainly the number of dealers that we enrolled, the new actives during the quarter was a sign of that. We can’t enroll a new active without a salesperson out in the field having some success. So it was nice to see that number.

“The other thing it’s nice to see is we are not losing as many dealers, and that’s not necessarily obvious from the release,” Roberts continued. “But if you look at the sequential increase in our active dealers and you compare that with historical quarters, you would see it was a very strong quarter from a dealer retention standpoint. We were happy to see that as well.

“I think we hear a lot of positive feedback about our program from the dealers that we are signing up,” he went on to say. “They are signing up for a reason, because they feel like we can help them. The fact that we signed up so many dealers this quarter is a positive sign there.”

The performance of Credit Acceptance’s representatives in the field helped to push the company to a Q1 consolidated net income figure of $71.5 million, or $3.41 per diluted share. Those figures are up from $49.8 million, or $2.12 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.

Management reported its Q1 adjusted net income, a non-GAAP financial measure, came in at $72.1 million, or $3.44 per diluted share, compared to $63.4 million, or $2.69 per diluted share, in the first quarter of last year.

Beyond the top-line numbers, investment analysts inquired several times during Credit Acceptance’s quarterly conference call about the company’s salesforce. Senior vice president and treasurer Doug Busk explained the company has about 265 employees in the sales area, 235 of which were salespeople, what the company calls market area managers. Busk indicated those levels haven’t changed much in the past couple of years.

So why is the group performing so well now?

“As Brett mentioned, we increased the salesforce pretty dramatically back in 2011 and 2012, not planning for any significant expansion of that sort in the near term. We will perhaps opportunistically increase it a little bit but nothing of the magnitude that we saw several years ago.  In terms of turnover, it's something we are focused on, something that we attempt to, obviously, minimize,” Busk said.

“We are continuing to make sure we have the right compensation plans in place, provide the salespeople with the right tools to make them more effective. I'd say at this point it's just one of those things you are focused on in trying to build a healthy organization.” Busk went on to say.

Roberts also touched on what areas Credit Acceptance is enjoying the most success.

“I know that the markets we are most successful in grew faster than the markets where we have had less success,” Roberts said. “What I take from that is I think there is a little bit of momentum that develops in a market, that sometimes the first dealer that you sign up is the toughest in a market because nobody knows who you are and you can’t point to dealers in the area that have had success on your program. But then once you get a critical mass in a market and you have a lot of dealers using your program and enjoying success, it's sometimes easier to grow it from there.

“I think the performance by salesperson probably reflects that dynamic as well as the skill and experience and ability of the individual salespeople, which obviously varies as well,” he went on to say.