Monthly Archives: March 2018

Keep Your Service Customers Loyal With One Question

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Keeping Customers happy is essential to not only retaining your current Customers but in adding new Customers to your Service Department. To keep your Customers happy go beyond a Yes and No question and gather information you can use to improve the Service Customer’s experience.

To get good CSI scores, Service Advisors frequently ask Customers if there is any reason the Customer wouldn’t rate the service as excellent (or whatever the manufacturer deems the best score). Just like you might tell a waitress everything was fine, when in fact you may have no intention of returning, your Customers may be telling you the same thing.

But what if the Service Advisor asks the question “Is there anything I could do differently to make your next visit with us more enjoyable?” Not only does this reinforce to the Customer that you care and you expect him or her to return, it also gives you invaluable information to improve all of your Customers’ Service experiences. Make sure the Service Advisors thank the Customers with a smile for the Customer’s input, regardless of the Customer’s response. Have your Service Advisors do this for one week, log all of the responses, now look for areas where you can work to improve the Service experience at your Dealership.

Dealerships Can Generate More Profit By Eliminating Waste

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You can generate more profit without spending money – just resolve to eliminate wasted time at your Dealership or in your Department. I think you’ll be amazed at how much WASTE you can find just by looking. In most Service Departments, the average gross profit per Technician billed hour runs over $100, so it doesn’t take long for the savings to add up.  A Sales Person’s time can run between $95, to well over $150 an hour, depending on his or her abilities. It doesn’t always take a Time and Motion Expert to see what can be improved. Read below and think about some of the common areas of waste (besides being seduced to surf the Internet) at your Dealership:

WAITING: Employees waiting for Customer approvals or authorization, equipment to be repaired, parts to arrive, the finance manager to be available, etc. Waiting probably accounts for the biggest waste of time. If you increased the number of Customers making Service appointments would that help your sales? YES – You generate more income when you have the opportunity to prepare for the Service Customer’s visit. Would better Repair Order descriptions help? Yes – If the Technician can fix the vehicle without having to go back to the Service Advisor to get the answer to “how can we duplicate your concern?”

CORRECTIONS: Fixing a repair twice, re-ordering a needed part, re-contracting a finance Customer, etc. Taking the time to get it right the first time will save you time. Think of the saying, “If you don’t have the time to do it right, when will you have time to fix it?” Do we have the right Techs working on vehicles? Do we have properly trained Salespeople? When you spend your money on Advertising, and your Customers receive average treatment from their Salesperson, it is time AND money wasted.

MOTIONS: People, paperwork or equipment moving more than required. This waste is probably the easiest to fix. Start by streamlining processes, then updating or adding new equipment. Could barcoding parts and vehicles save you time and money when counting inventories? Are Technicians wasting time looking for a Customer’s vehicle on the lot? Do Salespeople roam the lot in hopes of finding the right car or truck to sell to their Customers? Fix these problems with efficient processes.

OVER PROCESSING: Are there process steps in place to overcome a poor design not required to take care of a Customer? Think of a title clerk hand addressing envelops for vehicle registrations that could easily be put into window envelopes.

UNDER-UTILIZATION: Underutilizing the potential of your people is also considered a waste. When you have a Tech (generating over $100 an hour), does it make sense to waste any of his or her time? Pre-pulling parts or running parts to Technicians would make better use of the Techs’ time. Should the Salespeople be gathering insurance information instead of the Finance Manager? Is the Sales Manager handling all of the Dealer Trades, when he or she could be coaching Salespeople or working with a Customer?

By eliminating or reducing waste, the result will improve the overall efficiency of your Dealership—thus providing time to generating more income. Involve your Employees to see how to eliminate wasted time in every Department.

My Profit Blueprints Analysis provides Dealership Managers with a monthly report that saves them time by highlighting underperforming areas with color and provides Managers with Dealership-Proven Action Plans to help them with a plan for an area of concern. Couple that with a monthly conference call and you are on your way to a fabulous year!

Make Your Job Easier with Better, Faster Decision Making

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If you’ve watched any football game, you have to be in awe at the speed at which coaches decide what will be the next best play, based on the current circumstances. There are enormous variables that dictate the best play. Third down and seven yards may call for an entirely different play if you’re in the first quarter compared to the last two minutes of the game, and you are behind. Now are you behind by 3 points or 5 points? How close are you to the goal? The coaches have less than 25 seconds to analyze all of the variables to come up with the right play for the desired outcome.

Decades ago, exceptional coaches knew there had to be a better way than just going with their gut. Bill Walsh, Bill Parcells, and Jimmy Johnson figured out that if you knew ahead of time what the decision(s) should be in specific situations, you would be more successful. They “invented” the laminated sheets that every head football coach now carries with 1st Quarter plays already scripted, and situational decision plays “decided.” It is much easier discussing play options sitting at a table with unlimited time than making split-second decisions when the outcome of a game depends on choosing the right play while the crowds are screaming, your starter left injured, and you are trying to think clearly.

A good decision maker makes for a good Leader. Establish a decision-making process for common issues, and you can be more efficient in your day-to-day work. In any given week, Managers make hundreds of decisions; some easy, some critical. There are daily decisions that can be made quickly using an analytical approach when you follow a Decision Tree. Decision Trees are used to select the right strategy for a current situation and operate much like flow charts. If this – then do this, if that – then do this. When do we take a short deal versus passing on a deal?  To finish a Service Customer’s vehicle – do we special-order a part or do we pick it up locally to get the vehicle on the road sooner?  Decisions Trees, not only free up Manager’s time, they improve the consistency of your processes.

When applied to everyday choices, Decisions Trees will help your staff know what to do in specific situations – even when you’re not available.
The goal is not to take emotions out of the decision-making process, but to prevent emotions from taking over. Remember the old way you decided which used vehicles would make it to your lot – the Manager buying them because “he knows what sells in his market.” The myriad of tools available to help Managers stock inventory for their market and price their vehicles for their market insure Used Vehicle inventories that are right for your Dealership.

Our past experiences dictate the decisions we make and will influence the way we solve problems. When we apply what we’ve learned to make smart choices, we can continually adapt and improve our processes. Think about the decisions you make every day, can they be put into writing or flowcharts for you and your staff to follow the path that will yield the desired result quickly? It works in championship caliber football, and it can work for you.

For examples of Decision Trees email Brooke@profits4dealers.com