Tis' the Season!
by: Jack Fitzpatrick
 Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring ting tingling too...
Come on it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you...
Let’s face it, the only reason we hear sleigh bells is because we don’t hear any impact guns being used in the shop! “TIS the SEASON” my friends, Tis the season to start planning for next year!
One of the most important responsibilities of dealers and managers is that of planning for the future. The future is now! Yes we can all sit around and talk about how this December is slower than last, but in the long run, what the Dealers and managers need to be doing is planning the attack for 2011.
- Wouldn't it be great if our service advisors averaged more sales per repair order?
- Wouldn't it be great if we had an enclosed service drive?
- Wouldn't it be great if our CSI scores were higher?
- Wouldn’t it be great if the service advisors did a walk-a-round on all cars?
- Wouldn't it be great if we never had any staff turnover?
There are many more of these types of questions that dealers and managers are always concerned with and planning for. In fact, there are incredibly large numbers of these dealers and managers that I would call professional planners. By that I mean there are several who very seriously need to have a meeting about “what are we going to do to increase our gross profit?” or whatever the hot topic is on their minds at that particular moment.
Unfortunately, they do not know how to get out of this mode. They plan, brainstorm, plan, research and plan some more until they reach a point of feeling that there is no longer a need, or it will cost too much, or this isn't the right time to do it, or some of the current staff is unable to perform at this level, and get back into the OOOPs it’s April and we are busy again and then begin the process all over again.
I'm not saying that planning is unimportant or a waste of time.
What I am saying is that nothing is going to happen until you take action!
These are the things we need to be addressing now. As we hit the winter months we have every excuse why we cannot be busy, but we can be productive and the ripple effect of that will be becoming busier!
There is not a bad time to train our people to perform better!
Now is the perfect time to work with M5™ Management Services to lay out a plan for success for the future. We have no magic potion or a bottle we can rub that will have the “Profit Genie” appear, but what we do have is a series of “BEST PRACTICES” that, when trained and implemented, properly produce results when people are held accountable. We are not your cookie cutter consulting firm. We work with you, and your staff. Change can be uncomfortable, but if it produces a result (more net profit) that’s ok- we have plenty of aspirin in the first aid kit!
CSI training-Service advisor training-Shop structure-Menu development, or all of the above, can be handled by any Performance Coach here at M5™ Management Services. Please feel free to contact me, Jack Fitzpatrick, or any of us, at any time, regarding anything we might be able to help your company improve in 2011.
So stop planning and start doing! And, amazingly enough, things will change for the better!
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