ALBANY, N.Y. – August 4th, 2014 – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems (http://www.automate.com) today announced that Dave Druzynski, Director of Human Resources at Auto/Mate, will present "How to Avoid the Costs of a Bad Hire" at the upcoming 2014 Montana Auto Dealers Association (MTADA) 100th Anniversary Convention in Helena, Montana.
Druzynski's presentation is designed to help dealers understand the true costs associated with poor hiring decisions,…
ContinueAdded by Mike Esposito on August 4, 2014 at 7:57am — No Comments
Most of us grew up in the industry where PUVR (or Per Used Vehicle Retail) was the key metric we were looking for to determine how successful we were on each vehicle we sold. As we all know, things have definitely changed since the Internet has become the primary way our customers begin their search for a used car.
For the last two years, I have had the privilege of teaching and coaching our NCM dealer-clients’ managers at the NCM…
ContinueAdded by Robin Cunnigham on September 24, 2013 at 3:55pm — 2 Comments
Written By: Robin Cunningham
Most Monday mornings I find myself standing in NCM Institute’s beautiful training facility welcoming a new class of retail automobile dealership managers who have come to Kansas City for formalized training specific to their job responsibilities. After introductions, I tell them something like: “We won’t be talking about what you think you have come here to learn until just before or…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on June 27, 2013 at 8:30am — No Comments
Written By: Steve Hall
When we ask service managers how important technician efficiency is to profitability, they most often say that “it goes hand-in-hand” or “if they aren’t efficient, you won’t make money.” I agree with their comments, but am constantly amazed with how they quantify “efficient.”
It seems that we have become accustomed to thinking a technician is efficient if they hit our flagged-hours goal for the week. At times this is true. Everyone can have a bad day, or…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on April 24, 2013 at 9:36am — No Comments
Written by: Steve Hall
When we ask service managers how important technician efficiency is to profitability, they most often say that “it goes hand-in-hand” or “if they aren’t efficient, you won’t make money.” I agree with their comments, but am constantly amazed with how they quantify “efficient.”
It seems that we have become accustomed to thinking a technician is efficient if they hit our flagged-hours goal for the week. At times this is true. Everyone can…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on April 11, 2013 at 3:00pm — 3 Comments
Written by: Keith Shetterly
We talked for years in automotive retail about “The Road to the Sale,” and I’m clearly one of the many supporters of that path to sales success. However, too many of us are still on "The Road Less Profited." Why? Because we are not getting more sales (and profits!) from "The Road to Retention”!
Retention sales link the positives of variable and fixed operations together, and their teaming allows each part of the dealership to amplify the other.…
Added by Garry House on March 12, 2013 at 9:00am — No Comments
If you haven’t already done so, it’s that time to review your 2012 performance in detail. In what areas did you fall short of your goals and why? Where could you have generated greater gains and how? Don’t allow January to slip by without these facts in writing and a discussion of how you can best move forward in 2013.
A common F&I pay plan in the automotive industry is known as the grid. It compensates managers based on their per vehicle retail performance and products sold…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on February 1, 2013 at 3:30pm — 1 Comment
Whenever I ask this question, I’m usually very disappointed with the answers that I receive. This past week, when I queried a group enrolled in the NCM Institute's regional Service Management training class in Charlotte, NC, only 20% responded with a “Yes.” My disappointment continues, and…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on September 18, 2012 at 12:48pm — No Comments
Everyone I talk to seems to have their own conception of what the 80/20 Rule is all about, but very few people in the retail automotive business fully understand its dominant principles and how they should be applied to our business. Nonetheless, I’m a believer that the 80/20 Rule can and should be used by every sensible person in their daily life. The successful utilization of this principle can multiply the profitability of auto dealerships and the effectiveness of any…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on September 12, 2012 at 8:58am — No Comments
Normally I don’t receive my copy of Automotive News in south Florida from the U.S. Postal Service until Thursday or Friday. This week I was pleasantly surprised to find it in my mailbox on Tuesday. A couple of articles in the current issue (authored by Lindsay Chappell and Christina Rogers) inspired me to revisit the vehicle personalization… |
Added by Garry House on September 4, 2012 at 12:42pm — No Comments
At last week’s semi-annual meeting of NCM’s divisional directors, 20 Group moderators, Retail Operations consultants, and NCM Institute faculty members a good discussion developed around the topic of Service Advisor Compensation. The common questions that several on our staff were seeking answers for were as follows:
Has there been any significant change in advisor compensation…
Added by Garry House on August 7, 2012 at 2:44pm — 2 Comments
Last week I attended NCM’s semi-annual meeting of all its divisional directors, 20 Group moderators, Retail Operations consultants, and NCM Institute faculty members, who, along with our CEO set aside two and a half days to dialogue about what’s happening around the industry and within the company, and how best to address the needs of our clients. As usual, it was a great encounter, with far too much agenda content and discussion for the overall time allotted.
One of the topics that…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on July 31, 2012 at 1:23pm — 5 Comments
At the conclusion of the NCMi webinar on “Finding the Missing Pieces to Improve Service and Parts Gross Profit,” one of the attendees questioned our recommendation as to the necessity for sub-accounting for automotive dealerships. Robin Cunningham, the NCM Institute faculty member who presented the webinar, suggested that our next Up To Speedarticle attempt to clarify this recommendation. So, here we go!
A meaningful sub-accounting process is a primary ingredient of…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on July 18, 2012 at 10:00am — No Comments
I recently had the privilege of teaching our first NCMi class that is totally focused on leadership in automotive dealerships. We began this 1½-day class talking about “employee engagement,” and the general managers attending this session began positively nodding their heads, when I started this discussion with, “Surveys show that…
1. Less than one in four American workers say they work at their full potential.
2. One-half say…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on July 12, 2012 at 12:30pm — 9 Comments
Wow, that’s a lot of acronyms, but you know what they all mean, right? Following are four recommendations from John Gilbert, the Fixed Operations specialist with NCM’s Retail Operations division. To increase your effective labor rate (ELR), reduce your cost of sale (COS), and improve your gross profit margin (GPM) on customer-paid repair order (R.O.) sales:
Check…
Added by Garry House on July 10, 2012 at 10:00am — 1 Comment
When I was teaching the Sonic Dealer Academy from 2001 through 2008, my co-instructor, Steve Hallock, became famous for asking each class why they thought we spend so much time talking about the service department. He would explain that it’s because, at a 75% gross profit margin on labor sales, the service department offers, by far, the greatest incentive to increase sales. "So why bother?" Steve would ask. "Because it’s only75…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on June 28, 2012 at 5:30pm — 4 Comments
The NCMi faculty members and the NCM Retail Operations field consultants have learned that managers who effectively manage the elements of “controllable profitability” within their respective operating departments normally produce a significant departmental net profit. This, of course, assumes that the majority of dealership expenses (limited-control and fixed) are fairly distributed to each operating department.
Many managers, however, lack the proper focus on controllable…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on June 27, 2012 at 8:30am — No Comments
Part one of this topic was published here on January 19, 2012. In that article I discussed the four no-cost or low-costactivities that, when executed flawlessly, will increase a service department's customer R.O. count by at least 10%. Today I’ll address several other proven strategies to increase your customer-paid service…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on May 10, 2012 at 11:00am — No Comments
“I don’t need another book on farmin’, when I ain’t farmin’ as good as I know how right now!”
I remember that statement like it was yesterday. That’s what a dealer told me over the phone back in 1987, in the the early days of my consulting career. It was right after I explained the services I could offer him. He made it very clear to me that he wasn’t interested in anything new and different. He knew that “magic bullets and shiny objects” wouldn’t provide the solutions he…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on February 15, 2012 at 3:48pm — No Comments
When I started my retail automotive consulting practice in 1987, I chose to state as my unique value proposition, "Guaranteed 1,000% Return on Investment." During my first few years as an independent consultant, I was shocked to learn that very few of my potential dealer clients had a clue about what this meant. So I would explain that, for example, if the dealer would invest $2,500 in professional fees with me, I would provide a money-back guarantee that I would assist in increasing the…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on January 19, 2012 at 11:03am — No Comments
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
1999
© 2024 Created by DealerELITE. Powered by