I was thinking this morning about how rockets and Fixed Operations Customer Management are related. With all the news about the different companies striving to become the next NASA, it reminded me that we are all in a "Space Race" even though I know that the two subjects seem completely unrelated and are not even in the same Encyclopedia volume.

And I submit for your consideration that driving a rocket into space and good Customer Service…

I was thinking this morning about how rockets and Fixed Operations Customer Management are related. With all the news about the different companies striving to become the next NASA, it reminded me that we are all in a "Space Race" even though I know that the two subjects seem completely unrelated and are not even in the same Encyclopedia volume.

And I submit for your consideration that driving a rocket into space and good Customer Service…

When examining the best service departments across the country, you often find that they all share common best practices that create additional service sales and gross profits for their dealerships.

These best practices combined with daily monitoring, observation and coaching results in…

Just what does a 10% increase (in any KPI you choose) really mean to your dealership?

Nearly every week we spend training in a Dealership, we try to identify and help correct deficiencies in production, CSI and dealership employee performance. The rub is that every dealership has different issues and problems.

Sometimes it’s the training, sometimes it’s the employee and sometimes it’s the management.

And 100% of the time when there is little progress in performance…

Processes save lives. It’s true. It is especially true when you are lying in a hospital bed with a doctor and a nurse talking to you about how their processes will save your life…which was where I found myself in the not too distant past.

One of the best things about traveling is experiencing how other people run their businesses.  It also allows you to have many different Sales presentations from many different people. This story is about how one motivated, knowledgeable and especially friendly Salesperson made a banana into a bbq pork sandwich.

I was …

In every Dealership there is a desk. And behind that desk sits someone who has the responsibility to increase Profits.

In Fixed Ops, this person is called the Service Manager.

Typically  (when I go into a store that is not profitable), I find the person sitting behind that desk working on everything not related to increasing Profits while believing that they are working on everything related to increasing Profits.

I call it the “Theory of Un-relativity” and it goes like…

In every dealership that I visit that is struggling with increasing Sales per Repair Order, performing a walkaround  is the area that the Advisors do not do well, if at all.

Recently, I was observing a service drive when a customer pulled up in a car and the advisor looked up from the desk and and said "Oh, look...she is just sitting there." And for the next 3-5 minutes, the advisor…

Here is a simple way to make more every month. 

It's called the "6 Steps to Happy Bank Deposits" and it goes like this.

1st, write down what you make per month…

During the analysis and evaluation we conduct prior to starting a training program the question of ethics and standard business practices we train on usually requires some explanation. In other words, Dealer Principals and General Managers want to hear from us that we conduct our training programs ethically and professionally.

If I were to stand in a room full of Dealer Principals and ask "Who in here believes that the best way to take care of a customer is to sell extra or un-needed…

Resignation Letter

Date: Effective Immediately

From: Fixed Operations Gross Profit

To: Dealer Principal

Dear Dealer Principal,

It is with great regret that I must submit this letter of resignation effective immediately.

Although we have worked together over the past few years I don’t feel I can contribute to your bottom line anymore. It has been a great experience and I wish you and all of your dealership team the best.

I am quite…

By Leonard Buchholz

Every year about this time we begin to contemplate. What was our final score for 2012? How did we end up? Did we just SURVIVE or did we THRIVE?

For most of you, that reality was written months ago and on the 10^th of January you’ll be reading the results you already suspect.

You may even be feeling some anticipation (much like a kid on Christmas morning).

For those of you who spent more time…

Service is an "elbow to elbow" people business. As I (we) have traveled and observed so many Dealership Service Operations, there is still one overriding factor that every Customer Service Organization must understand and adhere to. This is people business.…

Lost Sales and Declined Services Customers are in many Dealerships, the largest untapped source of additional revenue. And in most cases, the Sales has been lost because of a few words and not a few dollars.

Advisors…

It is an age old diametrically opposed argument. On one side, we have technology. On the other side, we have personnel.

I can't sell anything without a great Multipoint Inspection.

I can't sell anything without a professional Sales Process.

I must have both in order to be effective.

In recent years there has been a migration to technology because we…

Clearly there is a huge gap between what "we" (old school) managers and Leaders consider useful and proper communication, motivation and Leadership techniques and what the "new" generation responds to.

There is a choice to be made.

A. Keep doing what you've been doing and keep getting the same results while expecting a different outcome.

B. Do something…

Employees are the life of any organization. We spends hours recruiting, screening and interviewing them. After we have hired them, we spend more time training, coaching and monitoring them.

And when it's all said and done, we like to think that we have contributed to the Dealership's future and had a hand in weaving the very fabric of that Dealership.

And in every Dealership…

A traveling salesman had come to the end of a long day and was very hungry. He had not made many sales and was feeling a little frustrated with his results. He decided to stop and get something to eat and mull over his next step.

He stopped in town, parked on Main Street and looked around. He found two restaurants side by side.  Above each there was a sign.

The one on the left said “Food, more…

That's right! There are 3 Personal Components you need to have to Succeed in the Car Biz!

ATTITUDE, SKILL SET and KNOWLEDGE!

A strong Attitude will get you through the day even though you may feel like giving up. Attitude smooths out the ups and…