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?

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…

Every Coaching session can be effective if you follow certain steps to improve your chances of a Successful outcome.

There is one word that is critical in determining the outcomes. That word is "Specific." There is an old saying that goes like this. "The more specific you are the better your results" and…

1. You cannot name your employees and refer to everyone as “Buddy” or “Chief.”
2. You don’t know what the company’s goals are for the year and you cannot tell anyone what your goals are.
3. Every time an employee comes to your door and knocks, you think they will ask for a raise or time off.
4. You cannot name the last book you read that pertained to your…

“The difference between genius and insanity is paper-thin.” Old Japanese proverb.

There is an inherent truth in that statement. How many times have you said to yourself “That’s crazy!” about something someone did only to find out…

We hear many things in Service.

Stand on any Service Drive on any given day and you will hear Customers describe all kinds of noises related their vehicles. The variety of sounds people make describing their …

Have you ever blown up a balloon and then just let it go and listen to the sound it makes? If you have children or a crazy Uncle Lenny, chances are you've heard this noise before. It is so distinctive that once you've heard it, you are not likely to forget it the rest of your life.

I've heard this same noise in my head many times in the service drive right after an Advisor says something he or she shouldn't have. In our business there are many things that must happen to make sure that…

In fixed ops we constantly worry whether or not we are getting a return on every one of our ad dollars. Every manufacturer tracks it. Every ad vendor tracks it. And when we spend the money and don't get an immediate return, we start to fret.

Here is the rub.

Customers don't make a connection with an ad. Customers don't make a connection with an offering or a…