It was in late 1987, and I was conducting an in-dealership workshop focused on financial and operational planning and controls. I was describing an F&I process that I had recommended to increase service contract penetration, when the general manager said, “We used to do that.” In response, I asked, “Did it work?” “Absolutely,” he answered. I was tempted to say, “Then why did you stop doing it?” but I was new to the consulting business and didn’t want to risk offending one of my few…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on May 10, 2012 at 11:28am — 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
Over the last ten years, anyone who has not witnessed dramatic changes in the used vehicle arena must have his head in the sand. Why is it then that so many franchised new vehicle dealers have thus far failed to effectively adjust to these changes? So that you understand what I’m talking about, I’ll just mention two of these impactful changes: (1) the growth of the Internet as a marketing source; and, (2) the advantages available through inventory optimization technology. Even the language…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on May 7, 2012 at 4:59pm — No Comments
NCM Associates was on hand at NADA 2012 with the express purpose to open a dialogue with attending dealers and managers to listen to their issues, concerns, successes, and desires relative to their automotive dealership operations. It was a great opportunity for us to connect with dealers inside and outside the NCM family and as always, the conversations were compelling in many ways. In particular, one dealer told me about his vision for developing his future leaders, which I found to be…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on March 23, 2012 at 8:44am — 2 Comments
Over the last ten years, anyone who has not witnessed dramatic changes in the used vehicle arena must have his head in the sand. Why is it then that so many franchised new vehicle dealers have thus far failed to effectively adjust to these changes? So that you understand what I’m talking about, I’ll just mention two of these impactful changes: (1) the growth of the Internet as a marketing source; and, (2) the advantages available through inventory optimization technology. Even the language…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on March 23, 2012 at 8:30am — 1 Comment
How often do your sales consultants or sales managers have to respond like this to customers to whom they’ve just presented or demonstrated a used vehicle?
“Don’t worry about that clunking noise we heard. I’ll have a technician get it fixed in a jiffy.”
“That smell will go away as soon as the carpets are thoroughly dried out.”
“After we do a front end alignment, it won’t pull to the right…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on February 23, 2012 at 12:19pm — No Comments
By now, many of you have verified your dealership’s profitability for 2011. As most dealers, general managers and controllers understand, until we perform a final year-end reconciliation of each asset and liability account, the YTD profitability displayed on our income statement remains an unproven number. For some of you, this verification process will result in an upward adjustment to your 2011 profitability. However, experience tells me that most dealers…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on February 10, 2012 at 10:30am — No Comments
Many professional sales and sales management trainers believe that you have not "maxed out" on a vehicle buyer until that buyer initiates one additional sale (additional household vehicle or personal referral) during his/her normal purchase cycle. Mathematically, here's how the "one additional sale" concept works:
Assume that the normal customer purchase cycle…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on February 10, 2012 at 10:30am — No Comments
Sometime in your automotive management career, I’m sure that you’ve all been asked, “How do you know whether you’re winning or losing without a scorecard?” Scorekeeping and scoreboarding is a discipline that falls within each of the following major Elements of Effective Accountability Managementas discussed in previous blog posts:
Plan your Work and Work Your Plan!
Clearly Define and Communicate Your Expectations!
Measure What You…
Added by Garry House on February 3, 2012 at 12:31pm — No Comments
The labor sales potential for any franchised dealer’s service department is first dependent on the units in operation (UIOs) for that franchise in the dealer’s market. Unfortunately, very few of the manufacturers provide this UIO information to their dealers. For a fee, vehicles in operation (VIOs) are available by zip code from R.L. Polk, Inc.
Since there are other estimates used in the calculation of labor…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on January 24, 2012 at 10:30am — No Comments
Added by Pete Grimm on January 19, 2012 at 2:10pm — 2 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
This is a pretty basic question, right? But when discussing this subject recently during 2012 annual business planning conferences with several client dealership service managers, I discovered that the answers were far more elusive than they should have been. Most of the NCM client dealers continually try to achieve 5% - 8% year-over-year improvement in Fixed Operations profitability. And those that successfully do so fully understand that it doesn’t just happen. This level of…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on January 6, 2012 at 1:30pm — No Comments
I have always believed there is a valid reason why dealership website designers include a “Used Vehicle Specials (UVS)” page in their master plan. Because if I were a used vehicle prospect cruising dealers’ websites, when I click on “Used Vehicles” and a drop-down appears with one of the choices being “Specials” (or “Featured Vehicles”), I would certainly go there first before taking a deep dive into the overall used vehicle inventory. However, most dealership managers must not think that…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on December 27, 2011 at 3:30pm — 2 Comments
Added by Garry House on December 15, 2011 at 10:30am — 2 Comments
Very few dealers are both aggressive and effective in selling Extended Service Agreements (ESAs) after the new or used vehicle has been delivered. If you are so fortunate to be among this minority, you don’t need to read any further. Since most F&I departments don’t seem to have the inclination or motivation to work these post-delivery opportunities, let’s explore an alternate strategy…structuring a process to have our service advisors aggressively and effectively sell ESAs in…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on December 13, 2011 at 5:39pm — 1 Comment
Stop giving away additional, incremental sales and gross! Today's NCMi Up To Speed blog discusses how to set up an AS-IS used car sales process in your store.
If you're not in the AS-IS used vehicle business, you should be!
By Garry House, Director, NCM…
ContinueAdded by Robin Keller on November 15, 2011 at 1:40pm — 2 Comments
The NCM Institute just posted this article on the Up To Speed blog. Written by NCM Institute Director and retail operations specialist, Garry House, you'll find a good, basic plan for how to start a personalization program in your store...
Since the 2011 Specialty Equipment Market…
ContinueAdded by Robin Keller on November 11, 2011 at 3:38pm — No Comments
Overland Park, Kan., May 2, 2011 ― NCM Associates, a leading provider of retail automotive 20 Group services, Education, Retail Operations Consulting and the originator of the NCM Benchmark® for Success program for automobile dealers, today announced that Helms Brothers Mercedes-Benz has tripled its gross profits through the implementation of the Mercedes-Benz Pre-Owned Profit Improvement Program under the guidance of NCM…
ContinueAdded by sara callahan on May 2, 2011 at 11:24am — No Comments
I am sure most of you know what a 20 group is...
I am wondering what you all feel are IMPORTANT benchmarks for an "Internet Sales 20 Group"??
For example:
* How Many Leads?
* What kind of leads... Internet email Vs. Internet Phone Ups?
* What is the source of the leads?
* How many attempts did you try to engage prospect per month... via email... via phone?
* How many connections per month…
ContinueAdded by Sean V. Bradley on October 20, 2010 at 11:12pm — 1 Comment
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