In today's marketplace, I submit that it is no longer acceptable to merely satisfy our customers and employees. That statement is not ground-breaking, we've all heard it. In most cases, providing what I call "Ridiculous" Service does not come naturally. As a matter of fact, it's quite un-natural. We create habits even when it comes to serving. If we are going to blow…
ContinueAdded by Danny Benites on February 3, 2014 at 10:00am — 5 Comments
Added by MANNY LUNA on December 21, 2013 at 4:30am — No Comments
Written by: Steve Hall
Dealers know you must provide fast, convenient, and competitively-priced service in order to retain your customer base. They also know that oil changes and light maintenance are the most requested service items by customers. Knowing this, why do dealers continually fight express service?
I’ve heard all the excuses: it hurts my hours per repair order; it hurts my gross profit percentage; it hurts my effective labor rate; I can’t make any money in express…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on May 16, 2013 at 8:30am — No Comments
Did you ever perform this calculation for your dealership Service Department? Whenever we do this exercise, either in the field with one of the NCM Retail Operations clients or in the NCM Instituteclassroom, the result always knocks the socks off the dealership management team. Here’s how the math works:…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on April 25, 2013 at 9:30am — 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: Russell Grant
One of the best things about my job is the fact that I get to talk to so many owners, GMs, dealers, sales managers and service directors about their dealership’s owner marketing strategy. Or, in some cases, need for one. That’s when I find my work the most rewarding, when I’m speaking with dealers who are ready to reap the benefits of developing and implementing a strong, sustainable owner marketing strategy.
Because remember, there are only three ways…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on April 16, 2013 at 10:25am — 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: Debbie Hemley
Twitter is a powerful social networking platform and one that has become a go-to choice for businesses of all sizes and industries.
In recent months, Burger King and Jeep’s Twitter accounts were hacked and became the subject of many articles and conversations, online…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on April 2, 2013 at 9:00am — No Comments
There’s a famous Seinfeld episode where George is at a very low point in his life.
Nothing is working and he doesn’t know what his next step should be.
You can watch it here: http://youtu.be/cKUvKE3bQlY
What would happen if YOU did the opposite of what your instincts (fear) tell you? If what you’ve been doing has been delivering the wrong results, what would…
ContinueAdded by Andrea Lupo on April 1, 2013 at 2:26pm — No Comments
Written by Wayne George
Today's blog post is by Wayne George, an NCM Executive Conference Moderator for several NCM 20 Groups. Prior to joining NCM, Wayne spent 29 years in the retail automotive world. He was also a charter member of the NCM General Managers Top Twenty Group for seven years.
Your service department charging retail rates to recondition your vehicles isn’t really why you aren’t as competitive as you could be. Let’s look at some facts.
Domestic and import…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on March 21, 2013 at 9:58am — No Comments
This article was written by: Dennis Kane
I see an increasing trend from auto dealers: slip, trips and falls are on the rise, particularly in the service department.
This uptick can be attributed to some or all of the following factors:
Dealerships are simply more hazardous than previously, either due to changing weather patterns or because attention to safety has waned,
Dealerships are servicing a greater number of cars because more…
Added by Garry House on February 28, 2013 at 5:44pm — No Comments
“Many of the writers here feel taken advantage of because they have been asked to not only perform the functions of service write up but also cashiering and telephone answering and appointment…
ContinueAdded by Andrea Lupo on February 27, 2013 at 2:29pm — No Comments
Hello Fellow Dealer Elite members and friends.
It has been a while since I have had the time to put together a blog post of Dealer Elite because it has been a very busy year so far and to be honest I have not had the time. I took a look at the Auto News program today and to be honest was very surprised to see that companies from Chrysler Dodge Jeep Fiat customers are reaching the CEO of the company.
I must say I was also very happy that…
ContinueAdded by Ian Nethercott on February 19, 2013 at 11:30pm — No Comments
Over the past three years I have spoken with many dealers about selling cars to service customers... One of my best friends, Daymond Decker spends a good portion of his work time traveling from dealership to dealership all over the country training and implementing a process for converting service customers who have equity in their trade-in to sales opportunities. Starting…
ContinueAdded by Ralph Paglia on February 18, 2013 at 4:30pm — No Comments
I think we can all agree, good communication is key to healthy personal relationships. Its no different when it comes to relationships between a dealership and their customers. A good example, sales professionals who stay in contact and effectively communicate with their customers during and especially after the sale will always be the top performers. By staying connected, they are building long-term relationships which will result in future benefits. For the sales professional, those…
ContinueAdded by Tom Kain on February 17, 2013 at 9:51pm — 2 Comments
This article was written by NCMi Instructor, Steve Hall.
Being an instructor at the NCM Institute has some definite advantages. I am blessed with an abundance of information, from all levels of the dealership. Week by week, we get to interact with owners, general managers and department managers. Not only do we share our information and best practices, but listen and learn about what is going on in your…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on February 13, 2013 at 12:00pm — 2 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
At the NCM Institute Center for Automotive Retail Excellence, the training that we provide in our Service Management courses focuses primarily on strategies and tactics. However, we have discovered that the effective execution of the strategies that we teach is most often hampered by an important missing ingredient:…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on January 24, 2013 at 3:00pm — 2 Comments
Since it is that time of year, here are some ideas for commitments you may wish to make for 2013. As you’ve heard me say many times, “If you measure it and then scoreboard it, performance will improve!” Many of you are probably measuring and scoreboarding some of the following key performance indicators, but I doubt if any of you are measuring all 11 (a “lucky” number) of them:
Actual flat rate hour Productivity per Technician against objective on a daily,…
Added by Garry House on January 3, 2013 at 11:00am — No Comments
This is a story about a phone call I received several months ago from a service director who had recently attended our NCM® Institute class, Principles of Service Management I. Although not her real name, I’m going to call her “Debbie” throughout the…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on December 21, 2012 at 10:52am — No Comments
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