“When our research tracked 20,000 new hires, 46% of them failed within 18 months. But even more surprising than the failure rate, was that when new hires failed, 89% of the time it was for attitudinal reasons and only 11% of the time for a lack of skill. The attitudinal deficits that doomed these failed hires included a lack of coachability, low levels of emotional intelligence, motivation and temperament.”  Mark Murphy, Hiring for Attitude, Forbes

In the car business , it’s all…

Most consumers have lumped "service", whether you are a dealer or an independent repair facility, as a commodity. Which means you compete in a market with everyone else even though the market is not a level playing field.…

Spring Cleaning? Ya, me too. If you haven’t taken a look at your work area lately, step back and take it all in.

See that pile of papers on your desk? And those spare parts you were saving for the factory in the corner…how long have they been there? What’s up with that chair with the padding falling out? Are you saving that for someone special?

Hey, this is not limited to the Service Managers office. There are many GM’s and DP’s offices that look pretty darn close to that…

Don’t you think there is too much waiting going on? I don’t mean the kind of waiting we do for a burger at the local drive thru or waiting for the mail to arrive.

And it’s not the other kind of waiting we do these days “plugged in” as we are.

Heck, we all know that in this “electronic” age, society is way too fast and by being so, has turned us into petulant…

It’s been 60 days.

You had every intention of making changes and doing something different. You had all of the information gathered and catalogued. You even made a list of all of the Managers and their responsibilities and revised their Goals based on the information and training you were about to provide them.

You were ready for Success! You had new expectations! You were ready to accomplish new Goals!

You were ready to reap the benefits of attending the NADA…

A dog and a cat were recently having a conversation about how each other looks at the world.

They had been friends a long time and the dog had recently been promoted to the title of Service Manager of his Dealership. The cat had stopped by for a visit and to congratulate her friend on his recent promotion. And, as Managers are prone to do, they began to discuss how each run…

R this and R that.  Which one is the right R for our Dealership?  If we concentrate on ROI, what do we lose in ROR? Is it possible to have too much focus on ROR?

Wait. I didn’t explain what I am talking about very well.  Ok.  ROI is referring to Return On Investment.  This “Investment” can be anything. Time, Money, Parts, Labor…anything.  And when we…

Nearly every week someone says "What's new?" in the Fixed Ops Training world as if there is something wrong with what works.

And every week, the answer is the same. When it comes to Fixed Ops Training, Coaching and Mentoring..."Not much."

Oh to be sure, there are "new" things in Fixed Ops every day.

There are at least a zillion ways to keep in contact with the Customer. And there must be a bazillion CRM companies that can manage a "lost souls" campaign. And, yes, there…

The world is full of commodities.  Everything from cell phones to toothpaste.  It is the glue that binds all of us together.  We can’t live without them.  Nearly everything we use today is manufactured and produced this way.  In fact, we would collapse as a species if it was not. 

In the past 150 years we have morphed from a “handcrafted” industrial base to “mass…

Professional Service Advisors are Action oriented. They don’t spend a lot of time worrying about what is The Right Thing To Do because they already know what the Right Thing To Do is.

These Advisors have a sense of Empowerment and that leads to Empowered Action.

Empowered Action by definition is when one has the ability to do something with the Customers Best…

What are you paying attention to? 

In case you are new to Fixed Ops, I'll give you a little clue. We are “results driven.”

There is nothing that we do that is not measured, quantified, compared, sifted through, arm chaired, discussed, metered, broken down, dissected, eyeballed or run up the flagpole.

Everything we do is subject to verification. Professionally run Fixed Operation Departments know, live, love this.

And what they pay the most attention to is "The…

By now you have a completed December 2011 Financial. (If you don't, all I can say is WOW)

Look in the box that says "Profit/Loss".

Are you happy with what you see? Would you say that 2011 was a good year an   average year or a "I'm gonna have a stroke!" year?

Whatever your results your EOY(End of the Year) statement is a CTA (Call To Action) for 2012.

Here are 3 Calls To Action you might want to look at if you a looking to KSA in 2012. (You can figure that one…

What would be the one word to describe what a Service Department needs these days to compete?

There are so many to choose from. However, the one word that keeps coming up when I visit Dealerships across the country is adaptability.

The Dealerships that are doing well, adapt to changing market conditions and Customer demands.

Even if this is your first day in a Dealership, you know that the ability to adapt is the key to Exceeding Expectations.

The dictionary tells…

In many Dealerships lack of Profitability in Fixed Operations starts with just 3 processes that are not getting done with every Customer that comes in the door.

Everything starts with building a relationship. It sounds easy, we say it all the time and there is not one Sales book, cd, mp3…course…whatever that does not have some chapter on building relationships.

The Service Department is no different. Studies show that Customers who do not feel taken care of find a reason to do…

There is an old saying carpenters use. "Measure twice, cut once."…

What would a Professional Service Advisor do?



Professional Service Advisors are prepared for the day ahead of them and don't get caught in the "why bother because everyday is the same and nothing changes" rut.



Now, why is this so important? I mean, c’mon, isn't every day just the same?



Open the door, reset the alarm, start the coffee, turn on the computers, check for night drops, check your email, flip through the stack of carry-overs, etc, etc,…