4 Ways to Increase Service Revenue, Production and Car Count

There is one question surrounding the dealership service department that comes up all the time. That question is “How can I get more revenue, production, car count, out of my shop?”

There are 4 basic ways you can increase revenue, production and car count.

Capacity

Efficiency

Productivity

Scheduling

Increasing Capacity has 4 elements. They are; more open days, alternative open hours, more building(s) and more techs. *

1.??????More days per week means adding in Saturdays (if you don’t already do Saturdays) and Sundays if you have that great of a need. Believe it or not, there are some stores that have started opening on Sundays due to customer demand. Or extending hours to stay later, like one store I worked with that stayed open to midnight.

2.??????Alternative open hours can be addressed with alternative scheduling of personnel, like a 4/10 schedule. There are many advantages to a schedule like this, however, you need to make sure your state allows you to implement an alternative schedule before you get too far down that road.

3.??????More building means more structure, so you can add more racks. This is a long-term solution and there are many things that go into adding structure, not the least of which is, ROI, available space, construction, zoning, you get the idea. This is part of the "extended vision" for many dealerships.

4.??????More Technicians and Advisors. As we are all aware, getting techs can be a challenge. Remember, to always be running an ad and always be interviewing. And of course, grow your own, which has been my go to for some time. I really like promoting from within especially those people who show the desire to become a tech. You can also recruit from local oil change stores and technical institutes or colleges. All these strategies can be successful when applied consistently over time.

Increase Efficiency. The dictionary says that efficiency is “effective operation as measured by a comparison of production to cost (as in energy, time, and money).” In other words, how much did you produce relative to the time you spent producing it.

Efficiency is affected by many things, including the right tech on the right job, the availability of parts and dispatch. Of the 3 listed, number one would be right tech, right job. Nothing destroys efficiency like having C Level Johnny doing A level Diagnostics and Repair.

Besides being frustrating for the tech, it drives the advisors wild because they think the job is getting done by the promised time, based on the conversation with customer, the dispatcher and parts, only to find out C Level Johnny is going to need an extra 2 hours to do it because he/she has never done it before, thereby blowing the promise time and the CSI score he/she is striving for.

This is a training and certification issue. I have been in many stores that due to the increased need for revenue and production at all costs, there is a lack of trained and certified technicians which is a house of cards. If one falls, the whole shop falls.

Increase Productivity. By far, this is where many shops can address shortcomings quickly. The dictionary says productivity is “the quality, state, or fact of being able to generate, create, enhance, or bring forth goods and services.” It’s the “generate goods and services” we are concerned with.

Here are 4 common obstacles to increased productivity.

1.??????Dispatch. If you are using electronic RO, it’s either a. they are not looking for the next job or b. ignoring the next job until something better comes along. My guess is b in most cases. Advisors, foremen and managers all must monitor technicians so that they are continuously seeking more work and picking up the next ro as fast as possible.

2.??????Stacking. Job stacking can work both ways. Done right, it’s an excellent motivation technique. Done wrong, and it’s a productivity killer. You must stack for results and not stack for show. Stacking for show sounds like “I just wrote 3 waiters and sent them all to John for him to look at and I need them by 12:00.” If John is that busy, chances are he already has a ticket or two. The point is, that awareness and careful monitoring will create a sense of urgency and not a sense of defeat. Stack for results. Give the right tech the right jobs.

3.??????Monitoring. Productivity is a fickle taskmaster. Some techs dive right in, get things done, get the ticket back to the advisor and move on the next one. Other techs…well…let’s just say I’ve seen a snail with a broken leg move faster. Monitoring is a combination of awareness and flexibility. Sometimes you take a ticket away to give to someone who really knows how to do xyz so the first tech can knock out 2 waiters that just got written up. The dispatcher, foreman and advisor need to be in the loop at all times, checking their tickets and asking questions.

4.??????Parts. Delays are killers. Delay at the counter sucks. Many things you can do here including parts runner, prepull or parts stack in the shop for fast moving items, electronic parts lookup, additional parts counter personnel etc. You can get creative here.

Streamline Scheduling. This is another area dealerships have trouble. I have been on service drives where it is free for all mob and other service drives where it is a smooth as butter. Guess which one works better.

Scheduling is balancing the customer need, shop capacity, technician and advisor availability and time slots systematically. This is the one element that is the most affected by the humans employed at your dealership.

First, they must be phone trained. Then they must have sales training. Then they must have scheduling training. Then they must have common sense and awareness. Unfortunately, the last one is not trainable.

And the schedule must be set up in favor of the shop while balancing the customers need for service and the owners need for revenue. Notice I said in favor of the shop.

If your schedule is out of balance and things are willy-nilly, you are going to have a lot of angry customers, advisors and technicians. When the schedule is set up in favor of the shop, the customers needs are met, the owners needs are met, and everybody is happy (relatively speaking).?

Are there hiccups? Sure. You bet. However, when scheduling is done right, it remains a hiccup and does not become a full-blown volcano.

If you are not sure if you have scheduling issues, stand in the service drive for a day or two and count how many cars show up for how many advisors per time slot. Then look at the schedule and see how many are true walk-in customers vs how many were scheduled and that will give you an idea of how well your scheduling process is working.

That and the angry looks on the customers faces will be all you need to know. Slots are mostly 1 customer per advisor every 15 minutes, but you need to adjust that for your store. Personally, I like the advisor to have a few extra minutes if he/she needs it and I set up 1 every 20 minutes.

That is the 4 basic ways you can increase shop output. If you think of something I’ve missed, send me an email to [email protected] and let me know your thoughts.

Hopefully, you got something you can use from this article to increase output or at the very least, this gave you an idea so you can get your shop revenue to the level that you need.?

*On a side note, there are dealerships that are taking the mobile service approach. This can be an effective way to service the customer while adding additional sales. While some smaller operations may not be able to do this, there are many dealerships that have the resources to at least entertain the thought. Take a look and see if it works for your situation.

Have questions? Need answers? Call, text or email.