Does Your Dealership Have a Formalized Process? - by Ted Ings

Having formalized sales, finance and fixed operations processes for your business can save you time and money by increasing efficiency.

Your team can get more done in less time by following set processes and procedures, and you can spend less time overseeing the day-to-day running of the business.

Processes and procedures can also improve the consistency of product and service delivery by your staff.

Do you really have a process?

It’s impossible to assess something you don’t have. In some cases, you might be reading this and be asking “what processes are you talking about?” Do you have written processes in your dealership? Does each department follow a specific course of action for things like:

? ? ?Answering the telephone

? ? ?Greeting customers

? ? ?Performing a service walk-around at the customer's vehicle, WITH the customer

? ? ?Moving vehicles

Do you have a Sales Process, Financial Services Process and Service Process in place? If not, you’d better get them.?(Contact us for assistance)

Are your processes customer-focused?

Do your processes include a focus on customer wants and needs? Do they involve value building presentations of your products and services? Are your processes designed to create customer satisfaction and do they reflect the higher level of expectations of today’s consumer? Do your team members receive regular training on process improvement?

Are your processes reactive or proactive?

Here’s an interesting question for you: Who saves more lives, a firefighter or a fire chief? The natural response might be the firefighter. How many times do you read a story about a fire chief running into a burning building to save someone? But when you consider the roles of each, you soon get a different perspective on things.?

The fire chief is focused on the big picture. He is responsible for fire prevention. He performs inspections for building code compliance, fire alarms, and sprinkler systems, and he implements training and education programs for the community. In other words, he prevents fires from starting in the first place and, therefore, saves more lives than any firefighter will ever save. His processes are proactive, not reactive.

You should assess and change whatever processes you presently have that could be improved by planning, training, and education.

Contact us for more information on taking your processes to the next level.?

Ted Ings is the Executive Director at the Fixed Ops Roundtable and the Center for Performance Improvement. He is a 5-time NADA (National Automobile Dealers Association) Convention speaker and is one of their highest-rated presenters.

He has successfully implemented dozens of initiatives for OEM’s and Total Quality Management processes at thousands of dealerships in North America and around the world, revolutionizing the way vehicles are sold. This makes him an invaluable asset to his clients and they get both the benefit of his vision and his experience.