Assuming your expenses are in line , there are only three ways to increase net profit .
1 . Increase your gross profit margins on labor and parts sales . 2 . Increase your sales per repair order 3 . Increase your repair order count
Let ’ s focus on # 3 . How can you increase your repair order count or “ service traffic ”?
1 . Offer Same Day / Next Day Appointments Your aftermarket competition will tell your customers that they can bring their trailer in “ today ” or “ tomorrow ”, so your answer has to be the same . If scheduling takes you two days or longer , you are losing business to those who are more convenient and responsive to the customer ’ s needs . So , you need to focus on shop capacity .
2 . Optimize Shop Productivity If you are at 100 % capacity or higher , you need to hire more technicians . You don ’ t need master technicians to increase your service sales ; you need “ C ” and “ B ” level technicians that can perform lower-level repairs and maintenance . Hire a new technician and your existing technicians will produce more .
3 . Refine Your Appointment Process If you are like most dealers , 80 % of your customer pay sales start with a telephone call to your dealership . Most of these calls go to a service advisor , or otherwise , a BDC , CDC or appointment coordinator . The primary mission of the person receiving the call is to schedule a time for the customer to come in — not quote prices or diagnose their concern . Train your advisors to ask for the appointment .
4 . Call “ No Shows ” Everyone has customers who do not show up for their appointments . Oftentimes they just forgot — what processes do you have in place to call them to reschedule ? Your service advisors , BDC , CDC or appointment coordinators should be calling every “ no show ” to book a new appointment .
5 . Call Customers on Special Order Parts In many dealerships , there is obsolete inventory that ’ s been ordered by the service department and never installed on customers ’ trailers . There must be a process in place to schedule an appointment for the repair . Mailing a post card to customers to advise them that their parts have arrived is not sufficient . The service advisor , BDC , CDC or appointment coordinator should call to secure an appointment .
6 . Schedule Your Customer ’ s Next Appointment Before your customers leave your dealership , you should be automatically scheduling their next service appointments based on time and / or mileage . Give them a card with the date and time of their next appointment . You probably have experienced this at your dentist ’ s or doctor ’ s office . Additionally , review the “ required ” maintenance that will be due on their next visit .
When you implement these 6 processes , you should see your repair order count increase by a minimum of 10 %. That gives you an additional month – or 13 months of customer pay sales and gross profit – in your 12-month fiscal year . So , we ask you this : What is it about making more money that you don ’ t like ?
48 NATDA Magazine www . natda . org