Menu
Our Blog
Latest Articles
The reason your Advisors Can’t Sell, Won’t Sell, Don’t Sell…may Surprise You!
Everyone has opportunities in the service drive for capturing additional sales and often times, the focus…
Dealers’ Choice Awards Recognize DealerPRO As #1 In Service Training
“Dealership Training that accelerates performance, profitability, and helps customers optimize their investments in the service drive.”
6 WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR SERVICE TRAFFIC
“If you are like most dealers, you do not have an expense problem but you do…
A BDC CAN HELP YOU BOOST APPOINTMENTS BY UP TO 50%
“For the second year in a row, automakers set an all-time U.S. sales record. With all…
WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED HERE?
“It’s called making a net profit of about $2 million a year plus a nice salary…
HOW TO INCREASE GROSS PER RO BY OVER 70% IN 90 DAYS
Sound too good, to be true? Well, it is true for one of our GM dealers…
AN ENEMY CALLED AVERAGE
“Far too often in our industry we have Dealers, General Managers, Service Directors, etc. who focus…
PERFORMANCE BASED SERVICE PAY PLANS
“The measure of success is not whether you have a problem to deal with, but whether…
THE 4 ESSENTIALS TO INCREASING SERVICE PROFITS
“There are two kinds of dealers in our industry today: those who are living up to…
IS THERE A CANCER IN YOUR DEALERSHIP?
Finding The Cure The cancer within is called “Lack of Accountability.” Yet in virtually every dealership,…
HOW “SLEEPY” IS YOUR SERVICE DEPARTMENT?
Take This Simple Test After you ‘CHECK OUT’ your Service Department you will find the problem…
HOW TO GROW A FIXED OPS SALES TEAM …
Develop Your Strategy Let’s look at some strategies that will enable all of you to achieve BIG.…
DID YOU BEAT LAST YEAR’S FIXED OPS PROFIT BY 40 % OR MORE?
How Do You Identify Your “Sales Problems?” A sales problem translates to a lack of additional gross…
MAKING A CASE FOR CHANGE IN FIXED OPS
Are Your Profits Setting Records, Too? NADA also states that Dealer profitability has remained flat at 2.5%…
ARE YOU MAKING WHAT YOU SHOULD IN FIXED OPS?
Are You Meeting Industry Benchmarks? In order to improve your Service Operation’s performance and start producing the…
HOW DO YOUR SERVICE ADVISORS MEASURE UP?
Are You Meeting Industry Benchmarks? As a Dealer, General Manager or Fixed Operations Director you might want…
EMPLOYEE RETENTION IMPACTS OWNER RETENTION
The Biggest Room in the World is the Room for Improvement Salespeople become TOP PERFORMERS by…
IF IT AIN’T BROKE-BREAK IT!
ARGHHHH! This is so frustrating when we hear this. Recently one of our Fixed Operations Specialist’s spent…
KEEP THOSE CUSTOMERS COMING BACK!
News Flash! The seminar began with the facilitator standing before us uttering the following words: “It is…
THE ART OF SELLING
Measuring Front-End Success … To begin with, we all expect our Salespeople selling new and used vehicles…
IT’S CHEAPER TO KEEP THOSE CUSTOMERS!
Why You Should Invest In Keeping Your Customers If you are one of these dealers who is…
WHY TRAINING YOUR SERVICE CUSTOMERS PAYS BIG DIVIDENDS
Why Training Is the Key You just hired a new payroll clerk who has 5 years…
HOW TO CHECK OUT YOUR SERVICE DEPARTMENT
Taking the First Step After you ‘CHECK OUT’ your Service Department you will find the problem…
HOW TO PUT THE 80/20 RULE TO WORK FOR YOU
Every Day, Every Way: 80/20 In today’s business world the Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule) applies in many…
HOW INCOMING CALLS CAN RUIN YOU
Creating Opportunities ““Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like…
HOW TO GET SERVICE TO PAY YOUR WAY
Service Sales Can Pay Your Way If you would like to “Recession Proof” your Dealership this year,…
HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR DEALERSHIP’S ROI
New, Used or Service: Who’s The King of ROI? In order to increase ROI in any department…
IS YOUR CUSTOMER RETENTION COSTING YOU OPPORTUNITY?
If You’re Not Growing, You’re Not Keeping As part of the fixed operations Profit Potential Analysis that…
HOW TO COMPETE WITH THE AFTERMARKET
The Challenge is HUGE! Let’s take a look at the aftermarket competition to better understand what you…
HOW TO GET AN 800% ROI …
Invest in CHANGE … In order to increase sales in any department you have to start doing…
HOW TO USE FRONT-END IDEAS TO GET BACK END RESULTS
Recession-Proof Your Dealership If you would like to “Recession Proof” your Dealership in this coming year, you…
3 RULES FOR PROFITABLE SERVICE MARKETING
A Really Scary Case History To explain my point, let’s take a look at an actual case…
DEALERS EARN RECORD PROFITS IN 2018! FAKE NEWS OR THE REAL DEAL?
Answering “Probably not” won’t get you there … So, how can you have “record profits” in 2019…
WHAT IS A SERVICE ADVISOR REALLY WORTH?
What makes a good Service Advisor? To begin with, let’s determine what a good Service Advisor’s profile…
SERVICE WRITER OR ADVISOR? YOU BETTER DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT!
What’s the Difference? Most dealers come from Sales, so they are “front-end” Oriented. So they really don’t…
FIVE MAGIC WORDS CREATE BIG RESULTS
The Power of the Disturbing Question When you ask a customer a question that concerns the safety…
HOW WILL YOU INCREASE FIXED OPS PROFITS THIS YEAR?
The Importance of a Plan In order to improve your Service Operation’s performance and start producing the…
DO YOU WANT TO THRIVE? OR JUST SURVIVE?
If You Are Thriving … Stay on your toes. If you are making money in all departments,…
HOW TO CREATE A TOP PERFORMING TEAM
Making a Difference “Success is achieved through the RELENTLESS APPLICATION OF THE BASIC FUNDAMENTALS!” We’ve talked about…
HOW TO MANAGE OVER-ABUNDANT TECHNOLOGY
Too Much Info … A lot of dealers and managers ask me, “What’s new in fixed operations?”When…
IT’S TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT SERVICE
Cutting Expenses Is Not the Answer … If you are like many other dealers/managers you might be…
ARE YOUR EXPENSES REALLY TOO HIGH?
Time to Take Stock … Use these industry benchmarks to measure your team’s performance: • Service Department…
GIVING YOUR CUSTOMER A CHOICE CAN REALLY PAY OFF!
Menus Can Make a Difference … Finance and Insurance Departments have proven to be a significant profit…
YOU ARE NOT RUNNING A DEMOCRACY
Do You Really Need to Ask Permission from Employees? The concept of employee buy-in is overblown and…
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTERS CAN MAXIMIZE SERVICE APPOINTMENTS
Opportunity Rings … As a Dealer or General Manager would you allow 35% of your incoming sales…
HOW TO RECRUIT TOP PERFORMERS
What You Want … What is a Top Performer? It is simply someone who can perform above the industry’s…
HOW GREEN PEAS CAN FORTIFY YOUR PROFITS
It’s Green, Green They Say … Why would you want to hire Service Advisors who are used…
5 WAYS TO ACCELERATE PROFITS THROUGH A SLOWDOWN
The Added High Test in Your Tank … The way we deal with it is through SERVICE.…
PROFIT ACCELERATOR #1: PARTS & LABOR MARGINS
Getting Better Margins … If you are an average dealer, at a 38% margin, you are suffering…
PROFIT ACCELERATOR #2: THE INSPECTION CONNECTION
Why Do Inspections? Because you want to “maximize gross profit per retail unit, while ensuring that your…
PROFIT ACCELERATOR #3: THE MAGIC OF MENUS
Menus Empower Your Customers Not only does every customer get a menu, they get multiple menus. Let me explain.…
PROFIT ACCELERATOR #4: INCREASE YOUR HOURS PER CUSTOMER PAY RO
To Get Different Results … You need to start doing different things or doing things differently if you expect…
PROFIT ACCELERATOR #5: PAY ATTENTION TO RETENTION
How to Determine Your Goal … If you are selling an average of 100 new and…
HOW TO ACCELERATE PROFITS THROUGH A SLOWDOWN: THE ANSWERS YOU NEED
Lost Profit Opportunities … Many, if not most, dealerships are leaking profit opportunities like a sieve. That’s…
IS OWNER RETENTION IMPORTANT TO YOU?
They Like You, They Like You Not … To begin with let’s determine this: “Do your customers…
5 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT FOR SERVICE CUSTOMERS
What is Your Marketing Plan? It’s not good enough to just “get more customers in the door.”…
PUTTING YOUR CUSTOMERS FIRST BUILDS LASTING RELATIONSHIPS
If your dealership is experiencing a decline in customer pay traffic and/or scoring at average or…
HOW TO BECOME DIFFERENTLY BETTER
Here’s the Answer: Become Differently Better! Is that a catchy phrase or what? Differently simply means that you…
THE PRIMARY MISSION OF A SERVICE ADVISOR
This is Really Important … When you finish reading this article, please hand each of your Advisors…
IS YOUR TECHNOLOGY COSTING YOU OPPORTUNITY?
Is Your Technology Really Helping You? In the retail automotive world we have seen the advent of…
IS A PIP IN YOUR PLAN, STAN?
NO Means Uh, Oh! There is a lot to talk about when answering those five questions. The…
HOW TO USE RETAIL REPAIR ORDERS AS A MANAGEMENT TOOL
Let’s Get Started … Across the top of enter the following headings: Now, start at the top…
HOW TO RETAIN CUSTOMERS FOR LIFE
This is Painful According to NADA’s 2017 Average Dealership Profile, Dealers spent $630 in advertising per new…
ARE YOU MISSING THESE PROFIT OPPORTUNITIES?
Your Customers Are NOT Self-Help Mechanics … Let’s consider this question: “What percentage of your customers take delivery of…
HOW TO TAP INTO MENU MOOLAH
A Consistent Process Is the Key … Requiring a menu presentation to every customer breeds consistency and…
YOUR COMFORT ZONES ARE KILLING YOU!
Your Service Department Needs an RO Your financial statements will show you where the opportunities for improvement…
WHAT CONDITION ARE YOUR TECHNICIANS IN?
Determine the Condition First, I want you to determine what the Condition of your Technicians is. To…
HOW TO MAKE UP FOR LOWER SALES
How to Make Up for Lost Sales You can recession proof your dealership by maximizing your revenues in your…
WHEN PERFORMANCE IS MEASURED, IT IMPROVES
What Are Your Team’s Stats? Baseball measures everything. Why? Maybe it’s because we as fans want to see and evaluate the…
THE KEY PERFORMANCE METRIC
FOR SERVICE PROFITABILITY
The Key Metric … While there are certainly plenty of fixed ops metrics worthy of a Dealer’s…
HOW TO REVIVE COMATOSE CUSTOMERS
Are You Still Laughing? This dealer obviously has a strong interest in supporting his Used Car Department…
WHAT VALUE DO YOUR TECHNICIANS PROVIDE?
Let’s look at Gross Profit Production First … An average Technician at 100% productivity (40 hours…
WHY YOU NEED A FIXED OPS SALES TEAM
WHY You Should Have a Fixed Ops Sales Team …These are all important factors in making this…
HOW TO DESIGN A FIXED OPS MARKETING PLAN
Keeping Your Customers for Life … According to NADA’s Average Dealership Profile, the average dealer spends about…
HOW ABOUT A LITTLE SUPPORT FOR FIXED OPERATIONS
It Happens All the Time … Over the past 15 years, my Trainers and I have worked…
THE HIGH COST OF IGNORANCE
What’s Your Story? The last few years will go down in history as record years for the…
WHY YOU SHOULD BE OPTIMISTIC ABOUT FIXED OPS
Rules to Live by … Sales have been robust over the past several years. And although they…
WHY IS IT CALLED “FIXED OPERATIONS?
Understanding the Difference It’s important to know for the Dealer who wants to survive and thrive in today’s marketplace.Why…
ARE YOU SPINNING YOUR WHEELS IN OWNER RETENTION?
Why is Your Service Traffic Stagnant? Or declining? To begin with, many dealers and managers think that if…
HOW TO EVALUATE YOUR PARTS DEPARTMENT
Parts: Multiple Customers & Profit Opportunities If you want to achieve different results (profits) in 2020, then…
SINCE WHEN IS SELLING A BAD THING?
A House Divided As a Dealer or department manager how do you expect to increase Net Profits…
2020 VISION: A CLEAR PATH TO INCREASED PROFITS
But That’s Not a Plan … If you are smart about cutting costs so it doesn’t affect…
HOW ONE SERVICE ADVISOR CAN COST YOU $144,000
Don’t bet on it … In reality, just the opposite is true in far too many service…
2017 BRINGS RECORD PROFITS FOR DEALERS
Answering “Probably not” won’t get you there … So, how can you have “record profits” in…
ARE YOUR FIXED OPS GOALS HIGH ENOUGH?
Fixed Ops BHAG — 100% Service Absorption In fixed operations, a good BHAG would be to achieve…
How to Evaluate Your Parts Department
If you want to achieve different results (profits) in 2020, then you must be prepared to…
Since When is Selling a Bad Thing?
“When I was a dealer, I thought increasing sales was a good thing. “We trained employees…
How to Evaluate Your Service Director
To begin, we must identify the Service Director's responsibilities as they pertain to the Fixed Ops…