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Response: Doing Away with Shop Supply Charges
(Originally published in DealersEdge Service Manager
Publication, September 2003)
Question:
Don, this month’s question comes
from a reader looking to make a change on how he charges for shop
supplies. Right now he has a charge on the bottom of the ticket based on
a percentage of labor sale. Lately he’s gotten a lot of customer
complaints about the charge and wants to eliminate it as a satisfaction
issue. What should he do?
Being Proactive in the
Service Department
When you are in retail business of any type, can you ever hope to
be in control of your day? Yes? No? Well, Maybe. Somewhat. Sounds like a
political answer I know, but it is absolutely necessary to try to gain control
of your Service day. I hope to share some advice and tools that will assist you
in doing so.
Pick the Low Hanging Fruit
All too often in the automotive business we strive to move our
organization to an advanced level before we maximize the potential that exists
right now, right in front of us. That is like building a rocket ship without
first building the launch pad. Many Service Operations have tremendous potential
in improving the value per repair order (customer pay) with just minor changes
in operating setups and practices. In most cases Service Departments have
sufficient customer traffic, so the real potential for improvement comes from
improving the value per transaction.
Service Advisor Compensation
It is always interesting to see
just how creative some dealerships can be when it comes to designing
compensation plans for employees in Fixed Operations particularly the Service
Advisor position. Just when I think I’ve seen it all, I’m proven wrong. Usually,
pay plans are designed with the best of intentions in mind, for both the
employee and the company. Unfortunately all to often the pay plans are designed
to focus on whatever the current “hot” buttons of the department might be, which
means as the “hot” buttons change so must the pay plan. Frequently changing an
employee’s method of compensation has to rank right near the top of the “never
to do” list. Pay plan changes are always a traumatic experience for the employee
and are almost never received as a positive.
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