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September 02, 2010
Sharing Best Business Practices
Clear Objectives Can Increase Your Sales
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John Watt, manager, Certigrad and Automotive, Petro-Canada
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Does anyone not want to sell more shocks, oxygen sensors and cabin air filters? Of course not – you are in business to provide the right service for every vehicle, including all of the needed parts. What are you doing to limit sales without even realizing it? What tools can you use to increase sales with your existing customers?
Potential Sales Increase - One Vehicle at a Time
There are 6 top items that over 100 different cars will need replaced during a routine service visit. Do you know what they are? Are your service advisors asking for these potential sales during each and every sales transaction? This simple thing can add up to $116.00 of uncompleted service per vehicle. If you repair 30 cars per week and you increase sales by $116.00 per vehicle, that adds up to an extra $3480.00 in revenue per week. Sound good? In this second article of our series “Sharing Best Business Practices”, John Watt, Manager, Certigard and Automotive, Petro-Canada, shares some great tips to help you achieve this goal.
The Essential Management Tool
So you might be wondering – what is the tool I need to accomplish this? It‘s as simple as having clear, focused objectives. When management has clear, focused objectives, and they share this message with staff, this sales increase becomes THE FOCUS. Become the “captain” of the ship and set a clear course to be followed, this way, you ensure that everyone within the business understands that they play an important role in reaching the goal. It can be as simple as “we will inspect every vehicle that comes into our shop this month.” When people understand what you want, they try to deliver it!
Recognizing the Problem
Think about a NASCAR race. During a pit stop, the pit crew has an objective - to complete the needed tasks in the fastest possible time, helping to keep the car at the front of the race. What would happen if your team was consistently 2 seconds slower than all the other teams? To fix the problem, you would need to ask “Why are we 2 seconds slower?” The next step would be to talk to your people, find the problem, and create and implement a procedure that ensures the pit stop improves by those essential 2 seconds. The whole team has to recognize that something is broken, and work together to fix it.
Bringing Best Practices Together
Of course, don’t forget the tip from the article in the last issue – you need to have your scheduling working right to accommodate these extra sales! By having control of your scheduling, you bring in the correct number of cars per day – the number of cars that matches your shop capacity, giving your technicians the time to properly assess the needed repairs and properly service each customer’s vehicle. Next issue, look for another article to help make your business run smoother and improve your bottom line. In the meantime, take control of your business by sharing your clear, focused objectives with your staff to maximize your sales. | |
