While we are rushing to keep up with the business at hand… and while we are having trouble finding talented people to come to work for us….we have several things at hand that can help us save time and valuable resources.

Who is checking out your systems and processes? An exciting segment of our training classes with Quest and the AED Foundation is a thing called “sacred cows.” It is a tool that was exposed in the book “Sacred Cows Make Better Burgers.” It is a wonderful exercise. We ask groups of managers to list off those things in the dealership that have been going on for years but provide little if any value in support of customers or effective operations in their departments. You would be amazed at what comes up.

For instance; we never have enough people to do the job.

How does your company calculate the level of staff that is required in your parts department? I hear this comment all the time. We don’t have enough people. I have used the standard sales per employee of $600,000 per year per parts employee; excluding parts managers and product support salesmen, unless those functions are involved in processing orders. Many people convert that to $50,000/month. Not a good thing to do. I use a rolling twelve month period which neutralizes weather, seasonality, and holidays. And then I go further by putting a floor on it and a ceiling. If the sales per employee are less than $480,000 for three consecutive months then we have too many people. If it is $720,000 for three consecutive months we have too few people. Please notice I indicate too few people is just as a serious a problem as too many people.

So how does this work?

You have heard many times my requirements in Parts.

1. Find every part that is backordered the same day it is ordered
2. Process all orders the same day received
3. Process all received backorder the same day received
4. Put up all stock orders the same day received.

We can’t get this done without the correct number of employees.

And then we come to process. The parts sales order process. We don’t have systems that make the process easy. Many times the customer is looking for availability and price information. Have a look at how cumbersome that process is and tell me what you think. How about your mechanics? Do they order their own parts on the system? Why don’t they? How about the customer machine population on the system such that you know the number of teeth on that bucket? Not good is it?

Go into the warehouse. Why do you have to go check the bin if the customer calls to see if they should come in a get a part? Don’t have much faith in the on hand quantity on the computer matching the system? What is going on there?

How about your invoices? Why do you need to keep a paper file copy? And how many of you use signature pads? We don’t need to have any paper file copies on the dealership any more. How much time would that save the parts department personnel. How much money would it save? And have a look at your invoice. The customer tells us that they have a hard time understanding it. Is yours easy to understand? Is it accurate? How many copies are there in the form? When was the last time you had a critical look at it?

So let’s say we operate effectively and our processes are current and efficient and support good customer service. That means that we will have time to make sales calls to our customers and try to recapture business we have lost to others. That also means we will be able to make those customer satisfaction calls that we don’t have time for as well.

And what about parts delivery to your mechanics in the shop and field and our customers wherever they are working? Why don’t we do this? Don’t forget your customers are asking for it. They are telling us again what it is that they want from us. Why don’t we listen? Notice I didn’t say it was free did I?

There is a lot here to evaluate. But it is not sexy, it isn’t sophisticated. It is fundamental to what we do. Why do we overlook the basics so often? Go ahead check it out. You might be surprised.