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The Importance of Tracking Recovery Rates

In your dealership, do you track your Recovery and Efficiency Rates? If you are like some of our dealers, you are on the fence about putting in the work to pull these numbers together, but if you are willing to take the time, these numbers will give you great insight into how to get your shop performing at a higher, more profitable level. The Efficiency Rate is the time that the tech is clocked into [...]

By |2019-02-05T17:10:37-06:00May 18th, 2017|Service, Uncategorized|

Working with a Different Generation and Not Losing Your Mind

Working with people who are different than you is tough, right? Especially if they are family! One of the things that we hear time and time again about the challenges of family business, and small business in general is the frustration of working with different generations. Currently, there are three different generations present in they workforce with a fourth getting ready to join. Understanding how each generation works together is vital to the success of [...]

By |2020-05-05T11:13:57-05:00April 26th, 2017|Management, Uncategorized|

How We Deal With Family Business

My dad started Bob Clements International over 30 years ago. Small business is all I have known since I was a kid.  Like any small business, I have seen the ups and downs. We have had many vacations that were coupled with meetings; that was “normal” to me. If you would have asked me, up until about a year after I graduated from college, if I would have joined the family business my answer would [...]

By |2020-05-05T11:13:57-05:00April 19th, 2017|Management, Uncategorized|

Showcasing Your Dealership

Last week we talked about setting yourself apart from the Big Box stores. One way to do so is by showcasing your dealership. The easiest and most effective way to showcase your dealership is through your businesses signage. The most important aspect of an outdoor sign is to grab someone’s attention- almost like a magnet pulling a customer toward the store. The more recognized the name, the more people that will be attracted to your dealership. [...]

By |2020-05-05T11:13:57-05:00April 12th, 2017|Management, Uncategorized|

Setting Yourself Apart from the Big Box Stores

With manufacturers jamming more and more dealers into a marketplace, your product lines are no longer a unique advantage. Big Box stores are now picking up lines of equipment that have in the past only been available at select dealerships. To set yourself apart from the business down the road, you can no longer rely on your brands. You have to work to create a unique experience that your competitors can’t easily duplicate. 1. Understand what [...]

By |2020-05-05T11:13:58-05:00April 5th, 2017|Management, Sales|

Principle 4- Define the Process

An Excerpt from "The 7 Principles of a High Performing Dealership" The more you can repeat an action the better you become at performing that action. As an owner or manager, you do not want there to be variability in your processes. Take McDonalds, for example. When they hire an employee to make fries they are not asking for their interpretation on the process. They do not ask if Sally, the fry maker, would like [...]

By |2017-03-22T15:09:36-05:00March 22nd, 2017|Sales, Uncategorized|

Improve Your Margins!

The Most Important Question The No. 1 mistake made by salespeople when they begin the negotiation process is failing to ask this important question: “So what you are saying is if I can do what you ask, then you are in a position today to move forward, is that correct?” If they say “No,” you don’t begin the process because they have not committed to buy from you, and all that is going to happen [...]

By |2017-03-15T17:19:58-05:00March 15th, 2017|Sales, Uncategorized|

Why We Triage

Triaging is vital to keeping our shops moving and our techs efficient. The triaging process happens after the equipment has been checked into the dealership, the work order has been filled out and hopefully signed by the customer, and a red ribbon has been attached to show the equipment has just been checked in. At 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., the service coordinator will go to the service manager or service writer, take the clipboards [...]

By |2017-02-21T13:57:03-06:00February 21st, 2017|Parts, Service, Uncategorized|

Tune Up Your Techs Before Season

When I work with the service techs at a store, my goal is to help them, and management, understand the value they bring to a dealership and how they can do their work in the most efficient way possible. A service tech’s inventory is “time” and your goal as a dealer is to sell all of the tech’s time each day. Is it possible to sell eight hours of labor each day per tech? Absolutely. [...]

By |2017-02-14T16:13:53-06:00February 14th, 2017|Service, Uncategorized|

The True Value of a Customer

Some people will say that I am nuts about knowing the numbers in your dealership and then managing to those numbers to improve profitability. I believe it is important in every department, but today I wanted to share the important numbers you need to track in the sales department. Calculate closing ratio It all starts off with some basic calculations, the first being your closing ratio. Let's say that you kept track for a two-week [...]

By |2020-05-05T11:15:56-05:00February 8th, 2017|Management, Uncategorized|
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