I know what a lot of you are doing right now.
You are closing the books. You are looking at spreadsheets. You are telling yourself things like, “Well, that was interesting; hope next year will be better.”
Hope is not a strategy. But knowing your numbers is.
So, before you flip the calendar, pull out your six planners (wait, is that just me?) and make big plans for next year, I want you to look at just five numbers. These five will tell you exactly what kind of year you really had and what kind of year you are about to have.
Here we go.
1. Was Your Dealership in Balance
This is the big picture question almost everyone skips.
A healthy, balanced dealership usually looks something like this:
About 60 percent of revenue from wholegoods
About 25 percent from parts
About 15 percent from service
When your store lands close to this, it typically means every department is generating about the same gross profit. No one is carrying the whole business on their back like a stressed-out pack mule.
Here is what an imbalance usually looks like.
Sales is hot, but service is drowning
Service is strong, but parts cannot keep up
Parts is solid, but sales is inconsistent
Or my personal favorite, one department is quietly losing money while the others cover it up
If one department had to carry your entire store this year, that is not balance. That is burnout in a nice outfit.
2. What Was Your Cost Per Lead and Did You Actually Follow Up
Most dealers can’t tell me how many leads their marketing generated for them, and even less can tell me what each lead actually cost.
If we want to know if our marketing last year actually worked, we have to know our cost per lead.
Here is the simple math.
Take what you spent on marketing. Divide it by the number of real leads you received. Not website visits. Not likes. Real human beings asking about buying something.
That is your cost per lead.
Now comes the awkward follow-up question.
Did you actually follow up on every single one?
Same day. Not tomorrow. Not when things slow down. Same day.
You can have the best cost-per-lead in the world. But if your follow-up is slow or inconsistent, that money might as well be set on fire.
This is exactly why we built lead activation support into our full-service marketing program. Truthfully, it’s not the leads that are hard to get; it’s that most dealers struggle to consistently chase, nurture, text, email, and call them. We put together a program to help fix that first step for you. Learn more about it here.
If you paid for someone to raise their hand and then ignored them, that is not a marketing issue. That is a process issue.
Good news. Process issues are fixable.
3. What Was Your Fill Rate Out of Stocking Inventory in Parts
This number is constantly ignored, and it quietly costs dealers a fortune.
Your fill rate is the percentage of time a customer walks up to the parts counter and actually leaves with the part they need. In hand. Not ordered. Not coming later.
Here is the simple formula.
Number of parts requests filled immediately from stock (that means we have to take out our special orders, emergency orders, and loss sales)
Divided by Total number of parts requests
Times 100
That is your fill rate.
Our goal is to see everyone living in the 90-95% range.
Now here is where things get spicy.
Many dealers expect their manufacturers to be at a 100 percent fill rate, which is entirely unrealistic. But if you expect perfection from them, your customers have every right to expect it from you.
And as the great theologian Lizzo reminds us, the truth hurts.
Also, let this sink in.
Even at a 90 percent fill rate, one out of every ten customers still walks away without what they came for. One out of ten. Every single day.
Low fill rate slows service. It frustrates customers. It kills momentum. It pushes people online.
High fill rate creates speed.
Speed builds trust.
Trust makes money.
4. What Was Your Recovery Rate in Service
This is the difference between a shop that feels busy and a shop that is actually profitable.
Recovery rate tells you how much of your available technician time (or inventory) you actually sold.
If this number is low, it usually means:
Jobs take longer than they should
Scheduling is messy
Parts delays are killing productivity
Write-ups are unclear
The shop feels slammed, but the numbers don’t match
A shop can be packed and still be underperforming.
Recovery rate tells you if your service department is truly working for you or quietly working against you.
5. Net Profit and Is It What You Actually Wanted
Here is the most honest question of them all.
After everything was paid, did your dealership actually make the profit you wanted to make?
Not revenue. Not excuses. Profit.
And even more importantly, did you take it on purpose, or did you just hope there was something left at the end?
Profit-first thinking changes everything. Instead of saying, Let us pay everything and hope there is something left for us, it says, We take profit first and operate within what remains.
If your profit this year is less than what you wanted, that is not failure. That is feedback.
Feedback that tells you exactly what needs to change.
The real question is not whether you know these numbers; it’s what you are going to do with them.
- Balance
- Cost per lead and follow-up
- Parts fill rate
- Service recovery
- Net profit (with a clear goal)
These five will tell you more about your dealership than any motivational speech ever could.
If you would like help turning these numbers into a real plan for next year, you know where to find me.
Now go look at your numbers. Bravely. Honestly. And, with coffee.
Cheering for you,
Sara