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Fixed Performance Inc Newsletter
Cash is King January 2009

in this issue

Parts Inventory

Customer Pay Work


 

Parts Inventory

Extra effort should be given to manage parts inventories. Any aged inventory over 12 months without a sale should be discounted and sold immediately. Larger items such as engines and transmissions could be listed on eBay for bids. OE connect is a good program most dealers can use to discount and sell aged inventory. Check out their discount parts hub program also that will show independent repair shops your inventory and give them the ability to purchase. Most dealers today are facing some form of inventory management program from the manufacture. The parts manager should bring in only items with a solid sales history. Product lines should be reviewed with restrictions given to body shop panels and other items that cannot possibly be customer wait. On hand compliance discounts must be considered yet should not dictate bringing in new items to reach with no or slow sales history. Be sure to check dirty core inventory that shows on hand. All dirty cores should be returned to the manufacturer immediately without delay to receive credit.

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Greetings!

Every dealership must maximize cash flow in these difficult times. Let's look at a few ways to develop some cash in today's market. Fixed Operations holds the best opportunity to grow gross profit and cash in 2009.


  • Customer Pay Work
  • Customer pay service work is the best way to grow cash flow from fixed operations. Be sure your staff starts with a good walk around inspection and takes the time to interact with the customer in detail. Maintenance that has in the past been missed and not recommended must be the primary focus. Dust off the flush equipment and get aggressive in checking fluid conditions. People are keeping their vehicles longer and are more willing to put money into maintenance. Be sure your customers are provided information on all needed maintenance and repair items on every visit. Retain the old parts and offer them for the customer to see or take home. Dealership integrity is essential to develop in the customer to retain them. Many times integrity is lost attempting to sell a $900 dollar 60k package with items not needed to be performed on their vehicle. The total focus on the customer's experience provided by your staff must be consistent with processes that are never compromised. Is your waiting area stuffed to capacity at 8:30 an empty at 3:30? If so review your scheduling process to stop the loss of your customer base. If your dealership allows your customers to charge for maintenance or repairs out of the service department consider changing this practice. Credits worthy customers have several credit card options available to them and generate cash at the time of service. Check your customer accounts receivable to determine how your dealership is performing on allowed charges. The foreseeable future will see challenging new car sales. The best growth opportunity is in fixed operations and must be developed.

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  • Get Your Action Plan With Phone Coach!
  • With Phone Coach you get: An 18 month review of the Dealerships Fixed Operations financial history. A report of all data collected. This report includes an Action Plan to identify areas of improvement opportunity, with a plan for your team to implement for gross profit improvement and expense reduction. A Fixed Performance Coach with over 25 years experience working in new car dealerships will personally perform a scheduled phone conference with key team members. Weekly progress will be monitored by a Fixed Performance Coach including a monthly updated report of your team's progress and accomplishments, along with an action plan and unlimited phone support. The Phone Coach is available for less than the price of 1 average oil change per working day. For the month of January we will offer a $200.00 discount for the initial setup fee for new customers. Please call 888.205.8718 for more details.

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