I attended a NADA class recently and the concept of level recon costs was brought up. The way we do reconditioning at our store is each vehicle stands on its own. Meaning whatever the actual recon costs for the given unit is gets billed to the car. I had never really considered the fact that there might be a better way to account for recon.

     It was mentioned in the class and several of the class members work at dealerships where they have a set amount of recon that is billed to every unit. Meaning, service hits each car the same amount of money regardless if the actual recon is more or less than the set amount. They mentioned that the benefit to doing it this way is that service is less prone to try to take advantage of the sales department. Also, service is then on the hook for any repairs that need to be done after the sale in the event that they missed something in the reconditioning process. They also mentioned that it is nice to have a predictable amount attached to each car so you don't have to worry about getting buried in one.

     I see a lot of disadvantages to this program as I have been thinking about it. I was wondering if there are many dealers out there that currently account for their recon in this way and what there experience has been. Or, if there are some dealers out there that have tried it and found that it didn't work well. Any feedback would be appreciated.....

     I attended a NADA class recently and the concept of level recon costs was brought up. The way we do reconditioning at our store is each vehicle stands on its own. Meaning whatever the actual recon costs for the given unit is gets billed to the car. I had never really considered the fact that there might be a better way to account for recon.

     It was mentioned in the class and several of the class members work at dealerships where they have a set amount of recon that is billed to every unit. Meaning, service hits each car the same amount of money regardless if the actual recon is more or less than the set amount. They mentioned that the benefit to doing it this way is that service is less prone to try to take advantage of the sales department. Also, service is then on the hook for any repairs that need to be done after the sale in the event that they missed something in the reconditioning process. They also mentioned that it is nice to have a predictable amount attached to each car so you don't have to worry about getting buried in one.

     I see a lot of disadvantages to this program as I have been thinking about it. I was wondering if there are many dealers out there that currently account for their recon in this way and what there experience has been. Or, if there are some dealers out there that have tried it and found that it didn't work well. Any feedback would be appreciated.....

     We are considering making another change with our internet process. First I will tell you a quick history of how we have handled internet leads in the past.

     We started by having all of our sales consultants take each lead.

     We then went to having 2-3 internet salespeople that handled all the leads and the normal salespeople didn't take any of the leads. The problem is we had a lot of turnover in that position.

     We then went back to having all the salespeople take the leads again. We have handled our leads that way for about 6 years. I think we have a great internet process compared to a lot of dealerships and we have closed as high as about 10% when we have things dialed in. The difficult thing that we are facing is to get our guys to be consistent and commit to following all the steps to our internet process 100% of the time.

     We are now considering hiring 2 BDC agents that don't sell at all and have them handle all the leads. Their only job would be to take the leads, follow our internet process, and make an appointment for the salespeople. We have talked to a couple of dealerships that handle their leads that way and they claim it is the only way to go. Any thoughts (positive or negative)????

     We are considering making another change with our internet process. First I will tell you a quick history of how we have handled internet leads in the past.

     We started by having all of our sales consultants take each lead.

     We then went to having 2-3 internet salespeople that handled all the leads and the normal salespeople didn't take any of the leads. The problem is we had a lot of turnover in that position.

     We then went back to having all the salespeople take the leads again. We have handled our leads that way for about 6 years. I think we have a great internet process compared to a lot of dealerships and we have closed as high as about 10% when we have things dialed in. The difficult thing that we are facing is to get our guys to be consistent and commit to following all the steps to our internet process 100% of the time.

     We are now considering hiring 2 BDC agents that don't sell at all and have them handle all the leads. Their only job would be to take the leads, follow our internet process, and make an appointment for the salespeople. We have talked to a couple of dealerships that handle their leads that way and they claim it is the only way to go. Any thoughts (positive or negative)????

     We have been in a rut the last 6 months with our customer survey scores. We usually are in the top 10% of the nation and have never really had any major issues with our scores. Our store has always taken the stance that we don't need to bribe the customer to give us a perfect survey if we provide a great experience and train our salespeople on how to ensure they get a good survey.

     Even though we still have happy customers and trained salespeople, I can't seem to get back where we used to be. I know there are stores out there that are basically "buying there perfect survey" and it drives me crazy because it is making me look bad. I know we take better care of our customers than these other stores but unfortunately we aren't getting the recognition from the manufacturer.

     Just wondering if most stores out there "buy" there surveys to make sure they are perfect or if they actually work for them? Also, is there any middle ground strategies that might be worth considering?

     We have been in a rut the last 6 months with our customer survey scores. We usually are in the top 10% of the nation and have never really had any major issues with our scores. Our store has always taken the stance that we don't need to bribe the customer to give us a perfect survey if we provide a great experience and train our salespeople on how to ensure they get a good survey.

     Even though we still have happy customers and trained salespeople, I can't seem to get back where we used to be. I know there are stores out there that are basically "buying there perfect survey" and it drives me crazy because it is making me look bad. I know we take better care of our customers than these other stores but unfortunately we aren't getting the recognition from the manufacturer.

     Just wondering if most stores out there "buy" there surveys to make sure they are perfect or if they actually work for them? Also, is there any middle ground strategies that might be worth considering?

     With the 4th of July coming up, I wanted to throw up a quick post about Holiday schedules.  At our dealership, we have always just had Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years off for Holidays. I know of other dealerships that are closed on various holidays that we are open on. I know the car business is far different from banker hours/schedules but I think we should get more than 3 days off per year.

     I was just wondering what most dealerships out there give for days off on Holidays for their sales departments? I'm curious to see if we are in the same boat as most dealerships. Any feedback would be great.... 

     With the 4th of July coming up, I wanted to throw up a quick post about Holiday schedules.  At our dealership, we have always just had Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years off for Holidays. I know of other dealerships that are closed on various holidays that we are open on. I know the car business is far different from banker hours/schedules but I think we should get more than 3 days off per year.

     I was just wondering what most dealerships out there give for days off on Holidays for their sales departments? I'm curious to see if we are in the same boat as most dealerships. Any feedback would be great.... 

Our dealership has always done really well with regard to Ford customer satisfaction surveys. We train our salespeople regularly on the importance of doing a proper delivery and explanation of the survey and expect them to do it on every single new car sold. In addition, we require them to make a 1 and 2 week follow up call to remind them of the importance of the survey and how it is graded. I know we can never have it done perfectly 100% of the time, but I feel pretty confident that our salesguys do a good job the majority of the time.

     With all that said, we still get customers that, no matter what we do or say, are never pleased and refuse to give us a completely satisfied comment. Which pisses me off! I swear they do it just to spite us. Anyway, I have heard about other dealerships bribing their customers in various ways to give them a perfect survey. Or, they bribe them to bring the unfilled survey into the dealership and then they will fill it out for the customer. We have never tried anything like that. I know we have some room for improvement, so I think it might be worth looking into some different ideas.

     What have you guys tried that has worked? I want to hear about ideas that are a bulletproof way to get a perfect survey. Let me know what you guys recommend....

Our dealership has always done really well with regard to Ford customer satisfaction surveys. We train our salespeople regularly on the importance of doing a proper delivery and explanation of the survey and expect them to do it on every single new car sold. In addition, we require them to make a 1 and 2 week follow up call to remind them of the importance of the survey and how it is graded. I know we can never have it done perfectly 100% of the time, but I feel pretty confident that our salesguys do a good job the majority of the time.

     With all that said, we still get customers that, no matter what we do or say, are never pleased and refuse to give us a completely satisfied comment. Which pisses me off! I swear they do it just to spite us. Anyway, I have heard about other dealerships bribing their customers in various ways to give them a perfect survey. Or, they bribe them to bring the unfilled survey into the dealership and then they will fill it out for the customer. We have never tried anything like that. I know we have some room for improvement, so I think it might be worth looking into some different ideas.

     What have you guys tried that has worked? I want to hear about ideas that are a bulletproof way to get a perfect survey. Let me know what you guys recommend....