I assume we can all agree, it’s overwhelming and time consuming to keep your finger on the pulse and manage your store or department consistently. After having conversations with some of the most successful managers in the automotive industry, I’ve noticed several common themes developing. Here are 4 things that every good manager should be tracking…consistently.

People: Your employees are the face of your entire operation and determine the success or failure of each customer’s experience.  Every employee’s performance is vitally important and deserves your attention whether the result is praise or criticism. They deserve ongoing coaching/mentoring and strategies to improve and develop.

What to track:

• Culture: The overall morale of your salesforce can either ignite or deflate a store. Do people love working there? How’s your pay plan? Are you developing and retaining employees, or is turnover high?

• Process: Process produces predictable results. Even a bad process is better than no process. Whether it’s phone training, inbound leads or what the plan is when somebody comes to the showroom, your process is the one thing you can control and improve.

• Gross: In a world of transparent pricing, understanding your profit trends and who needs additional training is vital. Tracking the average difference between internet and sold price for used inventory is a great place to start

• Appointment Results: Anybody can “set” an appointment apt in the CRM but once you get somebody in the showroom, understanding closing percentage and why somebody would show up and leave without a car is important.

Inventory:   Having a detailed understanding of your vehicle inventory is a crucial process. Having an optimized supply chain can result in lower costs, reduction in excess inventory, higher margins and faster sales.

What to track:

• VDP’s and vehicle stats: Having an understanding of which vehicles to drop the price on and which ones are more likely to sell by tracking VDP’s on your website, Cars/Autotrader will help you make better pricing decisions.

• New car mix: Understanding the market and paying attention to which models and options are in demand will help you sell from the lot as opposed to always relying on dealer trades that decrease margins.

• Price to the market: Understanding your price compared to the market will not only get people in the door but give you a reason to hold gross when desking deals

• Aged Inventory: A sales spiff or adjusting your used car managers pay plan to one that incentivizes the reduction of aged units is important.

Results: The automotive industry is results-based. Managers set goals with the intent to motivate each department. But how are these goals established? Is there a data-based analysis or are these goals based on arbitrary, made up numbers? By setting realistic goals, you’re able to motivate teams to work together toward your desired results.

What to track:

• Sales numbers: Sales people deserve to know what’s expected whether it’s total sales, number of appointments set, or outgoing calls in a day. Setting realistic goals will make managing results more effective.  

• Service numbers: Service advisors are an essential extension of your sales team. Setting benchmarks and tracking results in service is a crucial part of a dealer's profitability.

Opportunities: Having a good understanding of where your best opportunities are on a daily basis is an extremely important piece of success at the day to day level. It’s easy when the showroom is crowded on a Saturday afternoon. But what about when things are quiet? Do you understand where your best opportunities are?

What to track:

• Incoming leads: In a culture where people want information right now, making sure that there is timely follow-up could be the difference between getting a new customer and losing one

• Be-Backs: Tracking which customers were in the store yesterday and making sure they are being followed up with, is important. They didn’t buy a car on the spot but they are still well within the buying cycle

• Other opportunities: Anybody can sell an aged unit that has the lowest price on the market or an incoming lead for a specific vehicle. Knowing things such as knowing which customers are close to being up with their lease, warranty expirations, service customers... These other (outgoing) opportunities are the ones that truly move the needle.

If everything is important, nothing is important. Tracking every single detail is virtually impossible but if you can focus on these 4 key areas, not just monthly but consistently, you’ll have a better idea on what needs improvement and be able to act quickly. I'd love to hear what else you feel is important to track. Thanks for reading! 

- Caleb