In Parts I and II of this blog, we looked at setting individual training paths for technicians, as well as growing technicians internally from students to top employees as part of a technician retention plan. In Part III we will discuss varying ideas for pay plans to motivate your technicians and improve overall morale.

Let us not forget, solid fixed operations absorption moves to the front burner again as a looming front-end plateau becomes a reality. Creatively designed compensation to retain and motivate technicians also goes a long way in getting the biggest return on your back end’s most valuable investment.

Hourly and flat-rate industry-standard pay plans are well and good, though not without their pros and cons. It’s time to look into some outside-the-box compensation to get technicians to stay, turn more hours, increase the bottom line, and secure the dealership’s financial stability through fixed operations absorption.

• Performance Levels
  • Track technician’s efficiency, productivity, and proficiency. Make sure your technicians know what the dealership’s benchmarks are for each and their individual expected contribution. Align compensation to these goals and set no limits when a technician exceeds the dealership standard. It is a great way to show your technicians their expertise and performance is recognized and rewarded.  They perform at a higher level producing more hours in a day and make the bottom line a lot healthier. A definite win-win.
• CSE/CSI
  • Make sure technicians understand their direct impact beyond “Fixed Right First Visit” on survey results and the correlation between the customer voice and retention. Technicians need to be responsible for their part in the dealership’s processes that are intended to boost customer satisfaction. The best spent CSE/CSI budget isn’t expended on compensating customers after a less than stellar experience, but instead ahead of time on technicians and the parts and service team to ensure scores attain and stay at the top.
  • Share the dealership’s goals and satisfaction reports so technicians can monitor their individual performance. And like advisors and managers, bonus technicians for above target CSE/CSI performance.
• Spiffs/Bonuses
  • Let technicians earn a little extra money while the dealership benefits from the additional sales. Looking to boost inspections or sales on a particular part? Just purchased a truck load of tires from your OEM’s promotion? Perhaps that $55,000 new alignment machine needs to start paying for itself? Spiff your technicians to get them to focus on checking and recommending appropriate upsells.
  • Cash is king! If paying spiffs in money pay the winners in cash – it will mean more since it can be instantly spent as opposed to having to run to the bank. However, the spiff does not always need to be monetary. Paid time off, lunch off-site with management, OEM apparel, gift cards for tools, etc. are all great motivators.
  • Change it up. Running the same spiff program with the same rewards will eventually get stale and loose its luster. Come up with a new program each month with different types of rewards. One month, spiff anyone who upsells the special. The next, spiff only the top performers. Use pull boards and other visual incentive props to engage employees. Get creative!

So don’t be crippled by the idea that “I can’t pay more money for employees that already make top dollar.” Do the calculation. Adding some incentives will motivate your technicians to work harder, produce more sales, and best of all improve overall morale and technician retention.

In Part IV of this blog, we will discuss the ways to improve the technician/manager relationship. Stay tuned!