Fixed operations careers aren’t the most glamorous. Some days are rewarding while others are like repeatedly standing before a firing squad. Customer interaction can take its toll on your team and only the cream of the crop will stick around and thrive. You know you have to pay your staff competitively, and yet, you need to motivate towards production. Where do you walk on that fine line between commission, salary, or a blend of the two?

Speaking from personal experience, extra incentive draws out the best work. Providing a minimal base salary with a commission pay plan structured to be lucrative with top-notch performance hits home for me. To be fair, I’m someone with a penchant for laziness. The commission aspect drives me to do better for the store and, ultimately, myself.

But is a heavily commission-based pay plan best for your new fixed ops hires? Which positions might benefit from strictly salary and which favor a commission factor?

Dangle a Carrot

Some team members will chase any incentive you put before them while others will disregard it completely. Regardless of the position you’re hiring for, I encourage an incentive in the pay plan. Whether you base it on CSI survey results, customer comments, recognized dedication above and beyond their job role, or on their position’s measured performance, provide a reason for team members to put in their best effort.

No matter which position a staff member holds, they are integral to your dealership’s success. From parts desk personnel to detailing staff and technicians to service advisors, everyone plays a role in the customer’s experience. Reward them for a job well done.

Best as Salaried Positions

While a carrot is a nice treat, consistent salaried pay is best for certain positions. Essentially, anyone who doesn’t actively ‘sell’ should be a salary-based employee. That includes:

• Parts personnel (rarely are upsells necessary)
• Autobody staff
• Cash office and receptionist staff
• Valets
• Lube rack technicians

These staff members have little opportunity to influence their paycheck, and a commission aspect based on performance would be difficult to achieve.

Best as Commission-Based Positions

That leaves surprisingly few positions remaining: just technicians and service advisors. In the fixed operations world, these two positions hold the most responsibility for generating profits with their actions.

A technician’s role is to maintain and repair vehicles, and to provide the customer information on essential and recommended services to keep their vehicle operating properly. A service advisor’s role is to advise the customer on necessary repairs and services during write-up and ‘sell’ the technician’s recommendations.

Both roles directly affect your bottom line and are best paid based on the work generated.

That doesn’t cover the hiring process though…

Transition the Pay Plan

As a new hire, it takes months to settle into your environment. That steep learning curve impacts paychecks. What seems to be an effective method during a probationary period is a strictly salary pay plan, allowing the new staff to get up to speed without the stressful worries of their pay.

Keep the probationary pay plan brief for commission-based roles to prevent the new hire from becoming complacent. Once they achieve a level of skill and comfort that allows them to exceed the probationary pay, convert them to their long-term pay plan.

Make the Pay Plan Clear During the Hiring Process

Whichever direction you take, whether commission-based or salary, the pay structure should be clear to applicants during interviews. There don’t have to be concrete numbers attached but a general idea of the structure should be provided.

The last thing both you and the applicants want is to go through the whole process, discover an applicant is a good match to the dealership, then find out they won’t accept the role because of the pay structure. It wastes their time as an applicant and your valuable time during hiring.

I’m aware my thoughts aren’t shared by everyone. I’ve worked for dealer principals who want every position to be based on performance in some way while others try to ‘lock in’ pay plans at a steady salary. Feel free to share your thoughts on the best way to pay new hires in the fixed ops realm.