Sharing Shop Numbers

[nge]

Just wondering if anyone shares their shop numbers (mainly Sales & Expenses) with their employees? I have bounced back and forth on this for years. One one hand I don't think the employees should know these numbers because they take them out of context ie $100k in sales they think you can afford to give them a raise when in reality you may be making a $100 profit (not real numbers just an example). On the other hand I can see sharing the numbers so that they can get the picture and buy into messaging we are giving them a bit more. I have had emoloyees in the past that have had this issue. They want a raise because "business is great and we are making a lot". I then proceeded to ask him what he thought out fixed monthly expenses were and he guessed a little over half of what out real number was meaning he had no clue what it took to run the biz.

[mmotley]

I only have 2 employees and I share those numbers every once in a while. I make sure to share both sales and expense. I also let them know when I'm having to pay taxes.

 

The reason I do this is that it is very easy to see customer after customer come in and spend $800-$1000 every day and assume the business is making a ton of money. However, they don't see you on the computer paying advertising bills, insurance, rent/mortgage, taxes, shop maintenance bills, paying for new equipment, etc. It is also easy to forget that not all of a ticket is profit. There were some parts that had to be paid for. And commission too. And CC processing fees. And electricity. And management software. And tanks of R134a. And you get the point. Sharing these numbers with my service advisor helps him justify why we charge what we charge. Sharing these numbers with my other mechanic helps him understand why we need to make additional recommendations, fix cars right the first time, and pay attention to waste.

 

I also reward my guys when we have a great month and pay them well too. Because of all this, they show up on time, they stay late if asked (sometimes I don't have to ask), they'll show up on a Saturday if needed, I know they aren't out looking for other jobs, I get to hear them brag about how much they like working for me to their friends, family, and customers.

 

I know some will say you shouldn't share these numbers, so let me be clear. I don't break it all down and put it into a pie chart and graphs and show them my bank account. I do however share with them when a few tickets here and there that have really high profit percentages and a few tickets that are really low percentages. I definitely share with them any ticket I loose my ass on (mis-diagnose, break a part, mis-quote, etc). This way they don't just see a $3,000 ticket and assume I'm going out to party when the customer pays.

 

I'm interested to see what others say though. I've often wondered about how others say they don't share these numbers, but use Mitchell Manager that has a 'profit' hot key that shows how much money is made on each ticket.

[328ijunkie]

We share with our 2 close long term techs for ^ That same reason. They see that theyre billing sometimes thousands a day and assume that were making millions if you dont give them some perspective...

[flacvabeach]

We share all of our numbers with our Shop Manager and Service Advisors. They are pros who are very knowledgeable in shop operations and have been to ATI training and know what good numbers are. Their knowledge and cooperation is critical to achieving the numbers we are looking for. We also share them with other shop owners in our twenty group.