mmotley

I'd say you handled it correctly. I also agree with xrac. The gloves have come off. You bent over backwards to make it right, now they are just being *****. File a mechanics lien and call the cops if they show up again. If they showed up yelling, I'd tell the police it's harassment and they have abandoned their vehicle on your lot. We've all heard it before, but you can't make everyone happy. And some people just can't be made happy by anyone. They sound like scum, so treat them as such. Get your money out of em or take the car, forget about it, and move on.

I'll just leave this link here:

https://www.ratchetandwrench.com/articles/4444-six-steps-for-a-better-closing-ratio

All I'm saying is, if you're truly closing 95%, you need to talk with Elite, RLO, ATI, Jeremy O'Neal, or any of the other big names, cause they are all pitching expensive sales courses and none of them are even saying 95% is possible. I have a feeling you could also get a 6 figure salary with benefits from many shop owners on here if you could guarantee that ratio. 

"only sale things that we can prove have vaule" - I think this is how you're getting 95%. You're selling things you know you can sell. Get an MPI, write it up for all the maintenance and repairs it needs, then see where you're closing ratio falls.

So with an ARO of $465, that might explain why you have a 95% closing ratio. Typically, your technicians should be finding around $700-$1,200 worth of needed maintenance and repairs per repair order. Given that number, you're closer to 66% if they are only finding $700 per repair order of work needed. 66% is great, but I'd really be looking to make sure all potential work is being recommended (this includes spark plugs, fluids, wipers, bulbs, etc.). If they are capturing all that, your closing ratio would be closer to 39% (using the $1,200 figure). Not great, but not bad either. If you truly had a closing ratio of 95%, that means a tech could turn in a multipoint with $1,000 of recommended work and you'd sell $950 (eh, you missed the wiper blades, not bad!).

Closing ratio is only part of the equation though. An ARO of $465 is not bad at all, in fact, probably better than average (I think average for the nation is around $350). A high closing ratio can point to sloppy inspections, a low closing ratio can point to recommending too much work. Closing ratio typically falls on the advisor though.  

I used to track closing ratio, but totaling each tickets potential $ amount, then comparing to actual ticket $ amount and doing the math was too time consuming for my operation. I've since decided to focus more on ARO and HPRO instead. 

@spencersauto, One thing we are trying is when a new customer comes in, is asking them a few qualifying questions. Asking them what their plans with the vehicle is (keep it, trade it in, etc). Based on their response, you can respond with a few loaded questions to make the sale later on easier. 

I am by no means calling you a liar. However, I have researched a lot of advisor training courses from different companies and NOBODY claims 95%, 80%, or even 75%. I know of one company that claimed 70% to be the target, but I never got any proof from them that it was actually attainable on a consistent basis. Personally, I feel if an advisor closes 50% or more for the year, they are doing very well. Much higher than 60%, I'd be looking at the techs to make sure they are doing a thorough inspection.

Would you mind sharing how you calculated your 95% closing ratio? Would also like to know your ARO.

Close 95%?!?! If that's true, I'll pay you whatever you want to come train my advisor. 

Sorry, but either your techs aren't doing a thorough inspection, or your advisor is fudging numbers. What is your ARO? 

On 12/4/2017 at 1:36 PM, Hands On said:

You could just cross out the strike through clause. As long as a manager initials at the point of cross out and signes the contract that way, a judge would up hold it if it came to it.  No collection agency in their right mind would buy your account  after that. Of course they may just say no, in which case you can say no also.

Seems more trouble than it's worth to me. Sure, you would probably win in a small claims court, but I've got better things to do than to file paperwork and make my way to the court. 

Technician efficiency benchmark is 125%. I'd have the technician punch in and out on the job, then multiply by 1.25. There needs to be an understanding that the technician is not to milk the clock however. 

Are your techs doing that from their tablet while they do the inspection, or is this something your advisor is doing at the counter?

On a side note, how are you having technicians look up spark plug schedules? We've been trying to find a quick and easy way to look that up, but outside of looking through Identifix, we don't see many other options. 

Right now, we charge $15 for a rotation. Techs visually look at the pads while rotating. We're in process of getting a 'brake inspection' put together and I imagine we'll charge around $50 for the inspection. The inspection will not include any diagnosing, strictly measuring pads and rotors, testing brake fluid, and overall brake system visual inspection.

This is something we've dealt with and continue to deal with. A lot of factors come into play. Marketing is one, and how you market will affect what kind of customers you attract. Second is your multi-point. In the near future, we are going to stop identifying 'oil sending units leaking' and going to start find 'oil leaks' and asking for a $49.95 UV dye oil leak inspection. We've got tired of building 7 separate estimates just to have a customer decline them all. Same with coolant leaks. If they're not willing to spend $50 to know what is leaking, we're not gonna waste our time getting prices for parts and labor. 

I'd also look into some sales training. A service advisor who can build value in the presentation may convert more customers into doing repairs. A lot of things to look at, but hopefully some of these will help get you started in the right direction. 

17 hours ago, newport5 said:

While I agree that SA numbers are important, there’s more to being a good service writer than hard numbers, without the interpretation that goes with them.

How are they on the phone with prospective customers?

          Can they convert a “price shopper” to a valued customer?

Can they sell additional work on trust versus the drawn-out, value, safety, etc., pitch?

Can they look out for the customer’s pocketbook, the technicians, as well as the shop's bottom line?

How are his/her online reviews?

Can he/she negotiate any customer/supplier issues?

         Or make sure they don’t happen in the first place.

Do they answer the phone in a cheerful manner?

Do they make the customer’s day better or worse?

Having said all that, I especially like Closing Ratio, because, “Nothing happens until the customer says, “Yes”.”

        Is your SA fast enough getting the OK (or get’s pre-approval) so that the technician will point out additional work, versus wasting time on the rack, waiting for approval?

Does your SA convey to the customer that you are the good guys in this transaction, not the bad guys finding extra work?

Are your customers satisfied enough to refer people?

Is your SA helpful beyond simply car repair?

 

I hope that helps.

Victor

I agree, however, I think most of the points you made can be tracked and converted into valuable data when trying to gauge overall performance vs just guessing at how they are doing.

I've come to the conclusion that, going forward in 2018, I will be using ARO and HPRO to track my advisor's performance. I will add that I am fully aware that factors outside of the advisors control can affect these numbers. I picked these two because they are they easiest and quickest numbers to monitor. If we fall short of our goals, me and my advisor can sit down and discuss why we think we are not reaching the goals and go from there.

I would like to add something to this thread however. I was checking out some advisor training coaches online this morning and noticed an individual claiming that top advisors can achieve a 70% closing ratio. I've heard this before from another source, but after sitting down and doing the math, I really don't see how a shop that is thoroughly inspecting every vehicle & making proper maintenance recommendations can CONSISTENTLY achieve 70% closing ratios. Without fudging the numbers, poor vehicle inspections, or simply working on newer cars that need absolutely no work or maintenance,  I sincerely don't think it's possible to achieve week after week. Just my 2 cents.

9 hours ago, Hands On said:

I am with Aramark and I am very pleased. When I signed on I went through the contract and modified the part where they can increase rates. The manager looked at it and said ok as long as he could raise his rate if I raised mine. We agreed and so my rated are locked and only go up if I raise my labor rate. Service is ok, and driver is responsive toy issues. 

 

Keep in mind you can modify contracts. Sometimes companies are ok with it, others will say no or give up.  I always try.

That's awesome they let you do that. FYI, many of these contracts have a 'no strike through' clause in them, so make sure to keep an eye out for that. If it says that, you can mark the contract up all you want, but means nothing.

Shop Boss and Shop Ware sound like good fits. They are both going under a lot of improvements at this time, however. Bolt on has toyed around with some mobile stuff, but I'm not familiar with it. I don't think it would be entirely what you're looking for though.

Set your labor rate, your parts matrix, and your coupons (military discount) in your SMS and stick to it. Don't override your labor rate, parts margins, and only allow 1 coupon per ticket. If you wanna give something away, goodwill it and track it on your P&L.

Elite suggests not discounting, but giving a customer something extra for free I believe. Check out their sales tips.

I'd highly recommend looking into Wypall 41055 X80. I buy them off amazon and they last a long time. You can use them quite a while before trashing them. A roll last my 2 guys about 6 months. No lint, no metal, no streaks. The roll is always in the same place so they can find em.

Unfortunately, with some of the coolant capacities of cars these days and using an expensive flush machine, hitting your margins and paying your techs enough time does not come out too cheap after it's all said and done.

Awesome! I'm looking at switching over to Protractor from Mitchell, but my biggest hold up is having to learn a new system. The built in accounting feature is nice, but just like you said, any mistakes can really mess up your financials. All software is going to have a learning curve. I wish I would have started out with protractor though. 

Sounds like you're off to a good start though. Good luck!

From what I've gathered on another forum and talking to a few shop owners, there are a few different metrics you can use to gauge SA performance. It ultimately comes down to what you prefer. There is closing ratio, ARO, HPRO, lost leads, gross sales, and/or gross profit. I'd say that closing ratio is probably the most accurate representation of how effective a service advisor is, however I don't think any metric gives you the whole picture. Any of those numbers could be low and not be the fault of the advisor. Any of those numbers could be high and you could still have a problem. Ultimately, I think it comes to choosing a one or two of the metrics, tracking it, then evaluating the results. 

Closing ratio, from what I've seen, should be about 50%. ARO would depend on your shop, but I've been told the national average is around $350 for a general repair shop, so I wouldn't set a goal of any less than that. HPRO should be 3, more if you're a specialty shop. GP should be 60% of sales. At least this what I've gathered from talking with others. 

*double post

I'm to the point that I almost refuse to sign contracts (unless I don't have much of a choice). We don't ask customers to sign a contract with us, it's up to us to earn and keep their business. In fact, some of the best companies I work with do month to month because they know their product/service is top notch. Usually the ones I sign a contract with are the ones I regret doing business with

Curious how other shops are tracking service advisor performance. With technicians, I typically see shops either tracking hours produced or efficiency, or both. For advisors, I've seen closing ratio (calculated 3 different ways), ARO, HPRO, and/or gross sales (usually with a GP% requirement attached). I'd love to hear what method shops are using on this forum to track their service advisors performance and how they go about calculating with, along with what their benchmarks/goals are for their advisors. Also any pros/cons on how they track the way they do.

We use test strips. Honestly though, we don't find many that fail. Not that I want to sell something that's not needed, but I'd love to find more opportunities to sell it.

So as we get closer to Christmas time, I'm starting to think about how we can market ourselves through community involvement. I've seen business do 'adopt an angel' on Christmas trees and such. Curious if anyone has any ideas related to the holiday season.