In the Service Department it is All About the Numbers!

"The Numbers." Everybody is always talking about "The Numbers". We live and die by "The Numbers" in the car biz, don't we?

In the Service Department we live and die not only by the monthly numbers but by the daily numbers as well. Service Managers are constantly reading reports with HPRO and EFL and CSI plastered all over them and the Advisors, well the Advisors, they are watching the Managers read the reports so they know what to expect.

In the Service Department bad numbers are rarely a secret.

The Advisors know what bad numbers mean. It means meetings and monitoring. It means stress piled on top of stress. And many times they have no idea where or how those numbers are calculated or even compiled.
All they know is that when they are bad, people with frowns and hard stares start showing up around their work station with regularity.

If you are Mr. or Ms. Advisor, I'd like to take a minute and explain a few of those numbers.
HPRO stands for Hours Per Repair Order. You get HPRO by dividing the Gross Amount of Labor Sales (less discounts) by the number of Repair Orders you have written.

Now I have had some conversations with Service Managers who want to argue about the "Mathematical Formula" vs the "Flags Per RO" and all you have to do is ask yourself this question Mr. or Ms. Dealer Service Manager, at the end of the month does the Dealer Principal count up the flag sheets or the money?
Effective Labor Rate is calculated by dividing Total Gross Labor Sales by Hours Flagged.

If you are an Advisor, you probably hear a lot about these two numbers. Why? Because the Service Manager is monitoring these on a daily basis and he or she is holding you, Mr. or Ms.

Service Advisor for performance in these two areas.

Lastly, Gross Labor and Gross Parts Sales. These are two numbers that reflect the Advisors daily output. They are the total amount of Sales you have on the Repair Orders you have written and are calculated by dividing the Total Gross Sales by the number of Repair Orders.

So now that you know what the numbers mean and where they come from you can begin to see what areas you might need to improve in to meet the standards at your Dealership.
 
If you are having difficulty in achieving HPRO standards, then a Sales Training Course geared towards Service Advisors would be appropriate.

If it is EFL, then you might want to pay attention to how much you are discounting (Did I just see all the Service Managers heads turn around on that one?) on your ROs.

And if you are having difficulty in achieving Gross Labor and Parts Sales then a Sales Course and a Phone Sales Skills Course for Service Advisors would be the best action you could take.

Not taking action after you know where and how they are calculated along with your performance goals is not the right thing to do if you want long term employment!

Don't "die" by the numbers! Understand them and use them to change what you are doing so you can start meeting performance objectives!