Parts inventory may not be a sexy topic however, it could not be any more critical in achieving peak performance in your fixed operations. Many dealerships make the mistake of managing their parts inventories by the number of dollars instead of having what is needed. They believe aged inventory isn’t a real cost and they refuse…

No one can see the future however, the decisions you make on a daily basis definitely develop the chances for failure or success. Kenny Rogers said in a song “You got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them” illustrating the same concept that the choices we make today develop our future. What we all need to understand…

I wear a Fitbit tracking device that monitors how many steps I take during the day. One of the features in the Fitbit is when I’m sitting for a while it buzzes to encourage me to take so many steps to meet my goal for the hour. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a similar product that monitored what we are accomplishing in our jobs? Words cannot express what…

One of the things I’ve been able to do over the years is accepting the fact I’ll never achieve perfection. However, I constantly look at myself seeking areas for me to improve. Many times I share imperfections with the hope that others might learn from my experience developed over the years. 



I started Fixed Performance…

I have written and spoken extensively on the need for qualified technicians. This morning’s news says there are now more job openings than unemployed people nationwide. This means if every job opening was filled there wouldn’t be enough unemployed individuals to fill those positions. Many dealerships haven’t placed importance on compensating their teams…

There’s a lot of discussion lately about who is the greatest of all time in basketball. The great players in any sport work diligently to perform to the best of their ability. In our automotive field, I’m sure we could discuss at great length who the greatest of all time would be as well. Most of us don’t consider ourselves working towards the…

One of our clients just got an additional $300,000 gross profit on warranty using our Margin Plus program! Over 40 states have laws about this. Are you getting retail pricing for warranty parts and labor repairs yet? If not call 1-888-205-8718, or simply click the link below and see what we can do for your dealership!  …

In my advisor training, I talk about feature benefit presentations and review labor operation frequencies. The reaction of advisors is similar as I use their numbers individually to estimate potential sales by labor operations. They are amazed when we review just three labor operations that show their potential in excess of a quarter…

Typically, a dealership will invest over $40,000 to get a technician certified to master status. To keep this technician current will require investing additional thousands in training every year. Historically dealerships haven’t attempted to maximize this investment by sharing with less trained newer talent. With the shortage of new technicians entering…

One of the largest concerns facing the automotive industry is the shortage of technicians. Many qualified technicians have left in retirement or have moved on to other markets that also have needs such as fleets or oilfields. Adding to this concern is very few young technicians have chosen to enter a market with so many challenges. A few of the obstacles…

Technician income is on the rise and the current shortage of available technicians is as well causing concerns for most dealerships across the country. Dealers have become aggressive offering more per flat rate hour and I’ve seen sign-on bonuses as high as $20,000. New technicians coming into the Automotive industry is low quickly elevating the…

Those who hope to achieve success in life understand your standards hold a critical part in any achievement. Isn’t it interesting as critical as standards are towards achievement so little time is spent understanding and developing them? We are so caught up with the concerns of the day and dealing with current issues there isn’t any time left to develop…

I’ve had the privilege of visiting thousands of dealership service departments throughout the United States. The most successful have common characteristics and today I would like to illustrate one. Many have heard me say how important customer pay effective labor rate is along with…

I’m not going to be bold and say the customer is always right. Frankly, they are not always right however, without them you have no business. Let’s rephrase that and say the customer is important. We could even say the customer is critical and be correct. What I find amazing is how little…

Having spent my entire life in and around fixed operations of car dealerships there have been many changes. One of the sayings I’ve heard is that the only consistent thing in car dealerships is change. And serious change has occurred such as warranty work being down and the regulations associated with it climbing. They are building the cars better and have become more complicated to…

The moment you notice something may be going wrong the very first thought that comes into your mind might be “what now.” Many people I know have the expectation that their life is just going to be full of problems no matter what they do. In a way, with this mentality, it justifies their life being miserable. The truth is this attitude…

Gross profit is critical to the bottom line and warranty parts and labor reduce our results. The cost of training, equipment, special tools, and labor continue to rise making profit a challenge for dealerships. Our new Margin Plus program can get your dealership additional gross profit to offset the challenges. Let’s see what you are leaving on the…

Few people would hesitate to describe the life they want to live. Today I ask what life you want. You had to think about what you would like to do for work or where you would like to live. You might be waiting for the genie in a magic bottle. Maybe you play the lottery considering what to do when you win. Neither of these is very likely to happen so…

It’s easy to say you want to accomplish something and even acknowledge it in front of others. When you start down the path of day-to-day life obstacles should be an expectation that will come your way. The way we think about those obstacles will determine the success or failure of our goal. When a new obstacle arises at first I question if I want to.…

One of the most important considerations we have in business is to understand the balance in choosing between volume and margin. If a dealership was only concerned about volume they might price customer pay repair labor at $60 per hour. If they were only concerned about margin they would consider a labor repair rate of $180 per hour as…