THE FOUNDATION

Housekeeping

When you come to work tomorrow morning and before you enter the general office stop in the doorway. What do you see? Next go to your office and stand in the doorway. What do you see? If an office has boxes lying around or deals and invoices strewn about on top of file cabinets or credenzas that is a sign of an inefficient office that is always a dollar short and a day late. A well run general office must begin with housekeeping.

Filing

An inordinate amount of time is lost looking for documents that are not filed. The files are scattered throughout the office, on somebody’s desk, in somebody’s desk or thrown on top of a file cabinet. How much time is lost chasing down a deal or an invoice? As mundane as filing is, it is as important as processing payroll. If you can’t find it, how are you going to fix it?

NO SLOBBERY ALLOWED

All completed work must be filed before the end of the day or the very first thing the next day. Each employee is responsible for filing their own work. File as you go. There is no such thing as a file clerk or, “I will file it later.” Later never comes.

TWO TIER TRAYS

The controller and each employee should have a two tier tray on their deck. The top tray is the now tray. Each morning what is in the top tray should be reviewed to determine what needs to be processed that day? The bottom tray is the later tray. This tray should be looked at twice a week. It contains items that need to be processed at a later date. An example of a later tray item would be a real estate tax invoice. It may not be due for 60 or 90 days but you want it to hit you in the face at least weekly as a reminder that it is there and it gets paid on time without penalty.

WIRE BASKETS

Every dealership should have the basket system. Wire see-through baskets for each department in the dealership are placed on a file cabinet in the general office. Each basket is designated for a department. The purpose of the baskets is to stop the running back and forth between departments delivering paperwork. That is not to say you shouldn’t rise from your chair and go visiting the different departments just to see what is happening. You are not UPS, FedEx or the Post Office. All mail, communications, invoices, the DOC, etc. are put in the appropriate basket. Managers are in and out of the general office many times throughout the day. They can pick up what is in their basket daily.