We can send 20,000 e-mails in less time than it takes to write and mail one letter, so why do we have less time than ever before? Both technology and regulations are the culprits. But, there is one department in the dealership that seems to use time better than any other and is making more money than ever before. The most productive employees in a dealership are technicians and it seems that the use of technology has made their productivity increase.
Why does their productivity go up and they have more time to flag? It is because they are dispatched jobs that are within their skill level and they constantly upgrade their skills with training.
Wouldn’t it be nice if every customer that you contacted had a skill level that was required to successfully sell them a new car? You could assign difficult customers to the most talented salespeople and they’d get “flagged” more commission to complete the sale!
Unfortunately, we don’t have this type of rating system yet for the sales department, but for controllers and office managers the tasks that they do can be rated and assigned by skill levels.
Next month, I’ll be discussing in my Digital Dealer Webinar, “Creating a Task-based Accounting Office” how you can use technology to track the 300-plus tasks that an accounting office must perform and how to classify your office staff by their skill level. Our current accounting offices were designed based on an outdated “desk” system. This system was created because we had huge manual journals to post. A new car desk had new car sales and purchase journals where the deals and vehicles received were recorded, line-by-line. Today, with computers throughout the office, it is possible to change from an unproductive desk system to a more productive task-based system categorized with various skill levels.
Technology also enables you to provide the training that your office needs to become truly multi-tasked. Can you imagine walking into an accounting office and instead of having to wait until “Suzie gets back from lunch” – anyone could help you? Budget cuts over the past years have created lean accounting offices, but at what cost or risk? Missing deadlines, writing off mistakes and making employees angry enough to quit costs us more than just profits.
A backlogged accounting office can cost you a repeat customer by not getting titles processed, trades paid off, or answering the phones and cashiering quickly. What if your accounting staff got flagged like technicians for the car deals they completed, warranty claims submitted or collections paid? There is never a backlog of work when an accounting staff is completing their work quickly to get assigned new tasks. Does this sound a lot like how your technicians compete for the next available job or salespeople fight for the next up? I realize this a new idea, but with controllers and office managers having more demands on their time with increasing regulations and technology, the way that we run our accounting office needs to change. Spend an hour with me next month in my Digital Dealer Webinar and learn how to manage your time better, close the books faster, and the steps you need to take to become a task-based accounting office.
