To improve your business, you first need to have a solid understanding of where it’s at. That means you need to have a handle on the metrics that drive your business—the key performance
indicators (KPIs).
And those numbers go well beyond sales. They include profit margins, average repair order, customer satisfaction percentages, technician efficiency and productivity, among many others. They are the numbers that when tracked and evaluated properly, provide a snapshot of your shop’s performance and indicate where you can or need to improve.
In this issue, I’m excited to share with you some of the results from the first of what we hope becomes an annual survey of shop performance nationwide. What we found was a clear correlation between KPI tracking and shop success. Simply put, the shops that know their numbers tend to be more profitable.
This should come as no surprise, but in an industry that lacks universal standards and checks and balances, it’s an important message for all shop operators. As the work of repairing vehicles continues to grow more complex, as the cost of doing business increases, as customer expectations grow, the shops that do not understand the fundamental numbers that shape their businesses will fall behind.
Take a close look at the data your peers reported and use it to help benchmark your operation. If you don’t have the numbers to do so, there’s no time like the present to start tracking. And if you want to take an even deeper dive into KPIs, you can purchase our entire report. I welcome your feedback on the report and I hope you find it valuable.
Jake Weyer
[email protected]
