It takes a special type of person that wants to manage hundreds of thousands of dollars and hundreds of large and small parts. For those of us who are extra crazy, we are constantly dreaming of ways to sell more over the counter, accessorize more and merchandise units more consistently before they leave. We are always ready for more. What does that next-level plan look like?
Once my playbook was solid and I was ready for my million-dollar year, it was all about the low-hanging fruit, because there is hidden money in your parts room. I like to keep my goals simple and really leaned into three big areas that would give me the biggest bang for my buck.
Linking Similar Parts
This project took about a year of hard work. It was one of the biggest projects my team has ever accomplished, but the return was 10 times, for sure. If you are using Lightspeed, there is a button on the parts information tab that can become your best friend. The mindset behind this project was to have a simple way to see all of the parts we had in stock and didn’t just blindly trust our vendors when they made recommendations for orders.
It’s no secret we all order the same parts from different vendors. Sometimes we do that to keep brands happy for points; other times, we are able to get a better discount. Linking the parts in the background took everything to a whole new level. Now we could see if we had OEM or aftermarket parts with a click of a button. We cut down our ordering time drastically and increased our turn ratio. Think of linking all of the same NGK spark plugs together, regardless of who you buy them from. If you need help on what and how to do something similar, reach out to me. It’s more than I can explain in an article.
Build Packages
I’m constantly beating the drum, saying, “We need to make it easy for people to buy from us.” That means branding and packages. I wanted to be known for creating simple packages my customers could put their money behind. If they aren’t buying, then it doesn’t count.
We made it a game at the counter and documented 10 of our most-common packages that we sold to customers. Each package has anywhere from three to seven parts and has a theme. When we were talking with our customers, we started branding those packages to them too. “Oh, you need the XYZ package; sure, that includes X and costs this dollar amount. We have some of that in stock and can get you a service appointment once it’s all here.”
Again, that branding helped us come across as a team that knew its stuff backwards and forwards. The best part was, we didn’t gate-keep the knowledge. Anyone on the team had access to the packages in the playbook. As we found better packages that worked, they got added to this list.
Refine Stock vs. Special Order
This is where the nerdy reports come into play. I love running and reading reports a little too much, if I’m being honest. Getting comfortable over the years with them has helped me pivot fast. Instead of always trying to get a feel for what things are selling, I’ve grown comfortable letting numbers tell the story. This was a big mindset shift. It’s easy to just run reports and see what we are selling every week, adjust how many fuel pumps and oil filters we have on hand and go from there. But, the true gold is in creating the lost sale report.
This was one of the hardest things I’ve had to get my team behind. They viewed each lost sale as a personal failure, since they couldn’t “close the deal.” Instead, I’ve been working on changing the name from “lost sale” to “requested but not stocked.” I would tell stories of how I made buying decisions based on that report and the things that we could have sold if it was on the shelf. I would keep them in the loop when I actively stocked something because we flagged it on the report so much.
Hitting that next level, regardless of what that dollar amount is, takes constantly refining our workflow and documentation. These principles are not just restricted to the parts department. Sure, it might look a little different in service or the sales department, but the principle is the same.
See where there is friction in the department — where staff gets frustrated and where things are bottlenecked — and make a list. Then, start finding solutions for those low-hanging fruit problems. You’ll be amazed at how much money you uncork from the bottleneck and how much happier your staff will be too.
To view tips like this from Maggie, head over to PowersportsPlaybook.com, where she’s creating resources and courses to help departments grow and dealerships boost profits.
