The term business metrics refers to taking measurements of key performance areas and evaluating them to determine if trends are positive or negative. Business metrics are measured in percentages making their assessment straight forward. Customer acquisition and retention rates, profit margins, efficiency and proficiency, recommendation capture rate, warranty work, sales growth rate and quote capture rate are some of the performance rates that can be measured and managed to achieve increased sales and business growth. To determine whether or not performance rates are positive they can be compared to various benchmarks such as previous periods or industry averages. Performance indicators that are trending negative or below industry averages should be given more attention. Following are performance measurements along with tips on how to make improvements:
- Increasing the Customer Acquisition Rate – The rate at which new customers are acquired will significantly impact sales growth. If the acquisition rate is less than the rate at which customers are lost then the size of the customer base will be declining. There are ways to make the most of advertising dollars and ensure that the customer base continues to grow … Read More >>
- Improving the Customer Retention Rate – No business keeps every customer they earn. However there a number of ways to retain more customers … Read More >>
- Widening Profit Margins – The profit motive drives every business. The challenge in achieving profitability is in setting prices and managing costs … Read More >>
- Maximizing Technician Efficiency – Efficiency can have a significant impact on profitability. A 5 percent increase in efficiency can equate to a 5 percent increase in throughput. In other words greater efficiency results in more hours being billed for the same amount of hours worked … Read More >>
- Boosting Shop Proficiency – Making optimal use of available resources is the goal of shop proficiency improvement. Increasing proficiency means that a greater amount of work is performed within the same available number of hours … Read More >>
- Raising the Recommendation Capture Rate – A good portion of the work performed in automotive repair shops is generated by recommended repairs. In any given shop a percentage of repairs are accepted by customers and the remainder are declined. Increasing the percentage of repairs that are accepted can result in a positive increase in sales volume … Read More >>
- Reducing Warranty Work – In Auto Repair the negative impact of warranty work or comebacks is well understood. At its worst it can result in lost business and at the very least it will result in lost productivity … Read More >>
- Accelerating the Sales Growth Rate – Streamlining and refining the processes within an auto repair shop will result in greater capacity and reduced operating costs. Increased capacity provides the opportunity for higher sales … Read More >>
- Increasing the Quote Capture Rate – Offering quotes is a common practice in auto repair – more so in tires than mechanical. A large portion of the decision on purchasing is based on price but there are other factors that will motivate a person to buy … Read More >>
