Setting Goals for Service Success
If you asked your service advisors and fixed operations team members about their goals for this quarter, could they tell you what they are?
While most service departments set goals, very few really manage them and guide their team to help achieve them. All members of goal-focused service operation should know their what their goals are, and their game plan to reach them.
If you haven’t set goals for your team, or want to step up your performance, I recommend starting simple.
Measure a Few Key Performance Metrics
I like to focus on: Hours per Repair Order (HPR), Effective Labor Rate (ELR), Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) and Point of Sale Hours (POS – point-of-sale hours vs. appointment hours).
There are many other ways you can measure performance, but these key measurements will give you a good pulse on how your team is performing.
Set goals for your team as a whole, as well as individual employees.
Customize Goals to Employees
In addition to departmental goals, setting goals for employees should be on a case-by-case basis.
When you’re measuring their HPR and CSI, or sales goals – set the targets based on an improvement over current performance. This will allow each team member to have achievable goals that work with their individual strengths.
It is essential that everyone understands what their goals are (and considers them achievable), and how to work toward their goals. Review these goals weekly with your team members, give them specific actions plans & directives in how to achieve them (taking just 5 minutes to meet) and throw in role play when needed to help them improve.
Create Incentives
Whether you structure pay plans based on performance, or create special promotions to get your team energized – incentives are a helpful tool.
You can set incentives based on areas that need improvement (e.g. CSI scores, maintenance items sold, alignments sold, etc.) or to jump start a slow month (e.g. retail sales target for first half of a month). Gift cards and cash grab bags are a low-cost way to reward your team on the spot!
As a manager, you’ll want to keep an eye on performance every day, and make those weekly meetings with your team members a priority, to keep your team on track.
Have questions about goal setting or want help improving your performance? Contact me to learn more.