Author: Paul MacDonald

Take everything into account when calculating expense

Finding technicians in today’s job market is like finding a needle in a haystack.

They’re out there; it just takes some digging

I’ve been writing a lot about how efficiency and profits go hand in hand; that efficiency in a service department is measured by the average number of technician hours billed each day, also often referred to as first call completes.

Hourly pay is a typical remuneration model in the appliance repair industry. It is also an inefficient model that lacks incentive for technicians to work efficiently.

A service department’s efficiency is measured by how many technician hours each day can be charged to a customer or manufacturer — aka first call completes.

Are your service operation profits not where you want them to be? Do you have a hunch that your service department could use some attention, but you’re still buried by increased sales and worried about inventories of products to sell?

Years ago, manufacturers would conduct training sessions in local cities around the country. Your technicians could attend for free and get the latest model training and repair tips on problem units in the field.

We’ve all been there: You want to find a restaurant in a part of town you haven’t explored before.

Where do you start? Google, of course, which may lead you to Yelp or another online review site. You’ll probably search for the type of food you’re considering, then read through a few user comments and see how many stars a particular place has received to help with your decision.

While service is not impossible to operate without measuring performance, I will bet it’s draining margins from the sales side of a dealership. Appliance service departments are often looked at as a cost of doing business. This cannot be further from the truth.

A service business purchases man-hours from technicians for the purpose of solving a customer’s problems. Whether in warranty or not, the goal is to accomplish this by repairing a household of a malfunctioning appliance. In doing so, efficiency is defined by our ability to charge for as many of those purchased man-hours as is possible.