As I travel around the country evaluating dealerships I am repeatedly asked questions about parts department inventory. What's hot and what's not? How much is enough? How much is too much? Why is it important to have a precise inventory? Is my department efficient? Are my department team members adequately trained? How do 1 stow it? How do I show? These are questions we all have, especially at inventory time?

Controlling your physical inventory can be like a great motorcycle ride versus the one where everything went wrong, including not having the proper gear for the conditions

or not being able to find what you wanted when you needed it.

Soon we will take a "ride" through the parts department. But first let me say that at PowerHouse every time we look at a part of the dealership for ways to make it a Top Gun dealership we ALWAYS look to improve three things:

1. Customer satisfaction. A happy and content customer buys more, comes back more often, tells others about you, and takes much less of your time per transaction because he or she has trust and confidence in you and your dealership

2. Team efficiency (employees). In most dealerships we find that the reason for low productivity is NOT that people are lazy. It's that they are working hard at the wrong things or simply are not getting the benefits they should from their work. Often, they have missed a few important steps or are doing unnecessary things. At PowerHouse, we look for ways to work SMARTER not HARDER to give you much more of a return on the huge amount of work you are already performing.

3. Profitability. Without profit, nothing continues. You cannot hire and retain quality team members. You cannot offer the kind of assistance to your customers that you must offer to retain them. You cannot offer the selection of products you need to attract not only repeat customers, but new customers as well. You cannot expand the business when opportunity would normally allow it

TAKING THE INVENTORY RIDE!

Anyone who takes a road trip knows how to be best prepared for it. First, you pack what you NEED. Then you pack what you'd LIKE. Sometimes all you can fit is what you need. And how are you going to pack it? Should you keep your rain gear in the bottom of the bag? Or should you keep it at the top so it is easily accessible and you're not going to get drenched in an unexpected downpour?

Will you have a map? Will you plan your route on boring roads with potholes or take the scenic ones? Sometimes we take spur of the moment road trips, other times we plan well in advance for a big ride. But one things for sure, if it's going to be an enjoyable ride you're going to need to plan it RIGHT!