Whilst technicians’ and salespersons’ productivity are well understood and managed, the so-called “nonproductive” staff are often employed based on industry norms or historical dealership structure.

Here are some measurements that you can use to help you understand where your dealership stands – this should be done over an extended period so that valid trends can be established.

Unit sales per sales department admin staff member – the price of vehicles has increased dramatically as has GP in most cases, but the invoicing process has not changed.

Workshop invoices per costing clerk – how has this changed over time? Are there any factors that you think could have affected this positively or negatively?

Parts delivery drivers per R100 000 wholesale parts turnover (delivered parts to offsite clients). Parts prices have increased enormously, and looking only at the salary cost of drivers as a percentage of GP will not deliver a meaningful result.

Debtors and creditors accounts per debtor and creditors clerk. An added measure could also be invoices per debtors and creditors accounts per clerk. A substantial number of different accounts with a few transactions per account will be more admin intensive than a few debtors accounts with more invoices per account.

These are only a few examples as your staffing structure is different in every dealership. If you are part of a group, it will be interesting to compare your dealership to other dealerships in your group.

• Dealerfloor (dealerfloor.co.za) and I will be publishing regular articles on dealership efficiency. I am really looking forward to sharing ideas with you. Join the conversation by sending a WhatsApp to 082-776-1887 to be added to our group.