First of a three-part series: A few weeks ago, I attended the Joint South Annual Meeting in Charleston.  There were several great speakers, but the afternoon with Bob Clements talking about “Bulletproofing Your Business” was of great interest to me.  Bob talked about the three dealership tips: well-defined processes in service, parts and sales; a plan for growth; and high capacity employees.  Bob said, “document your processes, manage the process, and coach the people.”  I love that! 

Today, let’s talk about well-defined processes. As a business owner, my management team and I talk a lot about being repeatable, sustainable and scalable.  It is our way of reinforcing the use of regularly refined processes that are necessary for our continued growth and success.   Most businesses have a process for basically any function, but few have them written down and regularly updated.   

Pretty much every business process has a technology component. This is where it gets interesting in the servicing dealer industry.  The challenge we face as a software provider is that there can be many ways to accomplish a process within a business system.  When we implement our business system, we document your existing processes and then arrive at the best process to follow in ASPEN.  Training on that process is imperative so that your outcomes are consistent.  Truly, the process drives accurate and consistent outcomes. Accurate and consistent outcomes make you repeatable, sustainable and scalable. 

As many dealership tips affirm, it’s very important to check if a new software release of your business systems offers any new features and functionalities that could improve your process. All business system vendors regularly look for ways that our product can improve or streamline processes. Small feature changes can impact your process. Review the notes that come with every release to ensure that you can refine your process based upon new functionality. 

Process drives measurables. Measurables are necessary to manage the process and then coach your employees. Measurables are also necessary for ensuring business growth. In my next article of this series, we will talk about your plan for growth and how technology can drive it.