Develop Your Work Plan
Most tire dealers believe there is no time to plan. Or, they fear that their best guesses about time and costs will be void if they dare to commit to paper such estimates. Don’t kid yourself. Not planning means you have no control, scope or timeline. Without a plan, you are likely to be slower or pricier than the competition.
Can your employees be more efficient? Of course they can; everyone can be more efficient. Is your staff incompetent? Let’s hope not, but if changes must be made, consider asking your employees to address these symptoms according to their own goals. The way to develop a plan is to get everyone on the same page. Write things down to start the process.
A mission statement helps you and your people stay focused. Start by outlining desired goals, making sure objectives are specific, achievable and measurable. Set a definite timeline for everyone to reach his or her goals. Create a work requirement section that allows you to determine all work output.
Identify all work performed and the amount of time it takes to perform that work. You may want to make a differentiation between highly skilled work and work that doesn’t require as much skill. Call this your “work breakdown structure” or WBS.
Once you have your WBS, you are ready to decide the sequence in which tasks must be accomplished. Plot your timeline and determine if any tasks should be performed simultaneously on the same work order by the same tech. Finally, decide whether your deadlines are realistic.
Develop a time-based budget so that the tires, wheels and parts needed will be available when needed. Your control system will include the equipment and tools that allow you to compare your WBS with actual work time expended.
As you move through time, think about the expertise you and your employees will need along the way. You may require training for a new wheel alignment machine, you may need to purchase a new tire changer or you may need to bring in a consultant to determine whether your WBS is on the money or off the mark.
Finally, have all your employees sign off on the WBS so they understand and know that they are part of the process. Don’t leave them out of the mix. Arrange review meetings so they can discuss the plan and help coordinate modifications. Remember that this is a dynamic document, so be prepared for some modifications. Even our founding fathers didn’t get it quite right the first time, so we’ve had to add amendments to the Constitution. In other words, be flexible.
The idea is to create a work plan that will enable you to monitor time and costs as well as coordinate teamwork in your dealership.