Laura, the general manager of a dealership that began as a family business, assumed her leadership role at a critical moment: the company had expanded significantly, with branches in different cities and multiple brand representations.
She described her day as organized chaos; the departments seemed to function well, but there were always details that didn’t quite add up… the workshop was approaching full capacity, the parts inventory always held “surprises,” lead and prospect management was artisanal, and sales advisors were taking too long to close sales.
One day, while reviewing the month-end reports, Laura realized something was seriously wrong: the numbers didn’t add up. There were losses that were hard to justify, and most concerning of all, each department head seemed to have a different version of reality.
At a meeting with other business owners in her city, she identified the need for a system to professionalize the dealership. A few months later, after selecting the right system, Laura’s daily routine had completely transformed.
What Changed?
When Laura and her team started working with us, the first thing we did was listen. We wanted to truly understand how her dealership operated, what challenges they faced, and most importantly, what results they hoped to achieve.
In the first few weeks, we conducted a thorough assessment of their processes. We dove into the workshop numbers, inventory behavior, and even team dynamics. It was a revealing exercise: we uncovered critical issues that had been present for some time but had never come to light.
For example, the parts inventory included a high percentage of idle stock, tying up important dealership resources. Additionally, parts purchasing decisions were based more on intuition than on concrete data, making it difficult to forecast actual demand.
With this and other information in hand, we were able to configure the DMS to address each specific need. While the system has a solid structure, it also offers the flexibility required to adapt to the unique characteristics of each business. In Laura’s case, beyond streamlining the daily operations of each department, we focused on tools that enabled them to:
- Optimize inventory turnover by identifying and redistributing idle parts.
- Improve purchasing management through parts order suggestion features.
- Monitor each salesperson’s performance: their leads, overdue tasks, conversion rates, etc.
- Foster the habit of analyzing indicators daily, for both the entire dealership and individual departments.
- Implement precise tracking of each technician’s hours.
The Formula for Success
But here’s the key: a DMS isn’t magical. No matter how robust or advanced the system, if the data entered isn’t accurate or if each team member doesn’t input information consistently, reports won’t be reliable. That’s why the formula for success is simple: the right processes plus the right DMS.
For instance, in Laura’s case, something as simple as recording lost sales or updating inventories in real time made a huge difference. What was once a repetitive manual effort could now be done with a single click, providing insights to boost sales.
Over the past 30 years implementing DMS in hundreds of dealerships, we’ve learned that the real impact lies in the combination of technology and a shift in operational mindset. With Laura, we saw this once again.
In just six months, her dealership reduced idle stock from 27% to 15%. This increased inventory turnover by 20% and raised the operating profit margin in the parts department from 80% to 90%.
Transforming organized chaos into a professional operation doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when the right processes meet the right tool to amplify them.
