The link between efficiency and profitability

There’s an age-old debate in the marine industry about the merits of service department efficiency. Can a boat service shop truly reach efficiency levels of greater than 70 percent? Can a Northern dealer reach levels of greater than 50 or even 40 percent? And what effect does efficiency really have on service department — let alone overall — profitability?

These questions and more will be answered definitively at the Marine Dealer Conference & Expo when Greg Schneider of Spader Business Management presents on The Link Between Efficiency and Profitability. This presentation, which kicks off the Service Department Track, will use experience from Spader’s more than 30 years in the marine business to demonstrate how attendees can increase efficiency and therefore overall profitability in their service departments.

“At first glance, Collect-able™ efficiency has the appearance of being a technician effort issue,” Schneider explains. “But high Collect-able efficiency comes primarily from service management understanding and implementing a process-driven system.”

Attendees will learn Spader’s proprietary Collect-able™ efficiency system and all of the key ingredients necessary to add up to making their shop achieve the highest efficiency rates possible. They will leave this presentation with the tools and guidelines for finding success — and profitability — in their shops.

“Most service departments are not profitable,” Schneider explains, “and it’s generally not because of a lack of available service work, or lack of effort on the part of the employees, or even lack of high enough labor rate. The truth is that most service departments are not profitable because of a lack of technician efficiency.”

To learn more about The Link Between Efficiency and Profitability, make plans to attend the 2009 Marine Dealer Conference & Expo, to be held in Orlando, Fla., Nov. 16-18. With two concurrent educational tracks and nearly 20 individual educational sessions, this event has been designed to help dealers navigate today’s difficult market.

Schneider’s Link Between Efficiency and Profitability presentation will kick off the Service Department Track and will be followed by a dealer panel discussion on best practices (for both large and small shops) in service department efficiency, in addition to a presentation on 20-plus tips for building a stronger service department and more.

A Sales & Marketing Track will be held concurrently, with a focus on such topics as the dealership of tomorrow, dealership recovery and growth, the art and science of inventory management, a best ideas dealer panel discussion and secrets to lead management success.

Wednesday morning, a Commercial and Retail Financing Track will also be offered. The event will then wrap up with a dealer solutions panel and an industry leaders panel, two hallmarks of this convention.