When it comes to multi-point inspections (MPI), keeping track of your key performance indicators is the ticket to unveiling your best profit opportunities. Paper MPI forms just don’t make the cut in this day and age as there’s no efficient way to implement reporting on them. Making the switch to a digital or mobile MPI system, on the other hand, is sure to bring a wealth of benefits to your dealership. Digital MPI systems convey a more professional image, deliver a better customer experience, reveal your best upsells and help to keep your staff accountable.
But which KPIs give you the information you need to leverage these benefits? Instead of cross-referencing data from multiple reports every week, focus on the four main components of MPIs that deliver the most value.
1. Completion Ratios
Do you know your service department’s inspection ratio? Ideally, you should be completing inspections on more than 95 percent of the vehicles that see you for service. If you’re not sure what your current ratio is, first break it down by technician or advisor. If your staff is consistently inspecting only 50 percent of their vehicles, for instance, you’ve just identified a coachable moment. After all, each MPI presents a new revenue opportunity.
By checking your staff’s inspection ratios regularly — whether weekly or monthly — you’re holding your team accountable for providing knowledgeable service recommendations to your customers. And by doing so, you can easily identify technicians who rush through the process and check off the list without a thorough inspection and advisors who aren’t presenting recommendations effectively.
2. Top Services
You know what your best-selling services are — but how do you keep track of them? Have you noticed a rise or fall in the demand for certain services throughout the year? Simply viewing an organized chart or report of these trends can help you quickly identify which services are the easiest to upsell during different months or seasons.
Your advisors affect customer approvals, as well. If you have one advisor who sells a disproportionately high number of brake services compared to other advisors, have them lead an internal clinic where they can cross-train other advisors on how to sell specific recommendations.
3. Service Value
While it’s important to stay aware of your hottest-selling services, that doesn’t mean they’re the most profitable. That’s why you should keep track of the average gross profit for every service opcode in your shop. Use this information to create marketing campaigns focused on bringing in more profitable work — instead of just more work. The old adage of “quality over quantity” is as true here as ever.
In addition to the gross profit of every opcode, your reporting should provide your total RO revenue and what portion of that revenue came from MPI recommendations for your benefit, as well.
4. Declined Services
We know that declined services represent future revenue opportunity, but it’s still important to track them. When your customers decline, do you really know why? It could have been due to cost, parts availability, waiting time, etc. Knowing exactly why puts you in a better position to upsell those declined repairs in the future.
Additionally, declined service reports show you which advisors are following up with customers — and at what intervals. This gauges their success in welcoming customers back into your service lane. Look for outliers; this is a great opportunity for training.
Get the Data You Need
If your MPI system is integrated with a third-party service solution or DMS, it’s easy to track critical KPIs. Simply explore your MPI completion ratios, top-selling services, service value and declined service reports to get the actionable data you need to boost your service numbers. Not only do these reports give you exclusive insight into your profit opportunities, but they also enable you to see your successes, deliver a better customer experience and hold your staff accountable. And, if your system allows for these reports to be added to your dashboard as widgets, you can get access to this critical data quickly and at a glance for peak efficiency.
Dan Lee
