As we noted, Platinum Performers posted higher retail tire sales ($800,000 vs. $614.000) and higher service sales ($1 million vs. $570,000) for 2013. This is likely driven by a greater emphasis on practices and programs that make Platinum Performers better operationally and more attractive tire dealers with which to do business.
Above all, Platinum Performers have more practices in place that retain, encourage and motivate employees. Although Platinum Per- formers and other dealers pay their employees similar amounts position by position, Platinum Performers focus more of their revenue on payroll versus other performers (38% vs. 25%).
“We’re able to have techs work on several cars a day through effective scheduling. We schedule everything try to schedule by appointments by doing that we can look at who’s doing what and we can move people in and out a lot faster than other shops.” – Richard Hoffman, Owner of Hoffman Tire Pros
Platinum Performers are more likely to offer their employees benefits beyond a competitive salary. These include paid vacation, bonuses, reviews and raises, sick and personal days, medical benefits, promotion/advancement opportunities, and revenue sharing. Platinum Performers also offer employees the opportunity to excel with benefits like technical, sales and management training, and apprenticeship programs.
These programs likely motivate employees to do better work, and in the case of Platinum Performers, make more money with about the same amount of employees as the other performers (9 vs. 8.8 employees). Increased investment in training also equates to three additional cars per bay per day for Platinum Performers.
Other Personnel Details:
- Overall, Platinum Performer locations were staffed by 9.0 employees (median) compared to 8.8 for other dealers.
- Service techs at Platinum Performer dealers average 9.6 jobs per day vs. 7.0 at other dealers. Those service jobs resulted in an average ticket of $281.82 compared to $199.73 for other dealers.
- Tire and tire service is vital to Platinum Performers, so they use a wide variety of training resources. 81.8% of top dealers look to non-manufacturer suppliers for training compared to 73.8% among other dealers. Tiremakers are used by 81.8% of Platinum Performers vs. 57.9%; associations (like TIA) are sourced by 72.7% of top dealers vs. 48.6%; and other options are utilized by 45.5% of Platinum Performers vs. 27.1% by other dealers.
“We utilize all our suppliers like O’Reilly, NAPA, Big O for our training needs and send my techs to different classes and courses throughout the year. With the crazy Internet, we’ve found other ways to keep them up-to-date, as well. Free sites like YouTube and bergwall.com provide them ASE training.” –Tom Huls, President of Tokah Inc./Big O Tires
- On the vehicle repair and service side, good training is equally important to top dealers. 90.9% of Platinum Performers seek out training from non-manufacturer suppliers vs. 74% by other dealers; technical schools get the call by 72.7% of top dealers vs. 43.3%; parts producers are called on by 54.6% of Platinum Performers vs. 30.8% of other dealers; and 45.5% of top dealers look at a variety of other options compared to 43.3% of other dealers.
- In terms of wages, Platinum Performers tend to pay their staffs better. Here is the average annual wage paid breakdown by position:
- Location Manager – Platinum Performer: $70,618 – Other: $67,129
- Sales/Customer Service – Platinum Performer: $40,222 – Other: $43,410
- Outside Sales – Platinum Performers: N/A – Other: $47,677
- Back Office – Platinum Performer: $47,500 – Other: $33,746
- Service Techs – Platinum Performer: $69,909 – Other: $52,149
- Tire Techs – Platinum Performer: $34,682 – Other: $30,215
- Field Service – Platinum Performer: N/A – Other: $35,923
