We are more interested in building long lasting partnerships with shops that are a good fit for our community, than making sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shopwerks was built in a small independent shop, and built to scale to a multi-location dealership, but at what point does a shop need a DMS? We break it down into 3 main factors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you answered yes to at least two of those questions, its likely that investing in a DMS will provide a positive return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are two components here that justify a management system: first is volume- the products and services you are selling and completing everyday; when its a one off side project that you can easily keep track of whats going on in your head- you don’t need a DMS! But there is a point, and you know what we are talking about if you run a shop, where just remembering what each vehicle is there for becomes burdensome. So maybe you create a spreadsheet or keep a notebook- which works for a certain size- but again at a certain point you’ll be spending time entering\/writing data that could be spent elsewhere making more money then a DMS will cost you. For most shops this starts with flipping a few marketplace finds. The same can be said for vehicle inventory, although a lot harder to misplace, another layer of a good inventory system is realistically valuable analytics- which are especially useful in vehicle sales. For instance when a major unit is entered into Shopwerks major units section, the as-is value and good condition values are captured, so that when you wind up like a lot of shops with over a dozen side project flip things, the major units view tells you exactly which one has the most profitability with the least amount of work- and same for new units that have a monthly flooring or depreciation cost. Because bills don’t get paid with farts and good will.
The beauty in a good<\/em> DMS is that data entry is stripped down to the bare minimum possible, and then used across multiple different layers of your business. But its not just time saving- a good DMS uses that data to give you complete control and understanding into your shops strengths and weaknesses in ways not possible with a spreadsheet.
But there is a second component to “Size” and that is<\/em> employees (or helpers for the under the table\/1099 shops out there). Even when you know their value as far as performance, you have to<\/strong> record the data on what your paying them for, hourly, flag, or even commission.
Why?
Because pay is the foundation of the relationship between you and your worker, sorry but they are their for money (maybe some passion too, but mainly money).
A simple record of time clocked in and jobs completed not only gives you a source to settle any pay disputes, but it gives you a solid backing to make decisions. Imagine this situation:
You have to sit down with little Johnny to tell him that things are not working out with his employment.
Now without records on what hes actually done the situation becomes a lot more uncomfortable when he asks why.. maybe you give him an example but he is going to immediately fire back that someone else caused that- and its really bad when hes right.
Now imagine instead of recalling an event from memory you can explain that your business has to be profitable, imagine you can actually show him numbers that prove without a doubt he is costing you or under-performing; and guess what, with that data you can more then likely have sit downs and explain the situation before even getting to the point of termination.
This is one of the many examples of why businesses without data do not grow.
<\/p>\n\n\n\nSales<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Then in the Service department you discover you can make 30% more profit per job by supplying parts, and before you know it you have a shelf full of oil filters and your trying to setup an eBay seller account.
This is when you need a management system<\/em>.
Again a good<\/em> DMS is going to strip down data entry to the bare minimum and collect everything else needed under the hood. Parts data is a gigantic pool of data soup. Please read our Inventory Page<\/a> to see exactly how Shopwerks does it, plus a bonus opinion on drop shipping that you did not ask for..
If you’ve dealt with parts inventory you know the headaches, the value in knowing what parts you have and where they are is pretty self explanatory…
If your a new shop owner please read our post on bin inventory<\/a> if your not already using it.
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For parts the value in analytics is the same; low-inventory alerts, top sellers, length of time on the shelf; all the insights you need to keep the parts in stock that you actually use, without spending extra $ on stuff you don’t need.
<\/p>\n\n\n\nFinance<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The core of your business is money, and if your helping buddies out on the side that’s one thing, but chances are your reading this because you intend to make a profit with your powersports shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n