Here is the fifth and last part of our list of reports a good DMS should provide to help dealers in times of crisis.

In difficult times like these, it is vital for companies to center their efforts on three main imperatives:

• Focus on current customers
• Mind costs
• Improve productivity and efficiency

These can be translated into five specific objectives the dealer can work on:

1. Retain customers
2. Purchase parts intelligently
3. Detect unsold parts and vehicles
4. Increase service efficiency
5. Evaluate the dealership performance in detail

A good DMS (Dealer Manager System) is vital to providing the dealer with specific information in order to work on these goals.

In our first issue we focused on the importance of reports that help dealers retain and make sales to current customers through diverse marketing tools. In our second issue we focused on reports that help dealers purchase parts intelligently, by avoiding manual parts management and making informed decisions regarding your inventory.

In the third issue we focused on detecting unsold parts and vehicles in order to dispose of them, and in the fourth, we focused on how your Service Department can be a major provider of value for the dealership.

Now we’ll focus on how to evaluate the dealership performance in detail.

Goal 5: Evaluate the dealership performance in detail

Benefits for the dealer:

• Know business performance in real time 
• Detect problems 
• Correct deviations 
• Make informed decisions 
• Measure business efficiency

Managers today are overloaded with information, making it difficult to make the right decisions. They need to know instantly, and in real time, how the business is performing, all with a minimum of clicks.

That’s why a DMS should not only be an administrative solution but also a tool that provides the dealer with quick information on the company’s performance and thus helps in strategic decision-making.

A good DMS should provide a Control Panel where managers can access vital business information, in an easy and useful way, at any time and from any place (via internet if they are out of the office).

A Control Panel lets managers monitor key business indicators (known as KPIs or Key Performance Indicators), such as:

• Net profitability
• Gross profitability
• Break-even point of each department
• Absorption rate
• Turnover of vehicle and part inventory
• Each department’s contribution to total sales
• Solvency
• Liquidity
• Return on assets
• Indebtedness

A good DMS should also allow dealership managers to create their own performance indicators, based on industry standards, or even on suggestions from manufacturers.

Managers will be able to easily and effectively obtain vital information for managing the business, and will be able to quickly identify and correct any possible deviations.