When planning a trip to an unfamiliar destination, you likely rely on a GPS to guide you to get where you’re going. I know I'd be lost If I didn't use mine.Think of your experience in collision repair as a journey. Your shop is the car, and you are in the driver’s seat. You know where you want your business to be in 5, 10, or 30 years, but you need something to guide you to help you get where you want to go.For businesses of all shapes and sizes, data on operations, performance, customer satisfaction, and, of course, financials can act as the GPS to help you focus on the parts of your business that need attention and find the path forward. See which metrics really matter to keep you traveling in the right direction.Actionable DataThe first question you should ask yourself is, “Is the data actionable?”An example of actionable data would be your repair facility’s capture rate. Capture rate measures your team’s ability to convert an estimate (opportunity) into a repair order. For example, if there were one hundred estimates written at your repair facility last month and sixty converted into a repair, then your capture rate percentage would be 60 percent. The CCC ONE® platform is uniquely designed to provide capture rate reporting.Measuring and tracking capture rate is step one. Step two is analyzing your capture rate performance. Step three is identifying improvement opportunities. Step four is executing on the improvement opportunities. Step five is a reassessment of performance and then, rinse and repeat. Improvement of your team’s capture rate performance percentage results in new sales revenue to your repair facility.TransparencyYour next step is ensuring members of your staff fully understand and have access to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that matters most to your repair facility.The KPI dashboard is highly configurable and allows you to select the actionable data which are most important to your operations. KPI dashboard data can include capture rate, time from vehicle in to vehicle out, kept informed and vehicle return rate. We will discuss these key performance indicators in greater detail next month in our feature article, Behind the Numbers.The KPI dashboard data can be accessed on both your computer or on smartphones. Leveraging mobility and views from the CCC ONE application will help make sure your team has the most updated information in real time.Driving PerformanceThe next recommendation is to establish regular shop meetings with your team. Consider opening your meeting, whenever possible, with an example of a KPI data improvement success story and celebrate with your team. Employee recognition and collaboration are critical in creating a positive culture in your business.Consider including in your meetings live views of the CCC ONE dashboards to show your current repair facility’s key performance data. It’s important for your team to self-monitor performance and understand the impact, per repair order, to your overall shop goals.Tip: Performance shortcomings are simply opportunities. It’s likely your team members will have the best suggestions on how to meet your goals. Open dialogue with your team will help ensure everyone is vested in the solution.Your shop’s metrics and staff feedback are great places to start gathering informative data. An engaged and empowered team will lead to more employee satisfaction, which leads to higher customer satisfaction. Better customer satisfaction puts your shop in a stronger position. And it all starts with gathering the data that can help guide you to your destination.
