Measurement and statistical analysis is a big part of running any successful business. When a companyıs staff knows what the achievable standards are and then keeps score, the outcome is usually good. Too many times, however, we do not keep score in our body shops; rather, we retroactively look at financial performance after the month is over. After the month is over is a little late to do anything about it. Profitable shops develop some ways to give up- to-the-minute feedback to those employees who need it. I will supply you with a few examples. Mark Twain said there are three types of lies. They are: Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics. Unfortunately many of the people we are trying to motivate with reports and statistical analysis are equally suspicious of such information. I contend that the reason body shop people are skeptical of reports and analysis is that they are not given the opportunity to participate in the process of measuring. Usually the only time financial analysis is brought up to the technicians is when there is a negative purpose. The reports are usually used as a club to punish rather than a scoreboard to motivate. Can you imagine attending a sporting event such as a basketball game if the scoreboard was turned off? How much fun would it be for the fans if they had to sit there and watch a bunch of people running up and down the floor but never knew who was winning until after the game was over? How motivated do you think the players would be if the team owner told them to just go play hard and he would let them know in a day or two how they had done? Do you think anyone would reach his or her athletic potential in that scenario? Yet that is exactly the way most body shops operate. We provide no up-to-the-minute feedback as to how our players are performing. Yet we dump some computer reports on them after the month is long over. 3 STATS YOU MUST KNOW 1. Batting Average: Batting Average is the relationship between opportunity and new sales. We recommend that you measure opportunity and new sales in dollars. Simply keep a running total of dollars of estimates written daily and month-to-date. Divide the new sales by the estimates written and you get the batting average. Example: $5,000 in new sales divided by $7,000 in estimates written = 71.4% batting average Note: a good batting average to maintain in a dealership shop is 70% 2. Total Production: Daily and Month-to-Date: This is simply a running total of the dollar amount of work actually produced at any given point of the month. A job is considered ³produced² when it is ready to be delivered. You can also track billable hours the same way. 3. Labor Efficiency: This is particularly motivational to technicians. A definition of labor efficiency is: hours produced divided by actual hours worked. Example: 55 hours produced divided by 40 hours worked = 138% labor efficiency. This calculation should be done at the end of every job as well as month-to-date. Individual employees can be tracked as well as the entire shop. Note: Always strive for a minimum of 100% labor efficiency rate. Obviously these are only three simple calculations. They can be motivational to your staff. Your staff will, in fact, be inspired not just by being measured, but by the score being kept.