Prepare for Yearend with Desktop AutoFluent

Yes, it is approaching that time of year again. But in the busy holiday season, it’s important to dedicate some time to evaluating the last year and finding ways to improve your operations, to make next year your best year yet.  Here is an important list of some of AutoFluent®’s management reports, along with some specific ways in which they can help you do just that.

  • Annual Sales Summary (Inventory Report)

    • Are there certain products or tires that are more popular at certain times of the year? Should your reorder levels be adjusted accordingly?

    • Try running this for the Labor type only.  Are certain services more popular at certain times of the year?  Perhaps they should be promoted more at these times next year.

  • Item Groups by Sales Category (Customer Report)

    • Try running this for a month, a quarter or a year.

    • What groups have been more profitable or less profitable as a whole?

    • Which products and services have been more profitable for your specific types of customers (retail, wholesale, government, etc.)?

    • Based on these findings, should you promote certain products or services to specific types of customers?  

    • Perhaps there are products and services that should have less emphasis, especially for specific types of customers?

    • Would it be helpful to move groups between group subtotal categories, or make additional categories, to track certain trends or issues?

  • Comprehensive Group Report (Customer Report)

    • Based on the Item Groups by Sales Category report above, you may want to rearrange the columns in this report to help pinpoint and track weaker or more critical areas in your operation. Remember, you can save various report templates, each highlighting certain aspects or profit centers of your operation.

    • Have you been putting enough emphasis on your more profitable areas?

    • Have you been putting too much emphasis on the less profitable areas?

  • Comprehensive Sales Report (Customer Report)

    • How close have you come to your monthly sales goals?

    • Now is a great time to adjust next year’s month-by-month sales goals.

  • Mechanic Efficiency Report (Customer Report)

    • Try running this report for a quarter or a year, with totals only. If your mechanics clock in on jobs, take special note of the ‘% of Billed’ column. The header of the report will tell you how this percentage reflects the efficiency of the mechanics. Even if they don’t clock in on jobs, this report can give you a good feel for which of your mechanics have been the most productive.

    • Try looking at monthly or quarterly summaries at different times of the year. Are some seasons more productive than others with your crew?

    • Based on your findings, would adding or adjusting your commission policies be helpful?

We encourage you to take some time this season to use some of the many AutoFluent® tools at your disposal. Then you can use the information and ideas that you acquire to help give your business a great start to the new year!


Adam Irby