How many counter ppl do I need?

[brparts]

STAFF RATIO
Postby Mike Nicholes » 07 Jul 2009 19:07

Sweet Dixie: Depends on a couple of things. For a long time many used $/man/month sales; but this had a problem when a dealer tried to compare a variety of franchises under one ownership; It varies whether or not you are heavy wholesale (40% or more of your total monthly sales) and a number of other factors.

There is another number, proven through a five year research program with six manufacturers (low end, mid range and high end) that was more accurate in judging the workload of your personnel.

It is pieces(total demand)/man/month. As an example: One person sells two $10,000 engine assemblys; total sales $20,000 for the month. Another person sells 1000 $20 dollar parts; who did the most "work"; obviously the second example.

Here is what we got from the study (many will know that I don't like the word 'average' but sometimes use it anyway); the average of the 900 dealerships reprsenting the entire range of pricing was 1100-1400 pieces/man/month.

Some of the real hustlers were over 2500 pieces/man/month; very efficient at the counters, but sometimes other functions got left in the dust just to "make the sales".

Another point came out of the study; there was no reliable figures for parts department with 3 or fewer employees. These we tagged as minimal functionality; in other words, it is hard, very hard, to run a parts department with less than 2 -2.5 people regardless of manufacturer or size. there are quite a few of these; but the range I listed above seems to bear out.

Mike Nicholes