Service Manager Training

Our SERVICE MANAGER TRAINING is focused on fixed operations, but has leadership topics that are helpful to all managers.

Manager Racing School gets you ready to run the race each month with your department. MRS topics include Pricing, Culture and Leadership, Workflow, Growth and Growth Avenues, and Financial Statements.

Our Coaching Training courses get you ready to coach and grow your team! Success in your department depends on the growth of your employees. These courses help you develop skills for coaching throughout the regular workday as well as through one-on-one sessions with your team members.

Manager Racing School

MRS PRICING begins a discussion with the leadership team about price, expenses, and net profit. During this discussion we present an analysis of one-hour of labor, which is sold at our current effective labor rate. It is important to understand the financial relationship of the price per hour we set for our business as it relates to the expense per hour of our business. Next, we discuss what our net profit goals should be and how to achieve them.

Culture and leadership training takes the management team through several foundational pieces of service department setup and operation. It is organized to create a clear picture in the leadership team’s mind for the path of change for growth. Change for growth can only be achieved with leadership skill. Here is a short outline of the course:

  • Million Dollar Sandwich – The Structure for the Department 
    • Business Objectives and Goals
    • The Effect of Culture on the Business Objectives and Goals
    • One-Hour of Labor Analysis – Lining up Expenses and Pricing
    • Understanding Pricing Strategy – Effective Labor Rate
    • Our Work-in-Process Structure for Selling and Producing Hours
    • Setting the Pace for our Workflow
    • Aligning our Culture with our Workflow Pace
    • Using a Positive Culture to Achieve our Business Objectives and Goals
  • Time Management – Doing YOUR Job and Empowering your Team
  • The Friendship Formula – Building Rapport and Connection
  • Team Communication
  • Leadership Skills
  • Vision

Our MRS Workflow training follows up the sales process launch and focuses on getting ready for the next stage of process implementation. It focuses on input workflow and productive efficiency—the two sides of our workflow. Here is a short outline of the course:

  • Theory of Constraints
  • Bottlenecks
  • Appointment Loading
  • Setting Expectations
  • Dispatching
  • Technician Productivity

Our MRS Growth and Growth Avenues helps the leadership team organize their path of growth for the long-term health of the department. By ensuring your team has specific plans to address each of these avenues, continued growth is attainable. Here is a short outline of the course:

  • Growth Avenues
  • RO Count
  • ELR
  • Hours per RO
  • Productivity and Skills Development

This course is an introductory deep dive on financial statements. Our financial statement training explains the purpose and layout of the statements. We then look deeper into the areas that are important for their role in the business. We conclude with mathematics problems showing how spending net profit as additional expense accounts in additional needed sales revenue.

  • Balance Sheet
  • Income Statement
  • Statement of Cash Flows
  • Expenses
    • Controllable Expenses on the Statements
    • Controllable Expenses Not on the Statements
  • Income Statement Breakdown

Coaching Training

Coaching 101 is a training course introducing the leadership team to a more skillful way of communicating and coaching their team members. Coaching skill can be developed over time with practice. When that practice is supported by a deeper understanding of how to use coaching tools, coaches can be more effective in guiding their team members forward on a path of growth. Course outline:

  • Coaching Resources
  • Co-Active Contexts
  • The Three Levels of Listening
  • Coaching Skills Related to Listening

Coaching 201 is our second training course continuing with the development of the leadership team’s coaching skills. Coaching skills can be developed over time with practice. When that practice is supported by a deeper understanding of how to use coaching tools, coaches can be more effective in guiding their team members forward on a path of growth. Course outline:

  • COACHING-101 Review
  • Intuition | Learning to Identify Inner Wisdom & Experience
  • Intuition Skills | Using Intuition Effectively
  • Curiosity | The Deeper Layers of Behavior and Performance
  • Curiosity Skills | Using Curiosity to Affect Change in Culture

Coaching 301 is our third training course continuing with the development of the leadership team’s coaching skills. Coaching skills can be developed over time with practice. When that practice is supported by a deeper understanding of how to use coaching tools, coaches can be more effective in guiding their team members forward on a path of growth. Course outline:

  • COACHING-101 Review
  • COACHING-201 Review
  • Forward & Deepen | Developing the Actions and Learning for Team Growth
  • Forward & Deepen Skills | Guiding the Team Skillfully
  • Making Structures Work | Tools for Making Actions Impactful

Coaching 401 is our fourth and final training course continuing with the development of the leadership team’s coaching skills. Coaching skills can be developed over time with practice. When that practice is supported by a deeper understanding of how to use coaching tools, coaches can be more effective in guiding their team members forward on a path of growth. Course outline:

  • COACHING-101 Review: Manager Coaching Skills | Listening
  • COACHING-201 Review: Manager Coaching Skills | Intuition & Curiosity
  • COACHING-301 Review: Forward Learning, Deepen Action | Making Structures Work
  • Self-Management | Staying on Course and Playing the Right Role
  • Self-Management Skills | Making an Impact with your Team

Financial Planning | Forecasting

ORION FINANCIAL PLANNING AND FORECASTING takes a look back at two years of data to help plot the course forward for the next year. We look at repair order counts per month and per day, hours sold, hours per repair order, effective labor rate, sales, gross, gross profit percentage, mechanical labor and maintenance labor sold, sales per day, dollars per repair order, advisor staffing counts, advisor repair orders per day, technician staffing counts, technician proficiency, unapplied labor, controllable expenses, and net profit.

With the look-back data as reference, we forecast each month using ‘sounds-true’ testing to ensure the forecast amount is attainable with the employee staffing and customer traffic levels. This creates a plan for the year that give the leadership team targets for each of the key metrics each month, how to staff accordingly to achieve the forecast, and daily objective targets for both the department and each employee.