The magic number of Advertising and Promotion….
I see many small to medium sized business’ financial statements and in every case there is a pattern…if marketing spend is at benchmark, the business is typically doing fine, if it is below benchmark the business is struggling or declining, if it is above benchmark the business is often growing (if the dollars are well used)….
So what’s the magic number? It differs slightly among industries but in general the target marketing budget is approximately 2% of Revenue.
Let’s talk about PAY PLANS…..There is no one size fits all pay plan for any industry or any business….but there are a few things to always consider.
How much can your business afford to spend? Check your benchmark and your budget.
In seasonal dealerships it is critical to have everyone’s compass pointing in the same direction. If one cylinder isn’t firing it can seriously impact overall results. As a result, I recommend everyone have a component of their pay plan based on performance. Even the accountant! You might pay the accountant a small amount per deal closed on a timely basis.
Pay plans have to be fair. If a Tech has a significant portion of his pay based on billed hours, then Service Writers must be trained to write RO’s with standard times for standard jobs. As well, the processes like scheduling and unit delivery to and from the bay must be optimized.
Pay plans have to be reasonably easy to administer. If you have to hire another person to administer complex pay plans the win is lost.
Last, pay is not the most important reason employees stay, but radical changes can be destructive. Consider involving key staff in pay plan planning, or phasing changes in over time.
If you are not getting the results you want, talk to us, this is the number that drives growth.