The Key To An Accurate Inventory

The heart of all retail and wholesale business is inventory. The key
to one of the dealerships largest investments is having the right
amount of inventory. Long term customers and mildly happy ones often
judge the dealership by the amount you carry on hand. Your balance
sheet in turn also judges you by the amount of dollars you tie up in
inventory. A lesson I have learned is great leaders learn to
effectively control this major investment.

To effectively control inventory is to first insure you have accurate
inventory counts in the system. Garbage in garbage out; with out
accurate system data you can't follow where you are or get to where
you want to be with out sacrificing customer service. Complete
physical inventories are dreaded by everyone that has experienced
one; but are necessary evils. They can be very labor intense and
physically draining. I have never looked forward to a physical
inventory, but have been extremely happy with the results after I
learned many successful inventory management procedures. Early in my
career I spent many hours chasing product that staff couldn't find.
Finally I decided that my energy could be spent more wisely on bigger
rocks than trying to help one customer at time. I sat down and looked
at where the gaps where in my inventory management procedure. I made
the commitment to stop chasing inventory and put processes in place
to effectively control my inventory. When these proper day-to-day
processes and procedures where in place I don't get surprising
results after a physical inventory anymore. Standard operating
procedures should be put in place from the ordering of inventory all
the way to the final collecting of funds.

One of the standard operating procedures that I insured was in put in place was
a weekly cycle count calendar. This calendar rotated key items that
were to be counted and adjustments made that calendar week. The
calendar was planned out to insure that quarterly all categories were
touched.  A dollar amount was set for a total weekly adjustment and
individual line adjustments. If there were any discrepancies that
exceeded those dollar amounts it was required for a manager to
investigate and document all discrepancies copying a senior manager.
All adjustments required two managers signature. Inventory control is
an every day task. You can't take your eye off of the ball and be
extremely successful. As you can tell I'm very passionate about
having an accurate on hand inventory.

I love satisfied customers and happy balance sheets.

Financial Management: I Know My Numbers Now How Can I Effect Them

When I first started running stores I didn't know a thing about
Income Statements, P&L's or General Ledgers. I spent countless hours
convincing myself that if I worked hard, drove top line sales and
focused on customer satisfaction that it wouldn't matter how
Financial Illiterate I was. I believed blood, sweat and tears would
cure all my deficiencies. After years of long day's and nights,
missing my kids events and family activities; I had an epiphany.
There had to be a way to work smarter not just harder.

Through self-study I began to learn financial management. I studied
to be a true manager not just a hard working operator. I worked with
my mentor on a monthly and quarterly basis reviewing all my financial
statements. The first thing was to learn where to find all the data
and reports. We then analyzed the P&L Statement and General Ledger
line by line. Learning what each line meant and where the numbers
came from. I then learned how my day-to-day actions and decisions
affected the numbers both positively and negatively. After I knew
what the numbers meant and how I could affect them; I created action
plans to attack my opportunity areas. With a little knowledge and
focus I put my energy in the right places to drive my team to
success. The next step I taught my key leaders to analysis their
departmental numbers. Teaching Financial Management to yourself and
key leaders can be a gift to your dealerships bottom line and
longevity. It's never to late learn Financial Management.