2. n the competitive environment of the later 20th century, innovations in competitive
strategy have life cycles of 10 to 15 years. Each innovation is followed by major changes
in competitive positions and in corporate fortunes as these changes occur, concerned
managements struggle to understand the nature of their competitor’s advantage, such as the
live example of Toyota Hellas and VW Greece, in the last fifteen years.
However like in the military secret, the new source of advantage becomes understood by all
and is no longer an exploitable innovation.
Therefore a new innovation must be found!
Today’s innovation, within the Greek 2010 crisis crunch, is time and quality based
competition. Demanding executives at aggressive dealerships are altering their measures of
performance from competitive costs and quality, to competitive costs, quality and
responsiveness.
Give customers what they want, when they want it. Just – in – time.
"I was first introduced to the concepts of just-in-time (JIT) and the Toyota Production System
in 1980. Subsequently I had the opportunity to witness its actual application on one of our
numerous Japanese study missions. There I met Mr Taiichi Ohno, the system's creator. When
bombarded with questions from our group on what inspired his thinking, he just laughed and
said he learned it all from Henry Ford's book.
I discovered that many of the ideas we call ''just-in-time'' came from the way Henry Ford
organized his production process. In 1926 it took his workers only 81 hours to go from iron
ore to finish an automobile…
…He believed strongly in allowing the workers to benefit from what they were actually
producing. He reduced the price of a car in half and doubled worker wages from $2.50 to
$5.00 daily". [3] (N. Bodek,2003).
Time based competitors are offering greater varieties of products and services at lower costs
and in less time.
The main aim of this project is to attempt to estimate the population density and distribution
of the Productivity knowledge of Ford dealer management and personnel in the Hellenic
Automobile Market.
To determine their ability and capability to record, measure, and analyze their actual
effectiveness level in each Ford dealership by implementing new "tools" or using the existing,
for forecasting and achieving the ultimate for the dealership goal – profit.
To achieve this, the primary goal of this project is to define and establish within the Ford
dealer management and personnel, the attitude that the dealership is a "production line" and
its two (2) kind of products are Sales Labour Hours in the showroom, and After Sales
Labour Hours in the Service Parts, and B/P departments.
The objective is therefore, to change the mentality and the way of thinking of all Ford dealer
management and personnel, in the proper use of existing dealership IT ‘tools’ given by Ford
of Europe (LMS) or own, in order to achieve measurable presales of Sales Labour Hours
which will generate new and used vehicles sales, and Workshop Labour Hours, which in turn
will generate sales of spare parts and material during a given period of time.
Cost reduction and productivity improvement are attained through the elimination of various
‘wastes’ such as excessive inventory, excessive workforce and excessive lost and idle times.
I
3. The main purpose of the project is to eliminate through improvement activities, after
recording, measuring, analyzing, and correcting various kinds of ‘waste’ lying concealed
within a dealership operation.
Even during periods of slow or even zero growth, the dealership can make profit by
decreasing costs through a ‘production system’ that eliminates excessive inventory,
workforce, and non productive times.
It would probably not be said that this is another revolutionary production management
system, of new and used car sales, and service labor hours sales.
It follows the Henry Ford ‘continuous improvement’ System and Toyota’s Production
System (TPS).
It is based on the fundamentals of scientific analysis in which the Manager analyzes the input
DMS data by the front line personnel to understand how walk in customers in the showroom
and the service shop, want-need-act, so that they can learn how to influence them and service
them better. The small gradual changes of continuous improvement, applied over a period,
result on the ability in forecasting sales and after sales achievements, adding up on major
impacts on dealership financial results.
Within March 1999 – January 2003, started and completed the ‘HR Management for
maximum competitive benefit in the After Sales’ field experiment project, with the
participation of five (5) Toyota Hellas Dealer service shops.
The Service shop manager by recording, measuring and improving workforce
efficiency and utilization, can calculate and predefine productivity and therefore can
estimate departmental revenue and profitability. Hence being able to determine from
the beginning of a given period of time, the labor hours pre-sold.
This project in the workshop proves that ‘tomorrow can be predicted, estimated and
achieved’, within the human capabilities.
The Ford Motor Hellas ‘Dealership Growth, Presales maximize Profitability’
project, commenced in September 2009 with the participation of three (3) pilot
Showrooms and seven (7) sales persons. From January – December 2011 the project
extended to six (6) showrooms and nineteen (19) sales persons, representing the 53%
of FMH Total Sales and 22% of the FMH Sales force in 2011.
Its purpose is to maximize sales efficiency of the existing showroom traffic in order to
achieve personal or showroom set sales objectives.
The Program ‘Maximizing Sales Person’s Effectiveness’
The program’s aim is to secure from the beginning of the time period that the individual or
department sales objectives (registrations) will be accomplished.
The application is based on the recovery of the recorded average showroom visits of the
showroom during past months.
The sales person is knowing from the beginning of the period the individual or departmental
sales objectives.
How to start?
Apply simple thinking, and start from the end!
4. The actual results of the showrooms and the sales persons objectives achievement, for the Full
Year 2011 indicate also that ‘Tomorrow can be Managed in the Dealership’, achieving
presales for the Business Financial Benefit even into a deep economic recession and the
Hellenic crisis crunch been in full extend since 2008 and still continues…
MAXIMIZING SALES EFFECTIVENESS JAN - DEC 2011
Dealer A (Argyroupoli Branch)
YEAR 2011 SALESMAN A SALESMAN B SALESMAN C SALESMAN D SHOWROOM SHOWROOM TOTAL
MONTH OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL
WALK-
IN
JANUARY 8 10 8 9 8 7 8 8 32 34 106
FEBRUARY 10 10 10 12 10 11 10 11 40 44 135
MARCH 11 12 11 12 11 13 11 13 44 50 135
APRIL 10 11 10 10 10 10 10 10 40 41 116
AUGUST 7 8 7 7 7 7 7 10 28 32 108
JUNE 7 10 7 10 7 6 7 7 28 33 107
JULY 7 7 7 6 7 10 7 10 28 33 99
AUGUST 6 5 6 6 6 3 6 5 24 19 87
SEPTEMBER 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 40 40 124
OCTOBER 10 11 10 12 10 12 10 10 40 46 126
NOVEMBER 10 13 10 11 10 12 10 11 40 47 135
DECEMBER 11 16 11 15 11 18 11 17 44 66 112
TOTAL 107 123 107 120 107 119 107 122 428 485 1390
SHOWROOM ACTUAL ACHIEVEMENT: 113%
MAXIMIZING SALES EFFECTIVENESS JAN - DEC 2011
Dealer B (Mesogeion Branch)
YEAR 2011 SALEMAN A SALESMAN B SALESMAN C SHOWROOM SHOWROOM TOTAL
Month OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL
WALK-
IN
JANUARY 4 4 5 7 5 7 14 16 70
FEBRUARY 6 5 6 3 6 6 18 14 147
MARCH 8 8 5 11 6 4 19 25 149
APRIL 5 5 5 11 5 5 15 21 125
AUGUST 4 4 5 5 6 7 15 15 85
JUNE 4 5 5 8 5 6 14 18 100
JULY 5 5 4 6 5 5 14 16 70
AUGUST 4 5 4 3 4 6 12 12 61
SEPTEMBER 4 4 2 6 4 2 10 14 85
OCTOBER 2 2 9 2 5 5 16 9 71
NOVEMBER 4 3 4 8 4 4 12 15 76
DECEMBER 5 5 3 3 4 4 12 12 66
TOTAL 55 55 57 73 59 61 171 187 1105
SHOWROOMACHIEVEMENT: 109,4%
5. MAXIMIZING SALES EFFECTIVENESS JAN - DEC 2011
Dealer A (Rossignol Branch)
YEAR 2011 SALEMAN A SALESMAN B SALESMAN C SHOWROOM SHOWROOM TOTAL
Month OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL WALK-IN
JANUARY 9 11 9 9 9 9 27 29 92
FEBRUARY 9 9 9 11 9 8 27 29 86
MARCH 9 11 9 15 9 11 27 35 129
APRIL 10 12 10 11 10 10 30 33 119
AUGUST 9 13 9 10 9 9 27 32 104
JUNE 10 10 10 12 10 10 30 32 95
JULY 11 9 11 8 11 12 33 28 90
AUGUST 10 5 10 8 10 8 30 23 71
SEPTEMBER 10 12 10 9 10 11 30 31 114
OCTOBER 10 12 10 13 10 10 30 35 91
NOVEMBER 11 13 11 11 11 12 33 35 117
DECEMBER 8 10 8 9 8 7 24 27 82
TOTAL 116 127 116 126 116 117 348 370 1190
SHOWROOMACHIEVEMENT: 106.3%
MAXIMIZING SALES EFFECTIVENESS JAN - DEC 2011
Dealer A (Patra Branch)
YEAR 2011 SALEMAN A SALESMAN B SALESMAN C SHOWROOM SHOWROOM TOTAL
Month OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL WALK-IN
JANUARY 3 1 3 2 3 1 9 4 39
FEBRUARY 5 5 5 5 5 7 15 17 49
MARCH 6 7 6 7 6 8 18 22 55
APRIL 5 5 5 5 5 5 15 15 38
AUGUST 4 5 4 4 4 4 12 13 41
JUNE 3 2 3 1 3 3 9 6 37
JULY 4 4 4 5 4 4 12 14 46
AUGUST 3 3 3 3 3 3 9 9 23
SEPTEMBER 4 5 4 4 4 4 12 13 32
OCTOBER 4 5 4 5 4 4 12 14 35
NOVEMBER 7 7 7 7 7 7 21 21 38
DECEMBER 7 6 7 7 7 7 21 20 31
TOTAL 55 55 55 55 55 57 165 168 464
SHOWROOMACHIEVEMENT: 101,8%
6. MAXIMIZING SALES EFFECTIVENESS JAN - DEC 2011
Dealer A (Pireos Branch)
YEAR 2011 SALEMAN A SALESMAN B SALESMAN C SHOWROOM SHOWROOM TOTAL
Month OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL WALK-IN
JANUARY 7 9 7 7 7 8 21 24 88
FEBRUARY 7 7 7 7 7 7 21 21 79
MARCH 7 10 7 8 7 8 21 26 82
APRIL 6 7 6 7 6 8 18 22 75
MAY 7 6 7 8 7 6 21 20 74
JUNE 7 7 7 7 7 8 21 22 71
JULY 6 5 6 7 6 7 18 19 65
AUGUST 7 7 7 6 7 7 21 20 71
SEPTEMBER 7 8 7 6 7 7 21 21 80
OCTOBER 7 7 7 8 7 7 21 22 86
NOVEMBER 9 10 9 10 9 11 27 31 81
DECEMBER 6 6 6 5 6 4 18 15 59
TOTAL 83 89 83 86 83 88 249 263 911
SHOWROOMACHIEVEMENT: 105,6%
MAXIMIZING SALES EFFECTIVENESS JAN - DEC 2011
Dealer B (Glyka Nera Branch)
YEAR SALEMAN A SALESMAN B SALESMAN C SHOWROOM SHOWROOM TOTAL
Month OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL OBJECTIVE ACTUAL WALK-IN
JANUARY 7 7 3 1 7 9 17 17 79
FEBRUARY 7 7 5 7 7 7 19 21 82
MARCH 7 8 6 8 7 10 20 26 88
APRIL 6 7 5 5 6 7 17 19 75
AUGUST 7 8 4 4 7 6 18 18 74
JUNE 7 7 3 3 7 7 17 17 71
JULY 6 7 4 4 6 5 16 16 86
AUGUST 7 6 3 3 7 7 17 16 71
SEPTEMBER 7 6 4 4 7 8 18 18 78
OCTOBER 7 8 4 4 7 7 18 19 67
NOVEMBER 9 10 7 7 9 10 25 27 81
DECEMBER 6 5 7 7 6 6 19 18 64
TOTAL 83 86 55 57 83 89 221 232 916
SHOWROOM ACHIEVEMENT: 105,0%
7. CONCLUSIONS
The reported annual actual sales achievement reached from 101% to113% of the total sales
objectives.
As it is seen, sales persons do not achieve every month the set objective, but the
showroom achieves its objective every month.
The reason is, as mention all participants of the involved to the project showrooms, that
according to the continuous improvement procedures they set in their daily operation and
function, with reporting and investigating continuously records in order to make minor
changes, their personal and showroom results have improved considerably.
They can now operate even within the economic crisis with less stress and the pressure assists
them to perform more efficiently and productively.
The information and data collected, have to do with enriching the dealership area of influence
customer profile (CRM).
Special attention is given by starting measuring Customer Abandonment index.
![n the competitive environment of the later 20th century, innovations in competitive
strategy have life cycles of 10 to 15 years. Each innovation is followed by major changes
in competitive positions and in corporate fortunes as these changes occur, concerned
managements struggle to understand the nature of their competitor’s advantage, such as the
live example of Toyota Hellas and VW Greece, in the last fifteen years.
However like in the military secret, the new source of advantage becomes understood by all
and is no longer an exploitable innovation.
Therefore a new innovation must be found!
Today’s innovation, within the Greek 2010 crisis crunch, is time and quality based
competition. Demanding executives at aggressive dealerships are altering their measures of
performance from competitive costs and quality, to competitive costs, quality and
responsiveness.
Give customers what they want, when they want it. Just – in – time.
"I was first introduced to the concepts of just-in-time (JIT) and the Toyota Production System
in 1980. Subsequently I had the opportunity to witness its actual application on one of our
numerous Japanese study missions. There I met Mr Taiichi Ohno, the system's creator. When
bombarded with questions from our group on what inspired his thinking, he just laughed and
said he learned it all from Henry Ford's book.
I discovered that many of the ideas we call ''just-in-time'' came from the way Henry Ford
organized his production process. In 1926 it took his workers only 81 hours to go from iron
ore to finish an automobile…
…He believed strongly in allowing the workers to benefit from what they were actually
producing. He reduced the price of a car in half and doubled worker wages from $2.50 to
$5.00 daily". [3] (N. Bodek,2003).
Time based competitors are offering greater varieties of products and services at lower costs
and in less time.
The main aim of this project is to attempt to estimate the population density and distribution
of the Productivity knowledge of Ford dealer management and personnel in the Hellenic
Automobile Market.
To determine their ability and capability to record, measure, and analyze their actual
effectiveness level in each Ford dealership by implementing new "tools" or using the existing,
for forecasting and achieving the ultimate for the dealership goal – profit.
To achieve this, the primary goal of this project is to define and establish within the Ford
dealer management and personnel, the attitude that the dealership is a "production line" and
its two (2) kind of products are Sales Labour Hours in the showroom, and After Sales
Labour Hours in the Service Parts, and B/P departments.
The objective is therefore, to change the mentality and the way of thinking of all Ford dealer
management and personnel, in the proper use of existing dealership IT ‘tools’ given by Ford
of Europe (LMS) or own, in order to achieve measurable presales of Sales Labour Hours
which will generate new and used vehicles sales, and Workshop Labour Hours, which in turn
will generate sales of spare parts and material during a given period of time.
Cost reduction and productivity improvement are attained through the elimination of various
‘wastes’ such as excessive inventory, excessive workforce and excessive lost and idle times.
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