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When Lisa Revees started as the Controller of Louis Powersports in April 2010, she realized quickly she had a communication problem. She saw opportunities to improve financial performance, but had a difficult time finding common ground to communicate them to the Department heads.

“We have some very talented and skilled people here,” said Lisa. “The business started in 2009 and has grown into a thriving operation in the face of the worst economic environment since the Depression. The management here is good at what they do, but we had a difficult time understanding each other.”

“When I created monthly financial reports it was difficult for the department managers to understand what changes in daily operations needed to happen to affect those numbers,” continued Lisa. “Without a way to bring the numbers down to a level that related to sales performance we were having a difficult time realizing the financial success we wanted.”

Working from the Same Playbook

In an attempt to find a relationship between financial reports and daily operations, Louis Powersports subscribed to Databack in July 2010. The Databack reports showed transactional based performance of their dealership along with trends that tracked how changes affected financial outcomes.

“The Databack reports gave us common ground to work from,” said Lisa. “It gave our managers something they could see, feel and touch. It helped me translate the financial reports I was creating into something we could take action on in daily business.”

Lisa now reviews the Databack reports along with her monthly financial reports. The reports help Lisa and managers work in a language that both can understand, and create detailed action plans that impact the bottom line.

“Databack helps us bridge the gap between financial numbers and the day to day operations within each department,” said Lisa.

Maximizing Performance

Along with the dealership level reports, Databack also delivers regional and national benchmark numbers by averaging hundreds of dealerships’ operations. Louis Powersports uses these numbers to measure their own operations.

By comparing their performance to dealerships across the country Louis Powersports is able to identify critical areas for improvement. With this information they can set realistic goals, track their outcome and see how those changes affect the bottom line.

“The ability to see industry metrics gives incredible competitive information and helps us make informed decisions,” said Lisa. “When we first signed up for Databack, our Service efficiency was 97%. After making some changes and tracking them with Databack we are at 105%. That is a big change in only five months.

“We also found out that our Service department was charging 15% less an hour than anyone else in our area,” continued Lisa. “Without Databack we would have never known that or made a change in pricing.”

Continuing Improvements

Using the Databack reporting combined with financial reports in LightspeedNXT, Louis Powersports found an effective process to track and improve their performance. The reports give Lisa the ability to communicate financial goals in a tangible way and give the Louis Powersports’ managers the ability to make changes that truly drive results.

According to Lisa, “Databack provides us the trends, industry knowledge and base level view we need to make decisions at the counters and on the sales floor that improve our financial performance.”

Louis Powersports
Greenville, TX
louispowersports.com

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