Where’s “The Number?”

I once started at a large urban dealership.

Within my first two weeks, I noticed a daily pattern. The general manager would walk into the service lane and ask the same question: “Where’s the number? Where are we at? Where’s the number?” Every day. Production. Gross. The metric. The scoreboard. And don’t misunderstand me — numbers matter. Dealerships are businesses. But after several weeks of hearing it, I finally said:

“You need to stop focusing on the number and start focusing on the customer.”

Because here’s what I discovered. The sales department was giving new customers their first three oil changes free. Great idea in theory — drive traffic back to service. The reality? Those oil changes took two hours. Sometimes longer. Customers were sitting in the waiting room frustrated. No communication. No urgency. No awareness of their time. We were obsessing over “the number” and ignoring the experience.

Sales Understands Relationships

Here’s the irony. The sales department understands relationships. They’re trained to build them. They use a consultative approach. They do a needs assessment. They learn about the customer’s family, their commute, their budget, their plans. They follow up. They send birthday cards. They ask for referrals. They think long term — three to five years down the road when that customer needs another vehicle.

They know relationship equals repeat business.

But when does the customer walk into fixed operations? The relationship often disappears.

Advisors are shorthanded. They’re writing up repair orders as fast as they can. They become order takers instead of consultants. Parts departments answer phones and fill requests. Everyone is busy. No one is building connections. And then we wonder why retention struggles.

The Price Myth

There was a season when dealerships were obsessed with being the cheapest oil change in town. We were competing with aftermarket shops, convinced we had to win on price. Oil changes became loss leaders. But when I did my homework and shopped at those same aftermarket competitors, I found something interesting: They were charging double what we were. The difference wasn’t price.

It was convenience. It was speed. It was respect for the customer’s time. They understood that time is a currency. We were discounting our services while delivering a slower experience — all in pursuit of “the number.”

You Can Only Skin a Cat Once

There’s a phrase I’ve heard too often in the dealership world: “skin the cat.” Meaning – maximize the ticket. Push the gross. Get everything you can out of the deal. But you can only skin a cat once. I’ve seen service tickets priced so high that the customer never returned. The store made a few extra hundred dollars that day — and lost years of future business. That’s not strategy. That’s short-term thinking.

If you don’t believe it happens, ask yourself a hard question:

If your spouse, your sister, or your mother broke down on the road, would you confidently send them to your service department? Or would you hesitate? Trust is fragile. And inconsistency destroys it.

Consistency Builds Trust

I once took over a store where a customer told me a story. He had a wheel bearing replaced on the left side of his vehicle. Six months later, he returned for the right side. The second repair was $200 higher. When he questioned it, the explanation didn’t make sense. I pulled both repair orders. There was no difference in parts. No clear labor justification. Simply different numbers written on the page.

If we had used a labor time guide consistently, the pricing would have matched. The customer would have felt treated fairly. Instead, we made a few extra dollars — and lost trust. And once trust is gone, “the number” eventually follows.

Slow Down to Win

Dealerships don’t lose customers because they aren’t competitive. They lose customers because they don’t slow down long enough to build relationships. If advisors took the time to explain. If pricing was consistent and fair. If we respected the customer’s time. If we treated every customer like family. Retention would rise. And the number would take care of itself.

Because here’s what I’ve learned: If you chase “the number,” you may hit it temporarily. If you build relationships, you build something that compounds. The number is the result. Relationship is the driver.

And too often in our industry, we’ve confused the two.