{"id":2062,"date":"2016-12-14T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T14:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.autoraptor.com\/?p=2062"},"modified":"2016-12-14T09:00:41","modified_gmt":"2016-12-14T14:00:41","slug":"developing-auto-dealership-budget-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autoraptor.com\/blog\/developing-auto-dealership-budget-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Developing Your Auto Dealership Budget for the New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"screen-shot-2016-12-02-at-11-02-12-am\"<\/h2>\n

Investing time and effort into your annual auto dealership budget is the perfect way to begin your most profitable year ever<\/h2>\n

As the year comes to a close, you\u2019ve probably got a lot on your plate. Some things are fun and exciting to plan, like the dealership\u2019s holiday party or your big sales promotion<\/a>\u00a0kicking off on the first day of the new year. And the \u201cother\u201d stuff, like your auto dealership budget for next year? Well, that seems to keep getting pushed onto the back burner.<\/p>\n

Budgeting gets a bad rap, but it doesn\u2019t need to feel like such a chore! When you\u2019re creating your annual auto dealership budget, it\u2019s a chance to plan for a fantastic upcoming year and organize all of your thoughts so you can take action. It\u2019s also a perfect time for reflecting back on the year that is about to end \u2014 what worked? What didn\u2019t work? And how can you use that knowledge to make next year better?<\/p>\n

The new year is all about new beginnings, and that includes a fresh start for your auto dealership.<\/p>\n

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Make your auto dealership budget a team effort<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Dealership owners, CFOs, or other top-level executives tend to believe that the responsibility for the annual budget falls exclusively on their shoulders. They think it\u2019s their duty to spend countless days and sleepless nights crunching numbers and making tough decisions.<\/p>\n

News flash: You know all of that effort you put into hiring the best talent<\/a>\u00a0out there? It\u2019s time to trust them and put them to work.<\/p>\n

Schedule individual meetings with every department manager. Ask them to pull together actual results from the previous year, and compare them to industry norms. Then, have an in-depth discussion with each manager about what worked for their department, and what didn\u2019t work. Ask for opinions on where to allocate funds in the coming year.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, share your unique knowledge as a dealership owner or top level executive. Talk about current economic conditions both nationally and locally, and any other factors that could affect the dealership\u2019s traffic and sales volume in the coming year (new competition, recalls, new models). You and your team are sharing knowledge so you can both end up on the same page.<\/p>\n

You will have the final say on each department\u2019s budget, and there will probably be quite a few rounds of revisions, but the goal is to bring everyone into the budgeting process rather than taking the entire responsibility on yourself.<\/p>\n

\"screen-shot-2016-12-02-at-11-03-10-am\"<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Set <\/strong>SMART objectives before you create your auto dealership budget<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It may be tempting just to jump right into the numbers, but step back a minute and think about the bigger picture. What do you want to achieve in the new year? Do you want to reduce costs in the service department? Create a more robust online presence for your dealership? Focus more intensely on dealership-wide compliance efforts?<\/p>\n

Thing long and hard about where you see your dealership going and then break your top big ideas down into SMART objectives.<\/p>\n

S \u2013 Specific:<\/strong> Be specific about what you\u2019re hoping to achieve.
\nM \u2013 Measurable:<\/strong> Measure success with beginning and ending metrics.
\nA \u2013 Attainable:<\/strong> It\u2019s fun to dream big, but if your goal simply isn\u2019t realistic, why are you wasting your time?
\nR \u2013 Results-oriented:<\/strong> State a clear goal.
\nT \u2013 Time-phased:<\/strong> Timing shouldn\u2019t be general; set a start date and end date, so there is no confusion about when something needs to happen.<\/p>\n

Once you have your objectives in mind for the year, you\u2019ll be able to determine what you need to achieve those goals and you can budget for them accordingly.<\/p>\n

\"screen-shot-2016-12-02-at-11-05-09-am\"What should be in your auto dealership budget<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A basic auto dealership budget contains four major numbers:<\/p>\n