Chris Collins says dealerships that change pay plans often are managed by incentives instead of systems. He recommends a 3:1 or 4:1 advisor-to-technician ratio; many run 2:1, which tanks advisor pay and overloads techs.
About 3:1 or 4:1.
Two technicians to every advisor (2:1).
In an interview, I would ask when was the last time they changed the pay plan? So if I'm interviewing and I'm assuming to be an advisor, but even if I'm a tech, I want to know when they change the bonuses. When did they change the pay plan? Now. What does it tell you? If they change the pay plan a lot. They're managing the department through the pay plan, not through systems. And it's not scalable technician to advisor ratio. So a lot of times we see dealerships that have two technicians to every advisor it should be three to one or four to one. But if you have two to one, the advisor probably doesn't have a chance to really make money and the technicians are probably going to be over overwhelmed.
