Benchmarking for Profitability: The 5 Metrics Every Dealer Should Track
5/9/2025What makes some dealerships thrive while others strive but just get by? According to dealership consultant George Keen, the difference comes down to one factor: Clarity. The most profitable equipment dealerships, regardless of size, don’t just guess what’s working, they measure it.
In a conversation on a Beyond the Hood podcast episode, Keen outlines five critical metrics that every dealership leadership team should monitor. “These benchmarks give you a mixture of long-term and short-term insights,” he says. “They’re the compass for your next move.”
Whether you're an independent store or a multi-location enterprise, tracking these five data points can help you reduce risk, improve performance, and make smarter operational decisions in an uncertain ag economy. And don’t worry, at the end we cover how you can actually execute on all of these metrics as well!
1. Market share or revenue growth
Keen is quick to point out that dealers should take a long-term view when assessing their market share. “You don’t gain market share in two months,” he notes. “You earn it through long-term trust, repeat customers, and consistent service.”
If your dealership isn’t gaining ground, you need to understand why. Are competitors beating you on price? Are you missing trade-ins or losing deals to newer brands?
Tracking year-over-year revenue growth by region, segment, and customer tier and then comparing that to your dealership’s local market activity can expose the answers before lost sales become long-term downward trends.
Metrics to track:
- Year-over-year revenue by dealership department
- Win/loss analysis on major deals
- Regional share of equipment type sold
2. Gross profit and net profit (by department)
Sales volume might feel like the most important number, but Keen insists the real story lies in gross and net profit, especially broken down by department.
“I want to know the true gross profit dollars per salesperson per month,” he says. This means that no matter how much the entire sales team is selling, the profitability of individual employees helps managers drill down on inefficiencies. “You can have someone selling at 11% margin and another at 20%, but both cost the dealership the same in overhead.”
Focusing only on gross profit percentages alone is misleading. Leadership needs to know exactly how many gross profit dollars each team member generates—because that’s what pays the bills.
Metrics to track:
- Gross profit dollars per person per month
- Department-level net profit
- Trends in margin slippage by sales type or region
3. Employee productivity
Improving employee productivity – especially in sales and service – is one of the most direct ways to boost profitability. And you don’t usually need to incorporate massive changes to make a big impact.
“If I can get just fifteen extra minutes per technician per day,” Keen explains, “that’s $5,000 a year per tech at $125/hour. With ten techs, that’s $50,000—from just fifteen minutes.”
The same applies to sales. Are reps making enough calls? Following up on quotes? Tracking productivity at the rep level allows managers to coach with purpose and reward outcomes.
Metrics to track:
- Technician billed vs. available hours
- Labor recovery rate and time-to-invoice
4. Asset management (inventory turnover and obsolescence)
Keen warns that aged inventory is basically trapped cash. “You can’t pay people with it. You can’t take new trades with it. You need to liquidate it.”
Especially in a post-2023 market with dropping values and new tariffs, used equipment that sits more than 12 months is a big liability. Smart dealers are proactive, not reactive, about equipment turns and aging stock.
Keen recounts an instance of one dealer with $40,000 to $50,000 per unit sitting on the lot. “When you’re holding that for over a year,” he says, “it’s not an asset – it’s a drag on your business.”
Metrics to track:
- Inventory turnover by category
- Days in inventory (used and new)
- Percent of stock over 12 months old
- Floorplan exposure vs. inventory value
5. Customer satisfaction
This metric is harder to measure, but Keen calls it indispensable. “You don’t build a 95% customer satisfaction score in two months,” he said. “It takes consistency and culture.”
While net promoter scores and service surveys are good starting points, real insight comes from combining data across touchpoints: quote-to-close ratios, follow-up timing, and even repeat service requests.
And don’t just track issues—track improvements. Positive momentum matters when justifying premium pricing or building long-term loyalty.
Metrics to track:
- Quote follow-up response rate
- Repeat service visits per customer
- Upsell performance by customer tier
Tying it all together: Using a system that tracks metrics and supports action
Keen emphasizes that these five metrics don’t live in isolation. They inform each other. He suggests dealers ask themselves, “Are your most productive employees also your most profitable? Is your inventory strategy aligned with cash flow?” “These are the connections that great leaders make.”
The key is not just collecting the data, but actually putting it to use.
That’s why more dealers are moving to platforms like Anvil Pro, which bring together CRM data and activity, sales performance, inventory data, and other operations metrics in one place. With built-in analytics and process automation, platforms like this that integrate with other dealer systems can help leadership teams implement the very benchmarking cadence George Keen recommends. This is now possible without the need to bounce between spreadsheets, emails, and outdated software, and then spending all the time you don’t have updating metrics.
By instantly having these critical variables front and center, dealers can stop reacting to issues—and start managing their future with confidence.
For more insights from George Keen on how to optimize your dealership’s sales and service operations, find his two major publications, Sales Management in an Equipment Dealership and Service Management in an Equipment Dealership. Listen to the entire George Keen episode on Aged Inventory Challenges & Data Utilization on the Beyond the Hood podcast page, or watch the video on our YouTube channel.
