www. PowersportsBusiness. com

Powersports Business • May 2025 • 13

BY JOHN SHAPIRO

CHIEF PRODUCT & TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, LIGHTSPEED

You’ ve probably encountered the adage“ time is money,” and if you’ re managing a business, you understand its full significance. Every moment spent away from core revenue-generating activities can result in lost opportunities and diminishing returns. For many entrepreneurs, the daily grind of preparing reports, checking inventory and handling administrative duties can quickly become overwhelming.

These essential tasks, while crucial for maintaining smooth operations and ensuring compliance, can often pull you away from what truly excites you: engaging with customers, selling your products and fostering business growth. Although inventory management, data analysis and report preparation are vital for understanding market trends and shaping future strategies, they can be incredibly time-consuming and tedious.

Balancing these necessary but routine tasks with the activities that drive your business’ s success and bring you personal satisfaction can be challenging. This is where streamlining processes, delegating responsibilities or leveraging technology becomes invaluable, allowing you to reclaim precious time to focus on what you truly love— engaging with customers, enhancing your products and advancing your business vision.

TIME OPTIMIZATION TIPS

A recent Lightspeed survey found that nearly 75 % of retailers spend six or more hours each week managing inventory, with some dedicating up to 10 hours or more. This stat highlights the pressing need for more efficient approaches. When crucial tasks like inventory management consume such a significant portion of your time, it becomes clear that developing more effective solutions is key.

Here are four key areas that you could look at optimizing to ensure you are spending less time on the operational tasks and more time on customer satisfaction:

4. Using data to manage staff Your staff are the first point of contact for your customers, so they need to be managed properly. There is a wealth of data being collected around team sales performance, individual reviews and promotions, time management and more. Collecting and unifying that data provides a detailed picture of how your business is performing and where you can best optimize, and reward, your team.

Managing time and resources effectively is crucial for running a successful business. While handling daily tasks such as inventory management and report preparation is necessary, it shouldn’ t come at the cost of your core business activities and personal

satisfaction. By utilizing certain tools, you can streamline these processes, freeing up valuable time to focus on what truly matters— interacting with customers, refining your products and propelling your business forward. The right technology doesn’ t just enhance operational efficiency, it invests in your future success.

Traffic Log Pro has all of this at no additional cost:

• Central organization for all lead & customer information

• OEM integrations for BRP, Harley-Davidson, Kawasaki, Polaris, Suzuki, and Yamaha

• Unlimited two-way text messaging from your dealership’ s number

• Trigger-based automated email & text message marketing

• Manage local listings & reviews while you monitor social media

• Detailed analytics, scheduled reporting, and planner

Plus, no initial setup or transfer fees!

TrafficLogPro. com | 727-241-4633

1. Preventing inventory stock out There’ s nothing worse than having a customer excited to purchase a product and having it sold out. Not only is that a loss of a sale, but the customer may go to a competitor to complete the purchase, and you may lose future sales opportunities as well.

Being able to predict future sales volume and plan inventory management ahead of time is critical to retail stocking. Lightspeed recently launched Retail Insights for this exact purpose— to help retailers identify items that have previously been out of stock, ultimately enabling you to adjust ordering practices and prevent lost sales due to inventory shortages.

2. Streamlining purchase orders Purchase orders can become incredibly complex, especially if you are dealing with multiple vendors and more than one store location. Finding a means to streamline the ordering process, like syncing inventory reports with draft purchase orders, creates a more efficient process, saving you time and money.

Workflows & Boost Productivity

Get Efficient, Get Smart.

DX1’ s smart notifications and automated tasks simplify dealership workflows and boost overall productivity. Effortlessly market inventory across multiple platforms with a single click, and when an item sells, it’ s automatically removed. This efficient, seamless solution keeps your team focused on customers rather than behind a counter.

Travel the road to smarter dealership management with DX1. The ONLY all-in-one dealership software solution with a DMS, website, lead manager, and more.

“ I’ m always looking for things to make my job easier and faster. DX1’ s Smart Dealership Solution has been great in that manner.” Tony DeSimone, Owner Top Gear Powersports- Roselle, IL

3. Measuring sales trends Being able to quickly identify trends in your sales could be the catalyst needed to accelerate growth in your business. Quickly discerning daily, weekly or monthly trends becomes simpler, while more detailed inventory and sales reports provide deeper insights into product performance and costs.

( 800) 700-4391 www. DX1app. com