Ignite Query Library

Best Practices Ignite

Questions your team can ask the agent

A starter library of business questions, organized by role and by objective. Treat each one as a template — swap in your own timeframe, department, or store, and add a follow-up like “…and what should I do about it?”

● QUICK START · ANY ROLE

“What should I do right now?”

What are my top 10 revenue opportunities I should act on before noon today?
Which leads from the last 48 hours haven’t been contacted yet?
Show me everyone with an appointment today and flag the ones likely to no-show.
Rank today’s outbound call list by likelihood to convert, and give me a reason for each.
What changed since yesterday that I need to know about?
What are the three things most worth my attention this morning?

● WHAT'S INSIDE

01	By role	The prompts each seat reaches for day to day
02	By business objective	When the question is about an outcome, not a job title
03	Level up your question	Eight before-and-after rewrites that sharpen the ask
04	Blind spots worth a query	Categories that rarely get asked and hold real revenue
05	Five habits	Small changes that make the agent work harder

● FIND YOUR SEAT

By role

The prompts each person is most likely to reach for day to day.

● Dealer Principal / GM

How is the store pacing to forecast this month, and which department is the biggest risk?
What’s my total gross profit month-to-date versus the same point last month?
Where am I leaving money on the table across sales, service, and F&I right now?
Which three metrics moved the most week-over-week, and what’s driving them?
If current trends hold, where do we land at month-end by department?

● Group Executive

How are my rooftops performing against each other?
Rank my stores by gross per unit this month.
Which store has the best service retention, and what are they doing differently?
Show me the variance between my best and worst store on lead response time.
Which rooftops are under-indexing on F&I product penetration?
Where is the same problem showing up across multiple stores?

● Sales Manager

Where am I behind plan this month, and what is the fastest lever to pull?
Which salespeople are behind their unit pace, and how many deals to catch up?
What’s my aged inventory over 60 days, and which units should I prioritize?
Which deals are sitting in the pipeline with no activity in 7+ days?
What’s my average gross by lead source this month?
Which customers are coming off lease in the next 90 days?
Show me owners in a positive equity position who could upgrade now.

● Sales Consultant

Who should we contact that we haven’t reached out to in a while?
Who showed strong buying signals that I haven’t followed up with?
Which of my prospects test drove but didn’t buy in the last 30 days?
Give me a prioritized call list for today, with the reason for each contact.
Which sold customers are due for a check-in or a referral ask?

● BDC Agent / Manager

Who should I contact today, and why?
Which clients should we re-engage?
Which customers should we re-engage based on declined work?
What’s our average speed-to-lead, and which leads are aging past target?
Which appointments set this week are at highest risk of falling through?
Which no-shows from last week are worth a second attempt?

● Fixed Ops Director

Where is the leak between the service lane and the appointment?
What’s my customer-pay labor revenue versus target this month?
How many declined recommendations from the last 90 days are still open, and what’s the value?
What’s my effective labor rate trend over the last six months?
Which customers are overdue for their next service by mileage or time?
Where is the biggest gap between recommended and sold service?

● Service Manager / Advisor

Where am I behind plan this month, and what is the fastest lever to pull?
Which repair orders had declined work that I should follow up on this week?
Show me customers who came in for one thing but declined multiple recommendations.
Which first-time service customers haven’t come back?
What’s my team’s average hours per repair order, and how is it trending?
Which services are generating the most revenue?
Where are we seeing the biggest gaps between customer need and completed service?
How much potential revenue is associated with declined service?
How much potential revenue could we recover from overdue customers?
What are the biggest outstanding revenue opportunities in my service database, and which customers should I prioritize?
What trends or changes in my service business should I be aware of right now?

● Parts Manager

What’s my parts gross and fill rate this month?
Which parts are aging in inventory and tying up capital?
Where am I seeing repeat back-orders that are slowing the lane down?

● F&I Manager

What’s my PVR and product penetration by salesperson?
Which recent deals closed with no F&I products attached?
Where are we under-penetrated on service contracts versus benchmark?
Which financed customers are good candidates for a follow-up product offer?

● Marketing Manager

Which lead sources have the best cost-per-sale this month?
What’s my conversion rate from lead to appointment to sale by channel?
Which campaigns are actually driving service appointments?
Where am I spending money on sources that aren’t converting?

● START FROM THE GOAL

By business objective

When the question is about an outcome rather than a job title.

● Revenue capture & sizing

Can you identify and quantify all revenue opportunities this month?
What’s the total dollar value of declined service work in the last 90 days?
How much equity is sitting in our owner base that we could mine for upgrades?
What’s the combined opportunity if we recaptured our lapsed service customers?
How many distinct potential revenue opportunities does this dealership have right now?

● Retention & re-engagement

Which customers bought from us but never returned for service, and what do they have in common?
Who are my lapsed service customers most likely to win back?
Which sold customers are showing signs they may defect to a competitor?
Which owners are due to be in-market again soon based on purchase history?

● Conversion & show rate

What’s my appointment show rate, and how does it compare to last month?
Where in the funnel am I losing the most leads?
How fast are we responding to internet leads, and does speed correlate with closing?
Which steps from lead to sale have the biggest drop-off?

● Efficiency & productivity

Which technicians are most and least productive this month?
What’s my comeback rate, and which job types drive it?
Where are advisors spending time that isn’t producing revenue?

● Pacing & forecasting

Where am I behind plan this month, and what is the fastest lever to pull?
Am I on track to hit forecast, and what’s the single biggest gap to close?
What should my reps be focusing on today to stay on pace?

● High-value service opportunities

Which customers have the highest potential service value?
Show me customers with upcoming high-value maintenance needs
Which customers are likely to need major repairs based on their vehicle history?
What are the biggest repair opportunities in my database?
Which customers have vehicles that are likely to need significant maintenance soon?
Show me customers with multiple outstanding service needs.
Which service opportunities could generate the most revenue?
What high-value service opportunities are currently being missed?
Which customers have recently had an expensive repair recommended?

● BEFORE & AFTER

Level up your question

Most questions stop at the data. Push each one step further — attach a dollar value, rank what to do first, and ask “so what.” Same question, far more useful answer.

01 Attach a dollar value to every opportunity

ASKED TODAY	People that declined work.
ASK INSTEAD	Total the dollar value of all declined work in the last 90 days, grouped by job type and advisor, and show me what’s still recoverable.

02 End with an action, not a list

ASKED TODAY	All customers who haven’t had service in 6 months.
ASK INSTEAD	…rank them by likelihood to return and value, then build this week’s call list starting with the highest-value, most-winnable ones.

03 Trends and benchmarks, not single snapshots

ASKED TODAY	What is my best performing service advisor for May 2026?
ASK INSTEAD	Show each advisor’s hours/RO and effective labor rate over the last 6 months vs. target, and flag who’s slipping and who’s ready for more volume.

04 Turn “who’s best” into “where’s the gap I can close”

ASKED TODAY	Show me my highest front and back gross sales staff for May 2026.
ASK INSTEAD	Show front + back gross per salesperson against the team median, and quantify the revenue if I coached my bottom third up to median.

05 Move from descriptive to predictive

ASKED TODAY	Show me data why we are losing customers.
ASK INSTEAD	Build a retention curve for buyers in the last 3 years — at what month do they stop servicing with us, what do the leavers share, and what’s the single biggest fixable driver?

06 Score and segment lists before exporting

ASKED TODAY	I need a list of all 2014–2023 F150 owners in our database.
ASK INSTEAD	…scored by equity and service loyalty, segmented into “upgrade now,” “service recapture,” and “monitor,” so the team works the best ones first.

07 Bridge service and sales on purpose

ASKED TODAY	Which off-brand vehicles are we servicing most?
ASK INSTEAD	Each month, show the off-brand and aging-vehicle owners in our service drive who are also in equity or lease maturity — that’s my warm conquest list.

08 Ask compound questions — stack the signals

ASKED TODAY	Which customers have positive equity and come in for service?
ASK INSTEAD	Show customers who are in positive equity, out of warranty, and overdue for service — one list that’s ripe for both an upgrade and a service visit.

● MONEY YOU’RE NOT ASKING ABOUT

Blind spots worth a query

Categories that rarely show up in client questions — and tend to hold real revenue.

How fast are we responding to internet leads, and does response time correlate with close rate?
What’s my appointment show rate, and which set appointments are most likely to no-show?
Which lead sources produce the most sales per dollar spent, not just the most volume?
What’s my F&I product penetration and PVR by salesperson versus benchmark?

● GET SHARPER ANSWERS

Five habits that make the agent work harder

01 Add a timeframe. “Today,” “month-to-date,” and “last 90 days” sharpen the result.

02 Name the lens. Specify the role, department, or store you care about.

03 Ask for the “why,” not just the list. “Who should I call, and why?” beats “give me a call list.”

04 Pair a metric with an action. End with “…and what should I do about it?”

05 Drill down with follow-ups. Once the agent answers, ask it to rank, filter, or quantify.
06 Incorporate domain knowledge. “Identify payment swap candidates based on context such as APR and where they are in their ownership cycle.”