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Data – The Next Skirmish

With the advent of the cloud and other forms of computing such as ASP’s we have perhaps lost sight of a huge transformation that is taking place right in front of our face.

In the year 2000 about 25% of all data was digitized and in fact 2002 was the first year that there was more digital storage than paper storage. let that sink in for a minute. That is a monumental statement.

By 2007 all digital forms, DVD’s and CD’s, memory cards and other digital devices accounted for 94% of the data storage capacity around the globe (these facts from Forbes) The total amount of data storage in 2012 will come to – are you ready for it – 2.7 zettabytes. That is 2.7 followed by 21 zeros. Isn’t that ridiculous?

For years I used to struggle with people talking about reports coming out of the old fashioned batch type computers. I argued that it was data coming out not information in the voluminous reports. I still take the same position on most information that is reported to people. It isn’t information it is data.

With the HUGE amount of digital data on the planet it is time we started to provide information. The people that need information on which to make decisions are weighed down by masses of data. This is a new skirmish that systems providers will have to start dealing with as we go forward. The time is now…

 

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Diagnostics

Many of you already know of my requirement for an inspection prior to any work being performed on equipment needing repairs.

The customer makes known to us what they have as their complaint. This reasonably standard operating procedures. They call or come in and tell us what they want done. Many of you also know that I draw a comparison between the medical community and the equipment repair community. We at the dealership are the doctor and the machine is the patient.

The diagnostic inspection necessary to determine the “cause” of the complaint is similar to the blood work and vital signs that the doctor will require of you prior to making any determination of the treatment necessary to “correct” your complaint. They will be seeking out hte cause.

Once we have the cause of the complaint the correction is the easy part. The time is now…

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Product Support Selling

We are considering bringing back the Product Support Selling Programs in 2013. Does anyone in the United States or Canada have an interest in these programs?

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Service Strategies

The service department is a much misunderstood group of highly skilled prefessionals. One of these days they will get the appreication they deserve but in the meantime we need to continue to raise the bar on their performance and image.

One of the methods we could use would be to track quality. each week that goes by with a 100% quality record should be noted and celebrated. I am not sure you truly understand that the work that is done is exceptionally high quality and the service warranty or employee redo levels are extremely low. Start to track it and publish it. Just like a safety record put it on the wall. Keep a running total of the number of weeks without a quality failure. You will be pleased when you see the results as the number will keep going higher and higher. The time is now.

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Proactive Parts Programs

So let’s start the week properly.

For your parts business. Each and every customer phone call or customer counter visit we should be asking two questions. Every time.

  1. What is the machine model and serial number for this parts order?
  2. Who is doing the work for you?

With the model and serial number we can update the machine population records which we will discuss later and with the answer on who is doing the work for you we will know more about our competition. The time is now…

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To Follow Up on Time Management

In his blog Growth Without Pain – Jay Roszell makes many great points.

I used to have a standard three questions I would ask regularly but at least twice a year of my co-workers.

  1. What am I doing that you like that I do and want me to coninue doing?
  2. What am I doing that you don’t like that I do and want me to stop?
  3. What am I doing that doesn’t really matter to you?

From the answers I could make solid decisions on how I was impacting others and what I did that should have been done by someone else.

Try it yourself and see how you like the approach. Please let us know how it worked out for you. The time is now.

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The Parts Business

In doing background work for my monthly CED column I noticed some interesting facts about Genuine Parts.

Genuine Parts is the parent of NAPA the parts specialist in the automotive replacement business. From my perspective they also mirror the construction equipment marketplace. Over the past four years Genuine Parts has seen through 2008 and 2009 declines in profit of 2% and 14% respectively. In the years 2010 and 2011 they returned to profit growth of 20% and 19% respectively. Analysts are predicting another year of double digit growth for 2012.

How do individual dealers in North America compare? I think we have some work to do to regain our footing. The time is now.

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Updates

We will be updating the web site in the next few days to better coordinate updates on the site, on the blog, and on twitter. We appreciate and thank you for your interest in all of the media that we use and hope that we can continue to pique your interest and your thinking and invite the continued diverse comments you send to us. The time is now.

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Selling Skills Part Four

The first last time we talked about the six steps in selling we identified them all. The last time we communicated was on the first step – research. Let’s dig a little deeper into the second one.

  1. Objectives

Well after having completed all the research on each customer in their assigned territory the sales professional is now ready for the next step. That is setting objectives for each and every one of their customers for each and every commodity of parts as well as each and every service program offered.

This also involves some research. The parts purchases should follow the opportunity calculated for each customer based on the machine population, hours of work per year and the application. This is also true for the service programs.

When reviewing the customer purchases against the opportunity for each account the sales professional will identify where there are parts or service programs that the customer does not purchase at the levels that the opportunity presents. This is normally an indication that competition has penetrated this customer for some of their products or services. The diligent salesmen determines who gets the business and who the customer likes about this supplier and develops a plan to combat that competitive advantage.

This leads the sales professional to have a specific series of objectives for each customer which will allow them to have a purpose for each call. This purpose is to save the customer money, improve machine availability of some other tangible benefit to the customer. Having a purpose for each call and objectives to strive to achieve makes a difference in the success of sales personnel. The time is now…..

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Selling Skills Part Three

Last time we talked about the six steps in selling. Let’s dig a little deeper into the first one.

  1. Research

Within research there are three more points to cover.

a)      The Customer

b)      The Products of Service

c)       The relationship.

Customer: For researching the customer we need to know everything and anything that might be significant. In the Capital Goods Industries this means specifically the equipment that the customer owns. The make model and serial number of every piece of equipment; the hours of use of each unit and the applications; any special attachments or configurations on each unit. This is what determines the opportunity. The consumption of parts and service is dependent on the hours of use and the application.

Then we need to have a complete customer profile; family circumstances and birthdays and anniversaries, hobbies, etc. A company profile; in what industries they work (SIC codes); type of business, years in business, number of employees, influential, etc.

The Products or Services: This is the full features and benefits area. This has become a lost art for many people in sales. I think this is extremely important. It allows you to separate yourself from the competition. It allows you to sell value if you have this knowledge. I also think it is important knowledge such that you will be able to “position” your offering rather than making a presentation which can become stale and sound canned.

The Relationship: This is the purchase history of the customer with your company. What they buy and what they don’t buy. How the purchases relates to the potential – this for both parts and service.

With these three stages completed in Research we can move onto the second step in the sales process. Good sales people are diligent in their research. It makes a difference in their success. The time is now…..