The complaints are still out there- “I can’t find any experienced equipment technicians.” Isn’t it obvious by now that anyone worth anything that has experience is going to be working already? If there is a technician available and they apply for work I am sure that you will give them a very thorough interview and background check.

We need to develop our own technicians. As obvious as that seems to be we continue to be in denial.

Hire willing young men and women (yes women) who have a mechanical aptitude and get them into a development program. Start as we did in the old days with one “help/trainee” for every two technicians. Set up a training program. Work with local technical schools and unions and customers who offer technical training. Establish a “career path” training program. It will take roughly three years to create a market ready technician.

There are wonderful programs at Oklahoma State University in Okmulgee for one which works with dealers and manufacturers to offer specific brand training programs. Caterpillar, John Deere, Toyota and Ditch Witch to name a few work with schools around the country on these programs. Check out your local area to find the schools that you can partner with in this area.

Caring about your employees, providing training and a safety aware work place will go a long way to retaining your employees. Some dealers, and extremely success dealers, have never had a layoff of technical employees. Imagine what that says to the employee.

The time to complain has long since passed – don’t you think we should start developing our own? The time is now…..

February 26, 2012

Business Services, Consulting Services, Customer Service, Parts, Personnel, Product Support Selling, Service

Can we make a difference

The transition to team management while still encouraging curiosity is struggling as management doesn’t know how to encourage risk taking without contradicting the work of the team.

The story of the ages is that people will take risks when they have less to lose and be risk averse when they have a lot to lose. How to break through this paradigm will be a challenge.

To lower parts inventories while improving customer availability.

To guarantee completion dates on repairs while embracing employee satisfaction.

To retain customers while payment patterns change.

All of these challenges exist because we have been rather timid over the past years to tackle changes necessary in a meaningful manner. Now is the time.

February 18, 2012

Business Services, Consulting Services, Personnel, Simulation Modelling

Are employees looking around today?

December was the first month in many years that had more people quitting their jobs than being laid off or fired. Is this the beginning of musical chairs with employees? Is the labor market now strong enough to absorb all the employees that feel they were hard done by over the past three or four years by their employers?

What should employers do to keep their employees satisfied and happy and stimulated in their work to retain them as employees?

February 17, 2012

TESTIMONIALS

To regain some sanity in an insane world I return to some of Ludwig von Mises pithy comments.

There is no point in deceiving ourselves. American public opinion rejects the market economy, the capitalistic free enterprise system that provided the nation with the highest standard of living ever attained. Full government control of all activities of the individual is virtually the goal of both national parties.

Seen from the point of view of the particular group interests of the bureaucrats, every measure that makes the government payroll swell is progress.

The cyclical fluctuations of business are not an occurrence originating in the sphere of unhampered market, but a product of government interference with business conditions designed to lower the rate of interest below the height at which the free market would have fixed it.

A short time ago the demagogues blamed capitalism for the poverty of the masses. Today they rather blame capitalism for the “affluence” that it bestows upon the common man.

If one rejects laissez faire on account of man’s fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action.

Credit expansion is the governments’ foremost tool in their struggle against the market economy. In their hands it is the magic wand designed to conjure away the scarcity of capital goods, to lower the rate of interest or to abolish it altogether, to finance lavish government spending, to expropriate the capitalists, to contrive everlasting booms, and to make everybody prosperous.

The time is now.

March 26, 2013

The Digital Dealership, Your Audience: Operations, Part 3

Guest writer Mets Kramer continues to explore all aspects of your audience in the digital dealership with Operations. This is Part 3 of his series.

In the last blogs about The Digital Dealership, we looked at the concept of your “audience”, and how an information driven dealership applies information to addressing your intended audience. The term, Audience, has become more popular in modern digital marketing platforms, but the concept is not new. Even with old style billboards which line the side of highways, the Audience has always been the people driving down the road.

A focus on your intended Audience makes a lot of sense when thinking about email campaigns, marketing or social media, but it’s equally valid when looking at day to day operations. Audience consists of the customers and the people who work for our customers. The Audience consists of owners, managers, site supers, maintenance people and even, accounting. Each one of these segments are part of an audience that largely consists of people already doing business with your dealership.

This Audience already knows who your dealership is, but also know more about this audience segment than your prospects and the unknown audience. Knowing your audience means you have information about the contacts. It means you can connect with and forward them more detailed information to enhance your connection and grow in engagement.

Let’s look at an example, related to something we’ve looked at before: your website.

The first thing you should consider is, “If I know the customers who visit my website, why are they there?” Each one of your customer contacts have a purpose of why they visit your website. If they are in service or maintenance, they likely need service help or parts; if they are supervisors or managers, they likely need equipment; if they are in accounting, they need ecommerce.

Just like we often have multiple entrances to our physical dealership, we should also provide our Audience with the same accessibility to the online dealership. Either use specific URLs, for example, “parts.mysuccessfuldealership.com”, or alternatively, and more effectively, recognize returning site visitors and automatically take them to the last place they went, or where they most frequently go. This uses the information you know about the customer and improves the ease of doing business.

Considering your audience and applying information happens in the dealership operations side too. Many dealers already do this when merchandizing. You place products in the parts department targeting a known audience segment, typically technicians. Since this assumption is generally correct, items they need are likely to sell. The Digital Dealership is about collecting and using information, enabling a customized or granular interaction.

For example, imagine a customer or a technician comes in to buy parts. Do you collect their contact information and confirm their role? Do you provide information based on the provided machine serial number on maintenance requirements, parts needed for maintenance on indicators from telematics about potential issues? If not, do you email the customer’s service manager that a technician came in and additional items might be required. If the pickup is by a small contractor and the owner comes in, providing this information creates numerous additional opportunities. Collecting small pieces of information about each transaction creates the opportunity for a customized and more valuable experience. And who doesn’t want that!

In the early 2000s, when most manufacturers were bringing their online parts systems to market, it was immediately recognized that parts sales through online systems were around 10% higher than instore sales. Users went in to find the new pump they needed, but because a diagram was shown of related parts or a list of seals and fasteners was provided, the users also selected and purchased those items. If you have purchased on Amazon, you’ve no doubt seen the “Customers also Bought” section. This is an example of using information learned from past activities to help customers and increase sales.

Collecting information on known contacts, can also provide other opportunities to target messages to your Audience. Most dealers know if their customers are large or small and who are the recipients of invoices. Knowing this should change the additional items on the invoice. If invoices go to your Accounting or AP@mycustomer.com, then include messaging on finance related items like ecommerce options, financial payment integration or similar options. For small customers, when invoices go to the owner, include information on equipment replacement, service needs on their fleet and the like.

In each of these cases, the Digital Dealership collects information on the who they are interacting with to grow the knowledge base and develop actionable information. It applies this information to each transaction or interaction with their customer, throughout the operation. The Digital Dealership places information at the right place and at the right time for team members to make decisions and provide value to the customer.

In 2018, I did my first presentation at AED. It was called “A Granular, Data Driven Approach to Strategic Sales”. We looked at how placing customer equipment data, plus live market pricing data or operating cost information, in the hands of the sales rep which changed the relationship of Sales Rep to Trusted Advisor, giving the Dealership a permanent seat at the table. Arriving at a customer site with valuable and actionable information opened access to the customer much faster than hats and lunches. The presentation also provided a model for using customer transaction and fleet data to predict replacement equipment sales. More importantly, this data provided a much more accurate sales opportunity forecast and inventory model.

The common phase, “You do 80% of your sales with 20% of your customers”, means 80% of your customers likely don’t hear from you enough or experience enough value to keep them from going elsewhere with each purchase. Applying valuable information about your Audience throughout your dealership operation can change that.

This year, I’ll be presenting at AED again on the whole Digital Dealership concept. If you are interested in the idea of “A granular data driven approach to strategic sales”, I’m available to present this idea or other Digital Dealership aspects at your next sales meeting to help your team think like a Digital Dealer.

Mets.kramer@strategicevolutions.ca

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December 7, 2021

Archive for category: Personnel