Training for the Capital Goods Industry

/in , , , , , /by

Training has long been a problem for many businesses.

Management and Leadership have conflicting views on personnel. Edward Gordon, in his book “Future Jobs,” points out the threats posed by under-skilled employees. He goes on to challenge the education providers to deliver more on their promise of providing a skilled individual.

One side of the conflict for leaders is traditional thinking:

  • The employees should come to the job trained and ready to work.
  • The employees should continue their schooling on their own time.
  • Why should I train people? They just leave me and go work for the competition.

On the other hand, there is a growing number of leaders who are changing their views:

  • I don’t want to have under skilled people ever.
  • I will support learning in any form.
  • I expect my employees to be curious and hungry learners.

In the years since 2008 – which I will label “BBS” – “Before Bear Stearns” businesses have reduced their expenditures on employee training dramatically. That results in under-skilled personnel. So the result is that we are choosing to reduce training costs, and therefore providing customers with under-skilled personnel. I am sure you don’t think that this is a sustainable position to take.

We have been offering management training since the early 1990’s. We have done this in combination with Industry associations, as well as directly with manufacturers and dealers. We have provided learning opportunities for Parts Management, Service Management, Parts & Service Marketing and Product Support Selling. Today we do this via a new Company called Learning Without Scars. You can visit our website at www.learningwithoutscars.org to learn more about training and creating an environment of skilled personnel.

Parts Operations Webinars

/in , /by

October 28th and October 29th

Don’t miss any of the four webinars being offered on Parts Operations.

  • TeleSelling: learn how to grow your parts business. From market segmentation to using the phone as a customer service tool, this webinar has it all.
  • Basic Inventory Control: the more we know about managing the parts inventory assets, the better off we all are. This webinar takes the mysteries away and deals with methods to employ to improve performance for both your customers and your investors.
  • Warehousing: that big room out back is one of the most important customer service tools you have available to you. How to layout the facility, how to design the facility and much more are exposed in this webinar. The cost of labor is critical in parts operations and without a proper layout and design the costs will be out of control.
  • Parts Pricing: profitability and competitiveness are the results obtained with proper pricing programs. We explore the various theories and applications of pricing algorithms in a manner that is understandable. The price point you choose is a marketing statement.  Learn how with this important webinar.

For more details please go to www.learningwithoutscars.org and review the webinars available.

Don’t forget to purchase your membership and receive a 30% price reduction on all of our learning offerings for a full fifteen months.

The time is now

Learning Without Scars Membership Offer

/in , , /by

Special Offer

To welcome you to our new learning business we are offering an introductory special membership.

The normal membership is $35.00 for a calendar twelve month membership. For the remainder of 2014 we will extend the period of your membership up to a maximum of fifteen months until December 31, 2015.

With your membership, you will receive a 30% pricing reduction on all learning Without Scars products.

Don’t miss out.

The next webinars are in October – we will be offering eight parts and eight service webinars yet in 2014. The next classes are in Chicago in November and for previous attendees of the first two of the three level management class series also in Palm Springs.

Go to www.learningwithoutscars.org to purchase your membership.

Take advantage of this special offer kicking off our first year.

The time is now…

Service Management Webinars

/in , /by

Upcoming Webinar Notice!

October 21st and October 22nd

Don’t miss any of the four webinars being offered on Service Operations.

  •  Inspections: so that you perform the work the way it should be done, we explore the major inspections necessary to maintain and repair capital equipment.
  • Work Order process; this is the ABC structure you have been waiting for to help drive efficient and high quality labor.
  • Service Labor Rates: the how – to manual on setting rates, it is not about calling around and checking other businesses.
  • Service Organization: as with everything else we have evolved into the current structure, explore with us the structure necessary to support the business properly.

For more details please go to www.learningwithoutscars.org and review the webinars available.

Don’t forget to purchase your membership and receive a 30% reduction on all learning offerings for a full fifteen months.

The time is now

Training Thoughts

/in , /by

With the new business, Learning Without Scars, I wanted to clarify some points regarding the learning options we are presenting.

We start with Webinars. These webinars are intended for everyone in the department and anyone else who has interest in the particular subject. These are intended to transfer knowledge to the attendee. In 2015 we offer the following webinars; fifteen for the parts business, fourteen for the service business, five for the product support selling business, and six for parts and service marketing.

The next level of training is the Internet Based Self-Study Program. These programs are intended for the individuals in your business who you have selected as potential management or supervision. Of course they are also offered as a tool for anyone to learn the subject matter.This is for the leaders of today but more importantly for the leaders of the future. We are starting with one parts self-study program and one service self-study program in September 2014 and then will roll out two additional self-study programs every two months until we have reached our goal. We are aiming to produce internet self-study programs as follows; four parts programs, four service programs, three product support selling and three parts and service marketing.

The classroom classes will continue to be the finishing school. Anyone who has gone through the internet based self-study and scored highly enough can move right into the second level. We offer the following classes; three parts, three service, one product support selling and one parts and service marketing.

I look forward to seeing you at one of more of the learning options we have put together for you.

The time is now

Training Tidbits #7

/in /by

Many of you have noticed my “New Reality” take on business and the economy for the equipment Industries. The dislocations caused in 2008 have not been addressed completely as we transition once more to a new and better opportunity based society.

The challenges we confront have been broadly exposed and discussed from tax policies, to government regulation, to lending practices, to technological changes, and many more. And we need to address the four challenges exposed by Robert Gordon for our economy of; income inequality, debt, education and demographics. (You can see him on TED.com search for him by name Robert Gordon and the name of the talk is; The End of Innovation.)

You have also read me talking about the need for more job preparation coming from our educational options in previous blogs. I would like to expose to you now another element of the New Reality a short film from a Community College. Please watch it and then spend a moment thinking about how this might impact you, your family and your fellow employees.

Click on the line and watch. Make sure you have sound. This video is well done, it explains in pretty easy-to-understand terms why an associate degree or technical education might make more sense than a 4-year degree for people with certain skillsets. The video was funded by Perkins Grant money.  https://vimeo.com/67277269

The time is now.

Learning Without Scars is morphing

/in /by

Greetings.

We are going to take this to another dimension. We are in the process of building a new website for learning and learners. It will be the new face of “Learning Without Scars.”

We will launch the new venture July 1, 2014.

We will offer a one stop shop for all learning experiences:-

  • Internet Based Self Study Programs
  • Streamed Content Offers
  • Webinar Registrations
  • Classroom Registrations.

We intend to offer learning streams for the Parts Business, the Service Business, Sales and Marketing for Operational Departments and Professional Selling.

The Parts Business will have Four Units in the Internet Based Learning Program and over twenty hours of streamed subject specific offers. Registration to our Classroom offerings as well as a wide range of webinars will also be available through this new Company and this new website.

Similarly the Service Business will have Four Units in the Internet Based Learning Program and over twenty hours of streamed subject specific offers. Registration to our Classroom offerings as well as a wide range of webinars will also be available through this new Company and this new website.

For the Sales and Marketing offerings will have Two Units in the Internet Based Learning Program and over ten hours of streamed subject specific offers.

For the Selling Professions we will have Two Units in the Internet Based Learning Program and over ten hours of streamed subject specific offers.

I would like to extend and offer and a request. Please let us know where you would like to have additional learning resources for your professional and personal development. We are seeking your input. Thanks in advance.

The time is now.

Standards of Performance Wednesday April 16th @ Noon Pacific

/in , /by

Standards of Performance – WS8

 

What does it looks like when it is right? Performance in a Service Department must maximize efficiency, quality and satisfy customers. The first step to understanding and accepting what needs to be done is to have meaningful, measureable and achievable standards. How to develop your own standards and yet continue to reach for excellence is the theme in this webinar.

Individual employees want to do a good job yet many do not know what doing a good job entails. This is a fundamental requirement of good management, communicating performance expectations and measures to the employees. In this webinar we will cover the fundamentals exposed by Patrick Lencioni in his important book “The Three Signs of a Miserable Job.” Anonymity, Irrelevance and Immeasureability are the three symptoms of this disease which leads to the “Sunday Blues.”

Each employee can also deliver more than they think they are can yet each is fundamentally lazy. Leadership methods to entice or motivate employees to deliver good performance for coworkers, customers and the Company will be discussed in this extremely important webinar.

Everyone needs to understand what we are trying to do that is true. But it is equally important that everyone accepts that our understanding of what we are trying to do is complete. Without understanding and acceptance we will never get commitment.

The time is now.

Shop Floor Scheduling – Wednesday April 16th @ 9:00 AM Pacific

/in , /by

Shop Floor Scheduling – WS7

 

The customers all want predictable consistent high quality service work. But equally important to them is a completion date for the work you are doing for them. You need to be able to provide a completion date and you need to meet that date. To do that requires very specific activities and deliveries. Parts, labor, supplies, outside purchases all are involved. Learn how to establish and manage shop schedules. To date in most surveys on customer attitudes they indicate that they want “honesty” in the top five. That should tell us that completion dates, which are rarely met is an area that needs a lot of attention.

This webinar leads to the items that are required in developing a schedule that can be met for all customers and internal departments. The typical rationales used to explain away why completion dates are rarely met are exposed and dealt with in a manner that allows acceptance of the need to change approach.

Each day, each technician needs to be given eight hours of labor, but no more than eight hours of labor. This requires each job have work elements that are never more than eight hours in length so that the answer to the question “will you complete everything I gave you to do today?” will be either yes or no. If yes the schedule is intact. If no – that will be dealt with in this webinar.

If you could guarantee completion the work for a customer on a specific date and meet it…. how much do you think your service business would increase? This comprehensive webinar does just that. It exposes everything you need to do to succeed at meeting your “promise dates” or completion date.

The time is now.

 

 

Flat Rating/Standard Jobs Tuesday April 15tht at Noon Pacific time

/in , /by

Flat Rating/Standard Jobs – WS6

 

Customers want to know how much the repair work will cost before they approve the job you will perform. We have to provide this important information. In order to do this we must manage our repairs with job codes. We must determine standard jobs and then track them everything time we perform them. Then we can develop a “standard time” which is different than average time. Learn the secrets of flat rating in this very detailed webinar.

The job code structure is where this starts. The manufacturers provide a job code for use with warranty jobs. It is the same logic that dealers must use to manage the repair and maintenance jobs. The code needs to be easy to understand and search out in a file or on a system. Once we have the job codes then the inspections and job structures need to follow the same logic. How to develop the job codes and then utilize them to develop and manage history is a critical element of this webinar.

The determination of the standard time is also misunderstood by most. It is NOT about the average time to perform the job. Learn the perils of assuming all the risk on jobs and how to provide for those risks with standard times. This webinar will be of value to anyone in management who wants to move away from a job shop structure.

Until you satisfy your customer needs you will constantly be explaining things.  They want to know the price before they approve the work. They want to know when it will be ready for them to pick up. You cannot answer either question accurately unless you operate with standards jobs and flat rates. Don’t miss this comprehensive review of these two critical elements for service management.

The time is now.