CWI: Service Flat Rate Standard Times

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 every time we perform them. In this way, we can develop a “standard time” which is different than average time. You will learn the secrets of flat rating in this very detailed program.

The job code structure is where this begins. The manufacturers provide a job code for use with warranty jobs. This 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 program.

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 program will be of value to anyone in management who wants to move away from a job shop structure.

CWI: Service Labor Efficiency

Labor efficiency and labor quality are the two most important performance measures for supervision of a service department. The way in which you measure labor efficiency leads you to be able to manage labor efficiency.  Detailed definitions and calculations, as well as tried and true methods to achieve high labor efficiency are the hallmarks of this program.

When employees are given specific direction the results are impressive. Without it, the results can be disastrous.  Billing efficiency, or the amount of time that can be billed versus paid, is not the same as labor efficiency. Labor efficiency is owned by the technician, but is directly influenced by the methods used to schedule work by the first level supervisor. This brings together inspections, job segmentation, standard jobs coding, and standard job times. Fundamentals of scheduling then can be applied and allow the performance of the work by a service department to become predictable.

Finally, the elements that interfere with good labor efficiency are exposed and suggestions developed for each so that they can be overcome. The customer will benefit greatly from predictable completion dates which will be the “intended” consequence of this program for all service management and supervision.

CWI: Service Organization

The organization of a service department is about more than technicians and clerks and management. Designing the structures is about facts and not feelings. The time for shop and field jobs starts the design. The technology, tooling, and processes used take us the rest of the way. Exploring the service department organization from a factual foundation is the goal of this program.

The density of supervision to technician has long been in dispute in this Industry. This program aims to put that dispute to rest by providing definitive measures of labor efficiency and quality at the forefront, and not having “cost” drive decisions about those two fundamental elements of a service department. From Roman times to the current US Army supervision has been a constant and defining attribute of high performance. We discuss the appropriate levels of supervision and provide a model for the participants to use for their business.

The clerical support in a Service Department covers all aspects of record management, as well as labor controls, job controls, job process and work in process, as well as everything to do with warranty and technical documentation, either in printed or electronic format. The dealer business system is critical in supporting this function. This program will be of benefit to everyone in management and supervision of the service function.

CWI: Service Customer Retention

All of the training and tooling in service, and the inventories and systems in parts, and all the good work by professional salesmen will be wasted if you cannot keep your customer for life. The Japanese taught us that in the 1970’s, and Harvard Business School did the definitive research in the 1980’s. This class deals with the facts of customer retention and “how to” minimize the number of customers that “defect” from your dealership.

The statistical impact of defection on profitability across differing Industry groups is exposed. It is shocking. In the Industrial Distribution business, if you can increase your customer retention 5%, then you can increase your profitability as a Company by 45%. There is no single element of what we do that has the impact on dealership profitability like customer retention. The tools you should use to minimize customer defection are discussed in detail in this impactful class. Everything that we do in the performance of our jobs is at risk if our responsiveness and convenience are not to the customers’ liking. Don’t miss out on this powerful program.

CWI: Service Pricing

Too often, dealerships call around to the neighboring dealers and ask for their service pricing. While it is understandable to want to know what the pricing is in your territory, it is more important to develop the price structure that is required to attract the business and also produce the profit necessary to operate a dealership.

We will expose the “peanut butter” labor pricing for what it is – an over-simplified, unrealistic pricing mechanism – and provide an alternative to consider. It all starts from the skills of the men, as well as the degree of difficulty of the work involved. This requires that we know the skills of the men we employ, and then use their skills on jobs that match that skill. Consider that the wage that is paid to the men is a direct reflection of the skills that the men have, and we have a starting point to determine labor rates. It is called a “wage multiple.”

This methodology has been in use for a long time, but not by sufficiently large numbers of dealerships.  Currently, most of us over-price low skill work and underprice the high skill work. We will define and describe the wage multiple so that, upon the completion of this class, the participants will be able to return to work and recalculate their labor rates with this new method and evaluate whether or not they should apply it in their Service Department.

CWI: Service Inspections

Customers, for the dealership service department, have grown used to performing service maintenance and minor repairs either themselves, or with the help of independent mechanics. This has led them to the conclusion that repairs are easily done and that they can diagnose problems with their equipment without much help from anybody.

While it is true that some of the customers, employees, and independent mechanics can perform very technical work, it still remains the dealership that has access to all the technical expertise that is provided by the manufacturers of the equipment.

The parallel that will be presented in this program is that of the doctor. The technician performing the inspection is a qualified analyst, trained to know what to look for and what the symptoms mean. The inspections that we are talking about here are diagnostic inspections to be performed prior to conducting any repairs, quality control inspections to be done after work has been completed, and machine appraisals which would be required of machines being traded in or being purchased used.

This program on inspections will provide you with an outline – a process – to follow in developing the inspection programs listed above for your dealership. This outline will allow you to improve all repair processes as well as have a more consistent condition report on used equipment.

CWI: Service Time Management

Time is one of the many elements of our lives that we deal with every day. It is one of those elements, however, that does not change.  We do not have the ability to add more time to a day. As a result of that fact it is important that we use all of the time that we have as effectively and as efficiently as possible.

Rarely do we accomplish that. We do things over and over again, we defer conclusions and decisions, we get interrupted with unrelated issues, we have to deal with meetings and the internet and the telephone. There is a lot to the use of your time.

This course will introduce you to different styles of work and a series of steps that you can consider to more effectively manage your time. At the conclusion of the course you will have been exposed to a wide range of options for you to consider that will assist you in managing your time more effectively and efficiently.  Don’t miss out on this powerful learning program.

CWI: Service Make It Matter

Everything that we do in the labor business has a profound impact on our customers, suppliers, coworkers, and other stakeholders. There has to be a difference in what and how you do your work that is visible and obvious to everyone that you touch in the performance of your work.

You have to be able to answer two very simple questions. But they are not that easy to answer. What do you provide?  What do you do? Most of us will look at these questions and think it is obvious, it is self-evident. We supply labor solutions – repairs, rebuilds and maintenance.  Pretty simple, isn’t it? The trouble with it is that there are many people trying to do it. We have to recapture the business we have lost from our customers and competitors. We have to make a difference. We have to make what we do “matter.”

We will explore who you are and what you bring to the organization and to the customer. We will explore how and why you make a difference. Each of us has to create our own brand. That is how we will differentiate ourselves and what we do from the crowd. We will explore serving people in the parts business. We will explore all that our work means to the market and how we make a difference: how we make it matter.

CWI: Service Market Segmentation

Marketing is the process of identifying and satisfying customer needs. That process becomes impossible with the thousands and thousands of customers that you have in your assigned area of responsibility (AOR). As a result of that truth, it becomes important to be able to find out what the customer needs and wants, and then to be able to find common elements of their business that will allow you to group them with other customers of common needs and wants.

That is the aim of market segmentation. Market segmentation is the process by which marketeers divide potential customers into smaller groups that are looking for similar benefits from a product or service. The goal is to isolate a group that prefers these features and benefits, and to develop a sustainable differential advantage that satisfies their needs. All of the methods and processes that are required to perform this are covered in the program.

We cover the industrial focus, the individual demographics, and the psychographics. We also have to assess the dealer strengths and weaknesses, as well as reviewing the same strengths and weaknesses in the competition. All of this and much more is covered in this comprehensive program.

CWI: Service Basic Management

There are some fundamental truths about people and their work: everyone wants to do a good job, everyone can do more than they think they can, and everyone is fundamentally lazy. In management and leadership we have to deal with the people and the processes. That is the job. You lead people and you manage the process.

The job of the manager or supervisor starts with the basic job function description and moves on to standards of performance. Everyone has to understand what is expected of them, as well as accepting that what is expected of them is both achievable and important. The various aspects of management are exposed in this power program.

In dealing with people, you also will need to be able to communicate with the employees.  In this program we explore two of the main forms of communications: praise and criticism. This part of interpersonal relations can be learned. These are skills that can be learned by following a simple plan. We discuss this plan in detail, which has many common elements with both praise and criticism to provide you with a better ability in working with your employees.