CWI: Service Territory Potential

One of the true challenges in the parts and service business is to determine the successful penetration of the market: the market capture rates. This is another term used to represent your “market share.” How well you are looking after the needs of the customer is the real question at this point.

With this class, we develop a “market potential” model which can be used to determine the purchase potential of each machine. With this tool, an overall potential can be developed for each customer. This is a tool that can be used by management and the sales force to develop strategies to improve performance. We deal with the creation of the model and all the variables within in this comprehensive program.

It all starts with the machine population. That is the list of equipment owned by each customer, and the work application and hours worked each year. With this and the statistics available from the OEM’s and their mean time between failure facts, a reasonable degree of precision can be developed. The major components can be managed in this manner: engines, transmissions, and hydraulic systems.  The wear rates of ground engaging tools and undercarriage can assist in the life of these wear parts. Finally, we have maintenance as the last element. Don’t miss this market potential class.

CWI: Service Coaching and Mentoring

One of the most important and significant activities in which we can be involved, in our professional lives, is helping in the development of the younger less experienced employees. Whether it is a direct coaching job or we mentor the younger less experienced workers we have a responsibility to transfer our knowledge to them. In older times each new employee was assigned to a “mentor” with whom they spent time. They would take breaks together, have lunch together, and this new employee worked as if they were helpers for the experienced employees.

The dilemma with this is that not everyone is good at transferring their knowledge and some employees will just not do it. Selecting the proper people to assign this responsibility is critical. Starting through all of the job functions, from the beginning to the end. Communicated in a different manner from the time the employee arrives at work until they leave at the end of the day. Everything and anything that pertains to the work.

This is part of developing a strong corporate culture. Culture is aimed at your heart. In this style of “onboarding” new employees, each person will feel part of the team. This is an extremely important function and this class will help you avoid the difficulties in performing this function.

CWI: Service Making Money

With everything that goes on in a labor business it is easy to forget that we also have a responsibility to make money. We have to make money to be able to pay competitive wages to attract and retain talented employees. We have to make money to have available buildings and equipment that allows us to perform repairs and rebuilds and maintenance on the equipment we represent. We need to make money to be able to provide the most current tooling and training to provide effective and efficient labor.

This program provides you with the understanding of the costs of operating the service business. It exposes you to the means and methods of how to make money. From understanding how the labor prices are created and how those pricing systems work. How the prices are calculated and the variables that are in use. You will learn their effect on the gross profit. The approach used to derive the price points based on skill sets, job degree of difficulty and frequency, will be explained in detail.

When performing repairs and maintenance the employee needs to understand the impact that their work makes on the profitability of the department and in fact, on the dealership as a whole. This class provides all of that.

CWI: Service Activity Based Management

The use of activity-based management as a management tool, has been relatively recent in our Industry. It was an unintended consequence of the work of Edward Deming, in Japan, and allows dealerships to review activities in a different manner. The use of the sales per employee implies a series of activities and relationships to our work that relies on historical approaches and does not take into account the opportunities to reinvent the operations of the department.

Our business is based on satisfying customer requirements. In order to be able to satisfy these needs we must better utilize technology and information in better and different manners. In many cases organizational transformation, has rarely been done without the attendant review on process effectiveness and market coverage methods.

This program will expose a series of thoughts that will allow the learner to be better able to evaluate the processes and methods in use today. The business world has been inundated with various “new” thinking approaches. This is Industrial Engineering at its’ root which morphed into the Continuous Improvement Movement, to Kaizen, then Six Sigma and finally the 5 S approach today. Each of these approaches is married to financial reporting which allows a more comprehensive review of all we do from an activity-based perspective. You will never regret taking this class.

CWI: Service Art of the Possible

The work in a Service Business within the Construction Equipment Industry is complex and filled with details. It is within this environment that our employees work day in and day out. These people who I call your “heroes” are the warriors that make your business a success.

The technicians have a forward workload that leaves little room for inefficiency or ineffectiveness. In the shop or the field whether for repair or maintenance or rebuilds the work never ends. Your “heroes” do incredible work keeping up with this activity. They work in difficult working conditions, they deal with specialized equipment and tooling, they do inspections, prepare equipment for sale and make ready equipment for rent and lease. They get to the end of the day and take a deep breathe to indicate that they made it through another day. They deal with the Art of the Possible every single day.

In this class we will explore the major pillars that comprise your business; Buildings, Inventory, People, Technology, Purchasing and Employee Development. We will then apply and show you how to apply the Art of the Possible.

CWI: Service Change

Dealing with change is one of the biggest challenges we face in our lives. It will also be one of the largest challenges you face in creating value for customers and remain relevant in the supply chain. Jack Welsh is famous for saying “When the world around you is changing faster than you are…. the end is near.

Look around. Look what has happened in only just the past two decades; Cell Phones, Smart Appliances, Artificial Intelligence to name just a few. Look also at the changes in the equipment we support; computerization of componentry, telematics, etc. Now look at your business internally. What changes have you made in how you do things? This program covers all of these issues.

It is critical that we know how to lead through these periods of rapid change. We have to be able to communicate effectively. What are we doing? Why are we doing it? And how we get everyone committed to these changes is covered in detail in this comprehensive class.

Managers must understand how to engage their team, and lead the business, through change. You will learn how to effectively manage change, become consistent in identifying and resolving critical change issues and innovating in how you do the work and find new and different ways to grow is covered in detail. Don’t miss this important class.

CWI: Service Leadership

The management and supervision in business is in many cases misunderstood. You manage process but you have to lead people. Often, we get consumed by our need to improve our processes. Since the 1980’s with the “Japanese” continuous improvement movement we have been obsessed with eliminating non-value added, tasks and processes. But what have we done to inspire management to improve their ability to lead their employees.?

Leadership is a complicated function. It involves compassion, courage, trust, integrity, commitment, loyalty, inspiration, and communication. A true leader will take people to places that they would not have gone to on their own. This program explores the true meaning of leadership and talks about differing leadership styles and their impact on performance.

Leadership has to ensure that the day to day operations are performing and at the same time they must focus on the future. They also have to understand and accept how important managing change is to improvement. They have to be able to look at their businesses with “fresh eyes” to ensure that they can identify and eliminate their “sacred cows.” This is a critical class for anyone in a leadership position.

CWI: Service Balanced Scorecard

In the service business we communicate with the marketplace in a variety of methods. We deal with various systems, manually and technologically. We have a responsibility to serve and retain customers while at the same time we have to make money for the business. This is a complicated business.

To assist us in managing the business and help us implement our company strategy we use a business tool that is called the “Balanced Scorecard.” The Balanced Scorecard was developed in the 1990s, designed for use in the planning and implementation of a company’s strategy. The scorecard looks at your business from four directions; finance, internal, innovation and customer. From this vantage point the company can develop a strategy as part of their operating plan.  These plans are meant to help a company achieve its goals.  If a plan cannot be agreed upon and effectively executed, a business cannot effectively reach its goals.

In this class, you will learn the ins and outs of this valuable tool, and the costs we pay in our business when we fail to execute our plans for success in our market.

CWI: Service What’s Your Why

It is of critical importance to be able to communicate effectively. In order to be able to communicate effectively means being clear. Clarity is all about understanding and acceptance of what it is that we do and the context within the Company. Many people can tell us what they do. Some people can even tell us how they do it. But people struggle with telling us why they do it.

The answer to the question “what do you do,” is not simply the same as describing your job function. It is much more than that. This also takes into consideration the culture of the business. Each of us has to be clear on the direction of the market, of your company within the market, and how each of us can impact that. This program explores how we can have more clarity in our communications with each other in the course of our day job.

The “What you do” question is the key point here. This class discusses the who we serve in our jobs, why we do it, and significantly what we create in performing our important work. What value do you bring to your work?

CWI: Service Maintenance Programs

Everyone knows about the repair and rebuild business. That is where the excitement is for technical people. In the product support business, we have two major goals: reduce the owning and operating costs for the machine owner, and protect the residual value of the machine. The first step to understanding how to reduce owning and operating costs is to understand the importance of the maintenance service recommended by the OEM. Most customers view maintenance as the necessary evil of changing fluids and filters. There is much more to it than that. How to develop a maintenance program to reduce those operating costs is the theme in this program.

There is a fundamental conflict that has to be dealt with in the labor management group. Maintenance is boring, anyone can do it. In fact the OEM dealer has less than 6.5% of the maintenance market. Nearly 90% of the maintenance is done by a customer mechanic. Yet survey data indicates that nearly 90% of the customers would give the maintenance business to the dealership if their price was less than what the customer currently pays.

This program will discuss the methods and processes to follow in order to be able to meet that price and performance need.