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.

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.

The parts and service businesses within the construction equipment Industries has never had a precise method to calculate the share of the labor market for a specific brand. To some degree this has allowed the service business to operate without a critical performance measure being in place.

This program married the market potential, which is covered in another class, with the actual sales for a dealership for a specific brand. The market potential model allows a dealer to calculate the potential consumption of labor on specific machines. That, together with the actual service sales, allows a calculation to be done arithmetically that determines the percentage of a customer business obtained by a dealer.

This class provides a detailed methodology to calculate the share of the market the dealer obtains. This is the market capture rate that the dealer obtains in the labor business. Ideally, we would be able to perform this calculation by machine model.

Similarly, we touch on the “mean time to failure (MTF)” statistics provided by the OEM’s for their products. With territory potential, market capture we can drive market coverage methods which with the MTF the sales force can be targeting customer needs in a timely manner. This program covers all the details and methods required to perform the calculations required to measure market capture.

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.

The only way to position your parts business is to provide customers with something they value.  The fundamental principles of customer value are to offer something the customer wants and needs and to provide that offering better than your competition can.

This class provides methods and a road map to follow in developing a strategy. We identify three key strategies for enhancing customer value. Companies focus on being: Better – through the provision of superior quality and service. Faster – sensing and meeting changing customer requirements more quickly than others. Closer – creating durable linkages and even partnership with channel members and customers.

This program takes you more deeply into operational excellence offers customers good pricing as well as convenience and reliability. Then we examine product leadership which is the result of superior product performance. Finally, customer intimacy which utilizes “micro” marketing techniques. These strategies for providing customer value indicate the importance of the marketing focus in overall strategic planning. Customer value offers a way to gain strategic advantage over competitors and to differentiate the company’s products or services.

Communications is the critical element to successful implementation of a strategy for the parts business. The final emphasis of this class is to ensure that the strategy is effectively communicated to all employees so that they will be committed to executing the strategy.

The sales process is complicated. With professional selling, we know the methods and the processes. We have an assigned sales territory, and we are responsible for market penetration and market share. But all of that is put in jeopardy if the salesman does not know how to handle the objections that the customer might present.

This is an element of the presentation class. However, because of the importance of overcoming objections, we are going to deal with them exclusively in this program. How these objections are handled can make the difference between a sales success and a failure. This program deals with the methods to employ: the “how to” of overcoming objections. In the sales process, typically you are looking for an order, or at least a positive outcome of the sales call. In order to achieve that outcome it has to be understood that the customer has to learn about what it is that you are selling. In many cases, an objection is simply an indication that the customer does not have enough information yet to make an informed decision.

From keeping your cool, to making the objection specific, and providing compensating factors, everything about the “how to” overcome an objection is exposed. You can’t afford to run the risk of losing a sale by missing this important program.

Customer loyalty is crucial when it comes to your success in your business. In the midst of managing the parts business for the highest levels of customer loyalty, we often overlook the profitability of the parts business.

The profits provided by the parts business goes to cover the expenses and costs of operating the business. This is the contribution of profit to the business. This is all very straightforward, of course. But where we all clearly understand the contribution of profit to the business, absorption is something that is less clear.

In the 1950s, the model of Absorption was developed as a way of managing profits and expenses in the parts business. This important class offers clarity in the financial aspects of a fiscally healthy parts business, and how it positively impacts the overall strength of the dealership.

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.

A new reality is approaching.  By now, everyone has been affected by “telemarketing.” Customers and consumers are starting to resist it. That is clear from the laws that are being presented and passed.  Customers want service, and they want customer service calls.  As a result, the rules that are set forth for your telemarketing program should emphasize your wish to have an effective telemarketing program to provide your customer base with high quality customer service. It can be as simple as a word. That word is tele-selling.

Each person has an aura, a reputation in the company or in the market.  This presence is a function of many things: knowledge, personality, the quality of voice, the intangibles of attitude.  It is the feeling of trust that the customer has in the person on the other end of the telephone.  This is a condition that is earned and achieved.  It is not something that can be mandated.

In telephone selling the customer either has called with the need or you are calling to see if there is a need. Yet now we confront the dilemma. Rarely, if ever, has anybody provided training on tele-selling.  This program will provide you with an outline – an approach – to use when selling on the telephone.  This class will provide you with a plan and a structure, and with this structure your tele-selling future can get off to a successful start.

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.