LWS: Parts & Service Marketing CSA (ENG)

With the distribution networks supporting construction equipment becoming even more dependent on absorption and contribution margins we have recognized the critical nature of comprehensive and current marketing information. The Dealer Management Systems now offer comprehensive call reporting, machine population and all of the attendant reporting structures on market potential and market capture. The Sales Function requires very strong parts and service marketing.

The comprehensive skills assessment covers all of the topics and subject matter required in the course of performing the parts and service marketing job function. In assessing this position, we have taken all of the classes involved in selling and marketing and created a skills assessment. We have taken the 900 questions, from the pretest and final assessment, from all of the classes offered for Marketing and Selling. We have taken all of these questions and boiled them down to ninety essential questions. Each question has an answer within a multiple-choice selection.

The results from the CSA, Comprehensive Skills Assessment, categorize the skills and knowledge of the individual being assessed, into one of our four levels of accomplishment: Developing, Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced.

These assessments can be used, in conjunction with background checks and interviews, to screen applicants before they are hired. They should also be used in the annual performance review with each employee. They can even be used as a foundation piece of information related to the wages and salaries paid to the employees. Finally, and this is the genesis of the creation of the comprehensive assessment skills, the assessment has been developed to be used to create a specific employee development program for each employee in the parts and service business teams.

LWS: Electrical Auditor CSA (ENG)

The men and women in the electrical audit team are routinely confronted by on-the-job challenges due to a myriad of complexities and safety considerations involved. These ever-changing challenges have reached a point where the skills and knowledge of employees now make a critical difference in developing and maintaining electrical systems. The challenges electrical auditors face includes, but are not limited to: ensuring safety, accessing areas, identifying hidden issues, interpreting technical data, timing constraints, effectively communicating and documenting workflow, and keeping abreast of new technologies.

To address these challenges, the Comprehensive Skills Assessment or CSA covers all electrical subject matter required in the course of performing an electrical audit. In assessing this position, we have taken all of the classes involved in the electrical business and created a job assessment questionnaire. More than 900 questions from the pretest and final assessment of all classes were boiled down to one-hundred essential multiple-choice, true/false, and yes/no questions comprising the CSA.

The results from the CSA categorize the skills and knowledge of the individual being assessed into one of our four levels of accomplishment: Developing, Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced. These assessments can be used, in conjunction with background checks and interviews, to screen applicants before they are hired.

The genesis of the CSA has been to enable employers to create a specific employee development program for each employee in the electrical audit team. In addition, it can be used in the annual performance review for each employee. It can even be used as a foundation piece of information related to wages and salaries for the electrical systems audit team.

LWS: Shop Floor Scheduling WDC (ENG)

Our 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, and outside purchases all are involved. This program will help you learn how to establish and manage shop schedules. To date, in most surveys on customer attitudes, customers 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 program 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 that 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, then the schedule is intact. If the answer is no – that will be dealt with in this program.

HCC: Marketing Basic Finance (ENG)

Before we can be of any value to anyone else we have to be of value to ourselves. That is an old adage, but it still rings true. Ignorance is not knowing what to do. How can we know what to do if we don’t understand basic finance? This is especially true within the labor business, where the technicians look at their hourly wage and compare it to the labor rate charged to the customer.

We will expose and explain all aspects of the operating statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow forecast. These are the three major documents in the world of finance. We will define and describe all of the terms the accountants use. There will be no mystery to basic finance when we are finished. We will explain cost of sales and what it consists of, as well as all of the various expense elements. Personnel Expenses, Operating Expenses, and Fixed Expenses are discussed so that everyone will be able to understand and accept how and why money is spent and how we make it.

The fundamentals of basic finance have been a mystery for too many people for far too long, especially in the labor business. This program gets past that so that the employees in a parts business will understand the effect of each of their decisions.

HCC: Service Leadership WDC (ENG)

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.

HCC: Parts Basic Inventory Control WDC (ENG)

Have we completed the transformation of the inventory from being managed by people to being controlled by systems? This program will reintroduce the fundamentals of Inventory Control so that everyone can understand why we have the parts we have, and don’t have the parts we don’t have. In the market today, customers are demanding more service from suppliers, and suppliers are shrinking assets at the same time. That is quite a contradiction and one which is impossible to explain without knowledge of the subject. How do we expect the customer contact personnel to be able to serve customers without understanding Inventory Management? This class solves that problem.

The basics of order point and order quantity theory will be discussed and explained in a style that is simple and clear. Lead times, order costs and carrying charges will be exposed and details given as to their content. The fundamental metrics to employ to maintain control of the performance from the inventory rules in the dealer business system will also be covered.

Finally, the Backorder Analysis function will be described in detail such that the participants can proceed from the webinar to the operation and conduct this analysis to determine what it is that is causing backorders and what they should do about it. The program will provide you with the understanding and tools necessary to manage a parts inventory more effectively.

LWS: Service Work Order Process WDC (ENG)

The core function within every Service Department is the work order process. Despite that, little attention seems to have been given to this most important function. During this program we will take you through the complete process from the “Service Request” up to and including the Invoicing of the finished job. The process is not complicated, but there are a lot of details which, if mishandled, will not satisfy either the customer or the dealership.

The only group within an equipment dealership that allows a business to differentiate itself from the competition in the market is the Service Department. Yet the typical dealership leaves the Service Department and the dealer business system to establish the methods to be used. This program addresses the complete process from labor posting to outside purchases, from ordering parts to returning them, from introducing the structure of the job to the scheduling of work. We will address them all.

The individual elements will be covered in complete detail in further programs but the basic structure to employ will be detailed in this session. You will be able to return to your work and review how your structure relates to these “Best Practices,” and begin the transformation of the department from a place where repairs and maintenance are performed to a productive, high quality, and safe service shop. This is the type of work order process that attracts talented people to work within it, and retains the customers who use it.

LWS: Service Work Order Process (ENG)

The core function within every Service Department is the work order process. Despite that, little attention seems to have been given to this most important function. During this program we will take you through the complete process from the “Service Request” up to and including the Invoicing of the finished job. The process is not complicated, but there are a lot of details which, if mishandled, will not satisfy either the customer or the dealership.

The only group within an equipment dealership that allows a business to differentiate itself from the competition in the market is the Service Department. Yet the typical dealership leaves the Service Department and the dealer business system to establish the methods to be used. This program addresses the complete process from labor posting to outside purchases, from ordering parts to returning them, from introducing the structure of the job to the scheduling of work. We will address them all.

The individual elements will be covered in complete detail in further programs but the basic structure to employ will be detailed in this session. You will be able to return to your work and review how your structure relates to these “Best Practices,” and begin the transformation of the department from a place where repairs and maintenance are performed to a productive, high quality, and safe service shop. This is the type of work order process that attracts talented people to work within it, and retains the customers who use it.

LWS: Service What’s Your Why WDC (ENG)

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?

LWS: Service What’s Your Why (ENG)

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?