MCE: Marketing Market Capture (ENG)

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

This program married the market potential, that we cover 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 parts on specific machines. That, together with the actual parts 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 parts business. Ideally, we would be able to perform this calculation by machine model. Unfortunately, we do not get the model and serial number for each parts sale.

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.

MCE: Marketing Market Strategy (ENG)

The only way to position your labor 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 labor 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 labor 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.

MCE: Marketing Overcoming Objections (ENG)

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.

MCE: Marketing Parts Making Money (ENG)

With everything that goes on in a parts 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 store the parts and have space for the people. We need to make money to be able to provide the most current equipment and training to provide effective and efficient labor.

This program provides you with the understanding of the costs of operating the parts business. It exposes you to the means and methods of how to make money. From understanding how the parts pricing systems work. How the prices are structured and the variables and how they are calculated. You will learn their effect on the gross profit. The approach used to derive the price point is based on sales activity, prices and the companies and products with which we must work and compete.

When selling parts, or processing orders, 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 while. This class provides all of that.

MCE: Marketing Parts Pricing (ENG)

Your price is a marketing tool, but most of you don’t use it that way. How often have we heard that “your price is too high” or “I can get it down the street for less?” How well customer contact personnel respond to these and other comments about your prices is critically important to your success. The price points you use should be a product of your need to make money and the competitive nature of your marketplace.

Over the years dealers have applied a methodology called “matrix pricing.” This approach started in the 1970’s and it still continues today, well beyond its useful life. We will explain how it works and we will also expose the “new” realities in price theory for the parts business.  We will look into the new approach of applying an “array” of variables to develop a selling price: activity, price, competitiveness, and inventory risk. This four element array leads to several thousand mark ups designed to allow the dealer to attach a price that will be competitive, while at the same time produce an overall gross profit that allows the Company to maintain the profit required to sustain itself.

Learning the impact of a discount on your business is a critical aspect of defending your price. This class will teach you how to see the impact on gross profit and net profit. Learning how to respond to price objections and overcome them is a principle that is important to understand, and is discussed in this webinar. This program will be beneficial for anyone in the parts business that is touching customers with the responsibility for selling or customer service.

MCE: Marketing Preparation (ENG)

Everyone everywhere sells. That is a truth that is little understood. We sell ideas at work and we sell manners at home. There are many things that we sell over the course of our lives. Sales personnel sell for a living, and the skills that they have as individuals are enhanced when they know the proper tools and methods involved in being a professional salesman.

All of the various steps in selling are discussed in this program which is the first of two parts. This part deals with the set-up of the selling process: the research, the objectives, and the questions that need to be asked. There is a lot of work that goes into being a professional salesman and it starts with research. This is not dramatic or exciting work, but it is necessary. What the research needs to cover is discussed in detail. With each and every customer there needs to be objectives. These goals and objectives will take on many forms: from calls to parts business, to service business, to profitability. Finally, in selling everyone knows about the “talking” aspect of selling but more important is the “listening” part of it. In order to get the customer talking, the professional salesman must know what type of question to ask and how to ask it.

Selling is much more a science than an art and this first part covers the first three elements necessary in becoming a professional salesman.

MCE: Marketing Presentation (ENG)

The second part of the “becoming a professional salesman” series continues from the first part. All of the various steps in selling are discussed in this webinar, which is the second of two parts. This part deals with the discussions with the customer during the selling process: explaining the benefits, meeting the objections, and closing the sale. This requires that a lot of skills be present. This is where the salesman earns his money by proving to the customer that what he is selling is what the customer wants and needs. A good salesman does not sell anything – the customer buys from them.

Understanding the importance of product knowledge, the features and benefits of all the products and services at hand, and being able to deal with any objections that might come back from the customer are the core of the sales process. The final result is a sale, yet closing the sale is not as straightforward as it seems.

This second part of professional selling covers the final elements necessary to obtain the business. Without obtaining the business, the benefits of having professional salesmen covering the marketplace are lost.

MCE: Marketing Balanced Scorecard (ENG)

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.

MCE: Marketing Basic Finance WDC (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.

MCE: Marketing Basics (ENG)

In this Basic Marketing class, we explore a broadly misunderstood sector of business. It is much more than mailings, promotions, and tradeshows. It is all of the aspects involved in influencing the customer to purchase your products or services.

Marketing is the science of choosing target markets through the use of market analysis and segmentation. This class exposes all aspects of marketing: Relationship Marketing, Business Marketing, Social Marketing and Internal Marketing. In Relationship Marketing, we focus on suppliers and customers, and the goal is to build loyalty. The Business Marketing is all aspects of the traditional marketing functions: advertising, promotion and communications. Social Marketing looks at everything that impacts society. For instance, the impact on the environment from the use of clean engine technology. Internal Marketing, is the broad communications to all employees of everything that we are doing in the business.

This program covers all the basics of marketing: from the four P’s to the more current addition of SIVA. We expose you to everything involved in basic marketing theory today. Without creating the environment where your product or service is understood, you make the job of selling much more difficult. This program aims to provide you with the tools to use to make selling more successful.