LWS: Parts Standards of Performance

What does it looks like when it is right? Performance in a Parts Department must maximize productivity, manage assets, and satisfy customers.  The first step to understanding and accepting what needs to be done is to have meaningful, measureable and achievable standards. How to develop your own standards and yet continue to reach for excellence is the theme in this class.

Individual employees want to do a good job, yet many do not know what doing a good job entails. This is a fundamental requirement of good management: communicating performance expectations and measures to the employees. In this webinar we will cover the fundamentals exposed by Patrick Lencioni in his important book “The Three Signs of a Miserable Job.”  Anonymity, Irrelevance and Immeasureability are the three symptoms of this disease which leads to the “Sunday Blues.”

Each employee can also deliver more than they think they can, yet each is fundamentally lazy. Leadership methods to entice or motivate employees to deliver good performance for coworkers, customers and the Company will be discussed in this extremely important program.

LWS: Parts Best Practices

With standards of performance, we dealt with what it looks like when it is right. With Best Practices we aim for performance excellence. What is it that the most successful dealers are doing to achieve excellence? This is discussed in detail in this program to allow dealers to see optional approaches to processes and systems. From using the telephone as a sales tool, to inventory turnover; from customer retention, to sales per employee everything is discussed.

We cover all aspects of the processes required in a parts business: from dealer business systems, to telephone systems, to warehousing storage systems. People and system productivity and effectiveness are critical in any business today, but this is especially true within the equipment business where the gross margin on the prime products continue to erode. There are many aspects within a parts business that must be covered that can make a significant difference in either cost or market positioning, and which can make the business more competitive.

Process manuals – electronic or paper – and procedures, as well as training methods to employ become critical to the consistent delivery of excellent customer service. How to measure your success in the area of customer satisfaction as well as all operational processes becomes part of this program. Anyone interested in achieving the best possible level of performance within the parts business will gain insight from this class.

LWS: Parts Instore Merchandising

The days of your customers walking into your business have long since passed. This is truly a shame. Some thirty to forty years ago, we taught our customers that our inventory management meant that those parts that the customer wanted would not all be available when they came to our store. So they started to use the telephone and we didn’t see the customer in our store very much at all.

Yet it still continues to be true that you have an opportunity to create an interesting and successful retail store. This is the first step in becoming a retail operation. From Harley-Davidson to Ski-doo to Artic Cat, there are specialty suppliers that have made merchandising an art form. We will look into the successes in other Industries and how we can learn from them. The layout of your merchandising area, as well as the methods to keep it fresh and appealing, will go a long way to determining your success. All of this and much more will be covered in this content rich class.

Others dealerships and other Industries have turned this into a customer convenience and money making proposition. This is much more than just setting up shelves and displays. They have made the store a pleasing environment for both employees and customers. Learn the ins and outs of successful In-Store Merchandising with this comprehensive program.

LWS: Parts Pricing

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.

LWS: Parts Presentation

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.

LWS: Parts Teleselling

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.

LWS: Parts Art of the Possible

The work in a Parts 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.

They are overworked in many cases and the work comes in what is called “lumpy” demand patterns. There is a burst of activity first thing in the morning, then another smaller one just before lunch. Another small one just after lunch and a final rather large burst just before the end of the day. Your heroes do yeoman’s work keeping up with this activity. They work on the telephones, at the counter, they answer technical questions, process orders, stock the shelves and receive parts from vendors, other stores and your principal suppliers. 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.

LWS: Parts Purchasing and Expediting

When you have the part in stock you are the same as everyone else. The only part that matters is the one you don’t have in stock. The equipment and parts suppliers have made the ordering process so simple that we have lost sight of expediting and the purchasing function. If a machine is down, the customer wants the part now.

The first rule for a successful parts business is that the employees will not go home until every part that every customer or mechanic has ordered is either supplied, or the location from which it can be shipped is located. That doesn’t mean leaving it with a supplier that does not have the part on hand. This is expediting with a purpose, and we deal with what to do and how to do it to satisfy “Rule #1.”

Purchasing becomes the last resort in satisfying customer’s needs, as we will deal with the prospect that the part is not available in your supply chain. Finding alternate sources is not easy. Communicating with the customer on their options and penalties is even more challenging. All of the “in’s and out’s” of purchasing and the liabilities associated with supplying a part which is not from your original equipment manufacturer is discussed in detail.

Learn new methods to solve this age-old problem of finding every part that every customer or mechanic wants to have – the same day they want it – and doing that before you go home EVERY night: that is what is at stake in this important class.

LWS: Basic Electrical CSA

It is an exciting time to have a career in the electrical field. Electrification is being reimagined and updated with the latest technologies to enhance the way we live, work and play. Continuing education can prepare you for diverse roles in the electrical industry while keeping you on top of technological advancements and safety standards. Plus, continuing education is essential to remaining relevant, competitive and effective in your career. Let our accredited online training courses help achieve your career ambitions in the electrical industry today!

This comprehensive skills assessment covers all of the topics and subject matter required in the course of performing electrical tasks. In assessing this position, we have taken all of the classes involved in the electrical business and created a job assessment questionnaire. We have taken the over 900 questions, from the pretest and final assessment, from all of the classes offered. We have taken all of these questions and boiled them down to one-hundred essential questions. Each question has an answer within a multiple-choice selection, true/false, and yes/no.

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 electrical teams.

LWS: Electrical Evaluator CSA

The men and women in the electrical evaluation 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 evaluator 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 evaluation. 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 evaluation 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 evaluation team.