Many of you already know of my requirement for an inspection prior to any work being performed on equipment needing repairs.
The customer makes known to us what they have as their complaint. This reasonably standard operating procedures. They call or come in and tell us what they want done. Many of you also know that I draw a comparison between the medical community and the equipment repair community. We at the dealership are the doctor and the machine is the patient.
The diagnostic inspection necessary to determine the “cause” of the complaint is similar to the blood work and vital signs that the doctor will require of you prior to making any determination of the treatment necessary to “correct” your complaint. They will be seeking out hte cause.
Once we have the cause of the complaint the correction is the easy part. The time is now…
Diagnostics
Many of you already know of my requirement for an inspection prior to any work being performed on equipment needing repairs.
The customer makes known to us what they have as their complaint. This reasonably standard operating procedures. They call or come in and tell us what they want done. Many of you also know that I draw a comparison between the medical community and the equipment repair community. We at the dealership are the doctor and the machine is the patient.
The diagnostic inspection necessary to determine the “cause” of the complaint is similar to the blood work and vital signs that the doctor will require of you prior to making any determination of the treatment necessary to “correct” your complaint. They will be seeking out hte cause.
Once we have the cause of the complaint the correction is the easy part. The time is now…
On Further Consideration – Europe.
It appears the markets watched… reacted…. adjusted…. and now have studied. The results continue to erode.
Greece seems to be ready to leave the Eurozone and French Socialists will be disappointed when Hollande bows to the inevitable and restores austerity with a different perfume. Bernanke is on record now telling Congress to pay attention to the Congressional Budget Office. he also nots there projections are too optimistic regarding growth in the economy.
Maybe the adults are starting to return to the room. The time is now…
Product Support Selling
We are considering bringing back the Product Support Selling Programs in 2013. Does anyone in the United States or Canada have an interest in these programs?
Service Strategies
The service department is a much misunderstood group of highly skilled prefessionals. One of these days they will get the appreication they deserve but in the meantime we need to continue to raise the bar on their performance and image.
One of the methods we could use would be to track quality. each week that goes by with a 100% quality record should be noted and celebrated. I am not sure you truly understand that the work that is done is exceptionally high quality and the service warranty or employee redo levels are extremely low. Start to track it and publish it. Just like a safety record put it on the wall. Keep a running total of the number of weeks without a quality failure. You will be pleased when you see the results as the number will keep going higher and higher. The time is now.
Proactive Parts Programs
So let’s start the week properly.
For your parts business. Each and every customer phone call or customer counter visit we should be asking two questions. Every time.
With the model and serial number we can update the machine population records which we will discuss later and with the answer on who is doing the work for you we will know more about our competition. The time is now…
Germany Step 1
Merkel’s party lost a significant portion of their vote. Their junior partner did better than expected but not enough to secure a coalition majority. The real test will be on the 13th. The time is now.
A Greek Tragedy
Well the early returns indicate that both parties that led the country back from the brink with austerity and international bailouts are being punished and that there will be no clear winner in the election today. This will cause further turmoil. Isn’t that what is needed now? Not.
We are witnessing a “New Reality” which I believe is equally significant as was the Industrial Revolution. Shifting demographics and shifting economic stories are leaving politicians in the unwelcome position of have to deal with the truth of their past sins. It is interesting that we are all being bought with our own money (albeit it borrowed) at the polling booths. The past several decades labelled as the most successful in human history have brought great successes to a much broader segment of society but it appears as if it has all been done with smoke and mirrors in an unsustainable fashion. But that is clearly above my pay grade and not within my realm of expertise. The time is now.
Tempting Conclusion
In the absence of a clear decisive leadship people will do what they think is the right thing.
Bennis says that “good leaders are not outsiders who cheer on a group. They are part of that group, integrated deeply into its fabric and emotional life.” This might give some insight on France. “Someone who views himslef as an outsider or as above other members of the group can almost never succeed as a leader.” Going further he says “If there isn’t a deep connection, a real fit, the group will either eject the leader or destroy itself in the attempt.” Interesting thoughts for the times. The time is now…
France Decides – One down five to go
We will be embarking on potentially a new direction involving more spending and more debt. I wonder how the markets will react. The time is now.
Book of the Week Follow Up Comment
Alex Rogo goes through a radical transformation in operations in order to succeed. The keys are reporting criteria in use. The definitions of the goals and objectives and the tracking mechanisms. Many times our measures lead us astray. This is true with all KPI’s (Key Performance Measures) and everything used in Dashboard management Tools. care must be taken in defining and describing that which we are measuring and ensuring that the data used is consistent with Industry standards. The time is now…