The Balanced Scorecard
If you design your Dealership from the customer perspective you will win.
In the management training we offer through Quest, Learning Centers, Inc. we offer varying levels of management development. In our Unit II classes for both Parts and Service we use the Balanced Scorecard as one of the main pillars of the learning.
The Balanced Scorecard has been around as a business tool since the 1990’s and was developed at Harvard Business School. It became very prominent as a management tool in the Heavy Equipment Industry late in the 90’s and early in the 00’s. We introduced our version in the late 90’s and have updated it twice since. Our approach is slightly different than the method taught at Harvard in that we start from the customer focus rather than the financial focus they use academically.
I believe that your employees will work harder to satisfy a customer need than they will to satisfy a management need – I very strongly believe this to be true. As a result of this belief I start the Balanced Scorecard discussion from the perspective of what does the customer need or want. Not what WE think they want but what they factually want to receive from dealerships.
We obtain this information from surveys and customer interviews. I usually suggest that dealers initiate a “Voice of the Customer” program that will ask customers the same question for one week and do this once a month. Each time a customer is communicating with an employee they are asked a question, the same question all week long. The question could be related to a special program or hours of service, it is dependent exclusively on what the dealership wants to know. At the end of the week the answers are compiled and you will have a list of five or ten most common answers to your question. Then you have something to work with on developing solutions to the needs of your customer.
If you know the needs and wants of your customers then will know what you need to excel at in your business. That is the second step in the Balanced Scorecard – Internal Excellence. The customer tells you what they want and then you need to design the solutions. This is the internal excellence portion of the Scorecard and it covers processes, forms, methods and whatever is required to excel at the internal process that will satisfy the customer need. This is the beginning of wonderful solutions for your customers and satisfaction for your employees because there will need to be additional steps in the Scorecard to satisfy the internal excellence requirements. This is the Third Step in the Balanced Scorecard – Innovation.
If you know what you need to excel at internally then you will know what tools, technology and training is required to excel. This is your investment in the business. Providing the training for your employees and the tooling and technology required so that they can satisfy the customer needs and wants by excelling at what they do.
It is reasonably simple isn’t it? If you do this; ask for customer input on their needs and wants, from those needs determine how you can excel, and importantly what training, technology, and tools you need to provide to your employees.
If you do this you will achieve all the growth and profits you want. That is part of the curriculum in Unit II. Your Parts and Service Management should not miss this important class and learn, amongst the other important learning subjects, how to stay ahead of the competition. The time is now.
Words of Wisdom #10 from a wise man Thanks Bill
Wordsof Wisdom #10
We must always remember Kipling
If you can keep your head when all around you are losing theirs
and blaming it on you…… you’ll be a man my son
June Management Training
The Balanced Scorecard
If you design your Dealership from the customer perspective you will win.
In the management training we offer through Quest, Learning Centers, Inc. we offer varying levels of management development. In our Unit II classes for both Parts and Service we use the Balanced Scorecard as one of the main pillars of the learning.
The Balanced Scorecard has been around as a business tool since the 1990’s and was developed at Harvard Business School. It became very prominent as a management tool in the Heavy Equipment Industry late in the 90’s and early in the 00’s. We introduced our version in the late 90’s and have updated it twice since. Our approach is slightly different than the method taught at Harvard in that we start from the customer focus rather than the financial focus they use academically.
I believe that your employees will work harder to satisfy a customer need than they will to satisfy a management need – I very strongly believe this to be true. As a result of this belief I start the Balanced Scorecard discussion from the perspective of what does the customer need or want. Not what WE think they want but what they factually want to receive from dealerships.
We obtain this information from surveys and customer interviews. I usually suggest that dealers initiate a “Voice of the Customer” program that will ask customers the same question for one week and do this once a month. Each time a customer is communicating with an employee they are asked a question, the same question all week long. The question could be related to a special program or hours of service, it is dependent exclusively on what the dealership wants to know. At the end of the week the answers are compiled and you will have a list of five or ten most common answers to your question. Then you have something to work with on developing solutions to the needs of your customer.
If you know the needs and wants of your customers then will know what you need to excel at in your business. That is the second step in the Balanced Scorecard – Internal Excellence. The customer tells you what they want and then you need to design the solutions. This is the internal excellence portion of the Scorecard and it covers processes, forms, methods and whatever is required to excel at the internal process that will satisfy the customer need. This is the beginning of wonderful solutions for your customers and satisfaction for your employees because there will need to be additional steps in the Scorecard to satisfy the internal excellence requirements. This is the Third Step in the Balanced Scorecard – Innovation.
If you know what you need to excel at internally then you will know what tools, technology and training is required to excel. This is your investment in the business. Providing the training for your employees and the tooling and technology required so that they can satisfy the customer needs and wants by excelling at what they do.
It is reasonably simple isn’t it? If you do this; ask for customer input on their needs and wants, from those needs determine how you can excel, and importantly what training, technology, and tools you need to provide to your employees.
If you do this you will achieve all the growth and profits you want. That is part of the curriculum in Unit II. Your Parts and Service Management should not miss this important class and learn, amongst the other important learning subjects, how to stay ahead of the competition. The time is now.
A question please
Has anyone had any experience with GoToMeeting or GoToWebinar on the video side?
With GoToMeeting you can have six images on the screen with live video and fifteen participants. With GoToWebinar you can have 1,000 participants and still just six video.
I would appreciate any help you can offer. Thank you. The time is now…
Last Weekend of April
I hope everyone enjoys some down time and refreshes.
Next week begins May. The stock market adage is sell in May and go away. We don’t have that choice do we? We have to continue to attempt to excel at what we do. Good luck to all of you and have a great weekend. The time is now….
Friday Filosophy #9
You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.
Lucille Ball
You can’t live a perfect life without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
John Wooden
To get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with.
Mark Twain
Updates
We will be updating the web site in the next few days to better coordinate updates on the site, on the blog, and on twitter. We appreciate and thank you for your interest in all of the media that we use and hope that we can continue to pique your interest and your thinking and invite the continued diverse comments you send to us. The time is now.
Selling Skills Part Five
After setting objectives for each and every customer for each commodity and service program you are well on your way to selling success. The plan then would be to set up times and schedules for achieving each of your objectives. This takes us to the meetings with your customers. How do you get them to buy your products? That leads us to our next step in the sales process.
3 Asking Questions
Alright you are in front of the customer. You have identified a specific subject for the call. You have a purpose. You are talking with the customer about the product or service. It is at this point in time that the sales function becomes active. You have two ears and one mouth so that you can listen more than you talk. But your customer is not talking. What do you do now? Well it is simple isn’t it? You start asking questions.
You need to get your customer talking so the kinds of question you are asking are very important. They have to be open ended questions. You know the ones. They cannot be answered with a yes or no answer. They require that the customer explain their answer or talk about it. During this time they will expose their biases and the concerns so that you can adapt your responses to their comments or thoughts. You have to arouse the interest of the customer and then you must adapt your presentation to their response. This is the hallmark of successful sales people.
The time is now…..
Books in the Bin
Hi I will be writing a seeries of books in the coming years on subjects near and dear to my heart.
Several of you have commented that books would be more of interest than a monetized blog.
parts
Service
Product Support Selling
Marketing
management
A Thought
I would appreciate some help and direction please.
I am thinking about initiating a blog specifically on the Parts Business Group, another one on the Service Business Group, and finally one on the Product Support Sales & Marketing Group.
I would like to have any comments on thoughts on this approach.
I will monetize each blog with a modest fee per writing or an annual subscription. Each writing would be in the range of 1000 words and would cover in more depth the key operational and management aspects of each of the three subject areas.
Thanks in advance for your help and I look forward ro hearing from you.
Ron