Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/330408
Time for a GAP Analysis How can we take advantage of the opportunities if we aren't ready? Last column, I talked about wanting to change the game, not just compete. Now I suggest we need to identify our strengths and weaknesses. This is a pretty common exercise. But I want to put a different twist on it this time. Let's look for the GAPS in our offerings. (aka Good, Average, Poor) I want to start with what our customers want from us. What are they interested in? AED's Product Support Opportunities Handbook probes and reveals this, in-depth. Obviously, the No. 1 issue in parts is availability. And in service, the PSOH survey indicated that responsive- ness was of primary concern. So how do you do in addressing these two elements? Parts availability is not over-the- counter service levels. It is how long the customer has to wait before they get everything they ordered. It is about expediting and purchasing. How do you rate in this regard? Do you know how long it takes before you have supplied 100 percent of the parts on every order for every customer? That is the first problem isn't it? That is the first GAP point. Some of you might not think this is all that important to the customer, so I suggest you ask them. It is their primary concern and I don't think we do a very good job at it. I learned a powerful lesson early in my career when an engine was starting to fail in the high Arctic and we needed to get parts to fix it. The president of the company told me that I could give him 99 percent of all the parts he ordered, but if the 1 percent that I didn't supply kept his machine down I had, in effect, given him 0 percent. It was an important lesson for me. So I have two questions to ask. First, do we have the right people with the right skills in the right places to execute on our strategies in the parts department? Second, are there changes necessary in the use of tech- nology, tools and training to be able to execute our strategies? Simple questions, but the answers are much more complicated. For responsiveness in the service department we have a different situation. Lost time is a critical measure. Labor efficiency and billing efficiency are common measures. I don't know many service departments where a tally is made on the "lost" work on a daily basis. You know what I mean, don't you? A customer calls and needs work done and asks when you can get to his machine in the field. Or asks when you can start on a job in the shop. You tell them and they thank you and go somewhere else. That's the message I want to send to you. We excuse ourselves with the internal metrics of efficiencies and if we don't have a high enough result we let people go. We create more competitors in the market. We do this because we aren't allowed to have surplus inventory of what we sell in service. The inventory we sell is labor hours and we aren't allowed to have any surplus. Every other department that sells something is allowed surplus inventory. Machines that have birth- days, rental fleets with 30 percent of the machines not rented, parts inven- tories with no sales on more than 30 percent of the invested dollars. Yet with service, we aren't allowed lost time (time we can't bill) of more than 2 percent. Imagine that! A customer calls and we can't respond in a timely manner and they go elsewhere and it is alright as long as the lost time is not more than 2 percent. So I want to ask the same two questions, this time of the service organization: (1.) Do we have the right people with the right skills in the right places to execute our strategies in the service department? (2.) Are there changes necessary in the use of technology, tools and training to be able to execute our strategies? Simple questions, but the answers are still very complicated. Let's focus on growth. Let's start being the preferred supplier for equip- ment parts and service in our trading area because of performance. Let's have the right number of the right people in the right places at the right time for customer service. Let's invest in technology and tools and training for growth and customer satisfaction. It is time to get the Product Support Opportunities Handbook and spend time reading it and studying what it is the customers are telling us. The time is now. (aednet.org/psoh) RON SLEE (ron@rjslee.com) is the founder of R.J. Slee & Associates, Rancho Mirage, Calif., celebrating more than 30 years in business in the United States, a consulting firm that specializes in dealership operations. Ron also operates Quest Learning Centers, a company that provides training services specializing in product support, and Insight (M&R) Institute, a company that operates and facilitates "Dealer Twenty" Groups. Fol- low Ron on Twitter: @RonSlee; and read his blog at learningwithoutscars.com. BY RON SLEE Aftermarket June 2014 | Construction Equipment Distribution | ZZZFHGPDJFRP| 57