Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/91455
Aftermarket Committing to Completion Dates Customers don't trust our shops to deliver on time. BY RON SLEE Some time ago I heard our service shops called "black holes." I asked what was meant and the response I got troubled me. "You know, that place to which we send machines and we don't know how much the bill will be, and we have no idea when we will get the machine back." That is pretty strong stuff. Although I could hardly agree with the comment, I had trouble with it for some time. And I am afraid that, more often than not, it's correct. Last month I talked about Standard Times and Flat Rating as the pivotal points in both providing a quotation to a customer as well as providing a completion date. Don't forget, we are all consumers and we all want to know how much anything is going to cost before we give approval or make a purchase. Our customers call us with complaints about how their equip- ment is operating and they expect us to fix it. But they also expect a fixed price for the repair, not some esti- mate, and they expect a certain date of completion. We seem to do a better job providing a price but fail quite frequently when it comes to comple- tion dates. I think we can and must do a better job, and we must do it now. What gets in our way on providing completion dates and meeting them? The first thing is interruptions. There is not anything worse for sched- ules than interruptions. Nor is there anything worse for labor efficiency. We must do a better job controlling interruptions. Where do they come from? In some cases it is an organiza- tional problem – we have lead hands that still perform repairs while at the same time assisting other technicians with their work. They get interrupted all day long. Take one of your best technicians and make them the least efficient – not very smart, is it? The second most common cause of an interruption is another department. Can you just get this done for me now? Ever heard that one? Everyone should be subject to a schedule, even other departments. I know parts availability is an issue, but who ever heard of starting a job when you didn't have all the parts available? Not good service manage- ment; they should not schedule work that way. That brings me to the last point: We should schedule eight hours of labor every day. That means we will give work to technicians that we expect to have completed by the end of the day. Of course, this requires a few conditions to be put in place. The first is that we will share with the techni- cian how long it should take to do the work. That is fundamental and abso- lutely critical. The second is that we have our work segmented and that we don't issue work that will take longer to complete than the shift that is being worked. That means creating segments that do not exceed eight hours or however long the time of your shift. I know many of you are thinking of jobs that take longer than eight hours, like an engine repair. Take those jobs and break them down into smaller segments that fit within one day's time shift. Here is where your business system needs to help you. The work order needs to be able to be presented in a number of ways. One is for invoicing and another is for job scheduling. The invoice might show "Engine Repair," while the job scheduling work order would show "Remove Radiator," "Remove Cylinder Head." Note: Those of you who have doubts with this should check out YouTube and search for the BMW Augmented Reality clip from Oct. 3, 2007. Before going too far, make sure that your business system can handle these multiple functions for a work order, invoicing and scheduling. Alright, we can control interrup- tions, and we use standard times, and we manage labor – now how do we regain the trust of our customers? You have to earn their trust, and it won't happen overnight. Perhaps you can speed up the process by putting penalties in place for you if you miss a completion date. How about reducing the invoice by half a day of labor for each half-day you miss the completion date? Wow. I know many of you are good enough to stand behind your work and the quotes and the completion dates. So why not do something radically different and put out a promise, and keep it. The time is now. 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. November 2012 | Construction Equipment Distribution | www.cedmag.com | 49