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I just read that the 2007 CIT survey tells us that 58% of the contractors, our customers, are going to look after the repairs and maintenance on their equipment. What do you think of this statistic? I think this represents a wonderful opportunity, but also a powerful indictment of our past performance. Don’t you?

There was another telling statistic in the survey that said the average age of the equipment in the contractor’s fleets was increasing from 5.8 years to 6.5 years. You might be wondering why I think that this is an important statistic. Well most of the current production equipment has very complicated technology to allow the machine to reach its’ full potential. This technology built into the machines gives us a very strong competitive advantage with our factory trained and equipped technicians. So how is the customer able to look after their machines properly? This is where I have a problem. In order to protect the functional effectiveness of the equipment we represent in the market we need to be able to perform more of the repair and maintenance than 42% at best.

How do we get the business? Well I think it is pretty clear. The days of letting the shingle sell for you are over. In fact they have been over for a long time. We just haven’t reacted to it. For many years, decades, we have been watching our parts and service market position get weaker and weaker. We simply have not done our job in the marketplace. We have NOT BEEN LOOKING AFTER OUR CUSTOMERS.

Many of you out there agree with me. We need a Product Support Sales function in the dealership. If we don’t sell it someone else will. Forget all of those people that say that Parts and Service Sales is a luxury you can not afford. Quite frankly they don’t know what they are saying when they tell you “get rid of the product support salesmen they only cost you money.” That is such a misguided piece of advice I don’t know where to start.

Alright then we need to cover the market with people who sell parts and service and programs. How many do you need? That is quite simple to figure out. Divide you customer parts and service sales volume by $1,500,000 and that is the number of Product Support Salesmen you need. The range is from $1,200,000 to $1,800,000 of parts and service sales per Product Support Salesman per year. You might be surprised at how many of these specialized salesmen you need. In fact if it was my decision you would have a Product Support Salesmen for each Equipment Salesman. Yes that is right a one for one ratio between Equipment Salesmen and Product Support Salesmen.

They perform two basic functions. Do you remember them? They protect your business from your competitors – the huggers and they grow your business and increase market share – the hunters. They are businessmen. They develop relationships with your customers. They deal in customer satisfaction and retaining your customers. In fact to quote an old adage “The Equipment Salesman sells the first machine it is Product Support that sells the rest.” That is very true. But because we have not covered our market properly with Product Support Sales we have had to fight to maintain our equipment market share. We have let others define us in the market place. And they are not complementary to us. They say we are over priced and that we are as good technically as our competition. They say we are not responsive and convenient to dealer with. They tell our customers we never have the right part on the shelf. You know what they are telling our customers. Customer surveys have been telling us this for years. Yet we still have not acted.

Now we face the dilemma. There is a large gap present in the CIT survey data. The contractors are saying that their purchases are going to be higher this year than last. Yet we dealers think quite there is a slowdown at hand. Last month I was talking about us creating the next slowdown with our attitude. We here is but one more illustration of the truth in what I was telling you. It is against this backdrop that I want you to add Product Support Salesman.

ADD PRODUCT SUPPORT SALESMEN UNTIL YOU HAVE A SALESMAN FOR EVERY $1,500,000 IN PARTS AND SERVICE BUSINESS.

And don’t let them go because you think you will save money. If the salesman is not productive get one that is productive. But DO NOT let them go to save money. The money you save in the short term pales beside the money you lose in the long term.

Think about it. Please. And you will come to the right conclusion. You need more Product Support Salesmen. NOW.