|
For
too many years now the product support sales staff has been
assigned a geographic territory and told to go sell. Many
dealerships still work under this principle.
The trouble
with this approach is that it doesn't show with any precision
who the PSSRs are calling on and what they are discussing.
Lacking this information, many dealership execs have questioned
the effectiveness of their product support sales people. The
old adage that the shingle sells is still, unfortunately,
a common view.
Then along
came the call report. The call report, when used, is viewed
by many salesmen as a tool that shows them that the dealership
doesn't trust them.
In many
cases the salesmen's view was correct. The dealership didn't
trust them. This was not due to distrust for the individual
salesman; rather it was because the dealership found the expense
of the product support sales staff high relative to the perceived
results.
Then in
the midst of this came, "Oh, by the way, take these parts
out to the customer." Result: Product support salesmen became
high-cost delivery people.
Since
the beginning of the '90s the more enlightened and progressive
dealerships have been assigning product support salesmen to
specific accounts. A typical PSSR has between 100 and 150
different accounts in his territory. Now the dealership started
to have more consistent and measurable customer coverage.
There was still, however, a need for call reports.
Product
support salesmen need assistance in managing their territories.
Most of them keep records of their own to determine what the
customer needs and what was last discussed. Traditionally,
however, they were still hesitant to share that information
with the dealership.
With the
arrival of good customer-relationship tools, salesmen are
now viewing the call report for what it was originally intended
to be-a tool to help them sell. Now we can get to work.
Product
support salesmen also should be using laptop computers to
manage their territories and accounts. If they aren't, they
are missing the boat. The information on their laptops should
relate their customers to the products and services the dealership
sells.
Such a
laptop entry, for example, would include a full customer profile
(name, address and personal information on each key contact),
the machines the customer owns and operates, monthly purchase
history (by commodity for parts and repair type for service)
and call history. At the end of each day, the salesman should
use a dial-up connection to update the dealership's computer
so it is synchronized with the information in his laptop.
Customer
retention is the lifeblood of any business. Armed with these
tools a salesman can see in real time if there are any changes
in the customer's buying patterns. He can see if the account
is a slow payer. He can track his own success at selling specific
services or parts. In other words he can manage the territory
from which he makes his living.
With a
little creativity and systems work, the dealership can show,
for each of the salesmen's accounts, open work orders, outstanding
backorders and new machine purchases. Isn't this information
beneficial in keeping the salesman up to date when he's in
front of the customer? I don't know how often I have seen
a salesman call on a customer only to be blindsided with a
complaint about an outstanding backorder or a repair taking
longer than it should. Wouldn't it be nice if the salesman
had this information at his fingertips when these kinds of
questions arise?
Last year
this magazine ran a four-part series on the product support
sales group that covers everything from territory setup to
compensation programs. These articles are an excellent guide
for every dealership. If you missed this series, you can still
access the individual articles by logging on to www.aednet.org
and doing a search on the CED magazine link.
Now that
we have had at least a year following that outline we can
now move to the next logical step: a good customer-relationship
management system. There are many available. Choose one and
get going. Your salesmen will thank you, and customers will
appreciate a talented salesman who has all the information
he needs right at his fingertips.
The time
is now. Seize the day.
|
