|
As we
start to see a rebound in equipment activity, it's time to
revisit how we cover the customers in the marketplace. With
equipment salesmen, rental developers, product support salesmen
and other forms of customer contact, an organized and structured
approach has become more important.
On the
equipment side of the business, a term used often is "visibility."
Essentially it means: Was the salesman involved in all the
sales that took place in a territory in the month? Or did
the sale take place without a salesman from your dealership
involved? This has a direct bearing on your market share.
If the dealership was involved in the deal, you had a fighting
chance. If not, there was no chance. In the product support
world, it's an impossible area to measure. However, you can
make determinations about your "visibility" by looking at
the equipment sales you've made and the parts and service
business you received from them.
How many
machines, sold in 2002 by your dealership, did you sell a
part or labor hour for in 2003? This is a simple exercise
that needs to be done regularly.
Get your
machine sales from 2002 and check each customer's purchase
history to determine if there is activity on the account for
parts and service. Of course that means getting the model
and serial numbers of the machines for which you are selling
parts and labor. In service, it's easy. You're working on
the machine and can easily get the information. In parts,
you have to ask for it and put the information into the sales
order transaction. With that information, you can determine
whether or not the customer who bought a machine from you
has done business with you on that particular machine.
Sadly,
the machines we sell deliver parts and service business back
to the dealership less than 60 percent of the time in the
subsequent year.
This
can be minimized by regular contact with customers after they
purchase a machine, but not just by equipment salesmen and
product support salesmen and not just your normal promotional
mail pieces. You need a planned personal contact coverage
model that keeps the customer involved with the dealership's
key personnel.
There
are a series of contacts that should be made on all "new"
customers. (All business is new business.) Each dealership
should develop a contact approach that follows some, if not
all, of the following points.
- Have
the Parts and Service Managers send a letter to each customer
that buys a machine thanking them for the business and introducing
themselves. It should also include what the dealership provides
in product support. Better still, have them visit the customer
or machine.
- Have
a product support specialist go with the machine when it
is delivered and review the key maintenance items and operations
with either the operator or owner of the machine.
- Offer
"specials" for the first filter change and use kits to make
it easy to buy.
- Follow
the "After Sale Service" time lines recommended by your
manufacturer.
- Have
a regular telephone contact between the dealership and the
customer with the same person making the call each time.
This will allow more intimate knowledge of the machine,
and the customer's working conditions and needs.
- Have
a product support salesman visit on a regular basis even
though the customer might not own a lot of machines or represent
a strong potential of purchases.
- Have
the equipment salesman follow up the sale within three months
to maintain the level of satisfaction the customers felt
immediately after the sale.
- Send
a personal card to everyone that purchases a machine when
the machine reaches its purchase anniversary.
Using
these techniques, the customer will purchase more of the parts
and labor required for their machine from the dealer. But,
unless you contact the customer in a planned deliberate manner
you will not get the business that the machine generates to
your satisfaction. The working condition of the machine and
your customer satisfaction and loyalty requires your involvement.
To learn
more, check out the offerings from Quest, Learning Centers.
|
