Service Management: Machinery
Dealer Manager’s Handbook

Text Highlights:

• New Manager Operations Assessment Tool
• Guiding Principles for Service Leaders
• Understanding Service Department Financials
  • Quantitative Service Performance Assessment
  • Readings in Service Business Management
• Service Operations Management
  • Quantitative Operations Performance Assessment
  • Readings in Service Operations Management
  • Field Service Productivity Improvement
  • Shop Service Productivity Improvement
• Leadership and Supervisory Management Development
  • Readings in Leadership and Supervisory Management
• Service Aftermarket Sales and Marketing Management
  • Quantitative Service Sales and Marketing Assessment
  • Readings in Service Sales and Marketing Management
• Customer Service and Retention
  • Quantitative Customer Service Performance Assessment
  • Readings in Customer Service and Retention
• Dealer Aftermarket Product Support Survey
  • What Works – What Doesn’t Work Today
• World Class Service Management Best Business Practices
• Dealer Development Tools and Management Training Resources
  • Training for Dealers
  • Training for OEM Regional Managers
• 12 Essential Product Support Investments
• Action Plans for Service Department Growth and Development
• Nine High-Value Books for Service Leaders

Why I wrote this book

The Service Manager’s job is the most challenging in a machinery dealership. The customer doesn’t call you unless there is a problem. Ownership wants more sales but how the heck do you do that? They want higher technician productivity, but good help is difficult to find.

This book is based on my nearly 45 years of working with world-class machinery dealers. We studied what they measure to successfully manage their operations. These essential management processes and tools are presented in easy-to-understand sections with extensive explanations. The purpose of this book then is to assist the machinery dealer Service Leader improve personal and operations performance, become a more skillful technical leader, and achieve the expectations of both dealer ownership and valued end-user customers.

Managing a profitable, growing Service Operations is dependent on five areas of skills and knowledge all covered in this book:

Service Business Management

Service Operations Management

Leadership and Supervisory Management

Aftermarket Sales and Marketing

Customer Service & Retention

Service Business Management covers an understanding of the Critical Profit Variables (CPVs). These are the financial performances that matter in the Service Department. We want to know what they are and how to manage them. We examine the scores of high-profit dealers. You can assess your own business. What should your labor sales and profitability be? What are the areas most need improvement?

Service Operations Management is about the process of delivering high-quality maintenance service at the least cost. Yet, technical support must be effective in terms of meeting and exceeding customer expectations. Effective operations management reduces heartburn, and frustration and moves the team out from reacting to random events that cause havoc. The most important proactive steps to break out of firefighting are to improve off-shelf parts availability and initiate an effective customer-wide fix-before-fail maintenance strategy.

Leadership Management is an essential skill. Yet, in thousands of workshops, I find that less than 1 in 100 Service Leaders receive any type of supervisory training. This core competency greatly enhances your prospects for success. Those dealers who take effective corrective action gain an incredible competitive advantage.

Aftermarket Marketing and Sales Management are about developing a thorough understanding of your customer base, its needs, and expectations. This knowledge enables the Service Manager to properly price and promote maintenance capabilities and grow a profitable business. This market knowledge helps anticipate customer concerns and offer them practical solutions. The aftermarket marketing and sales management effort must maximize financial revenues and profits. It is not as complicated as you might think. There is a host of relatively easy, cost-effective, field-proven marketing and sales tools available.

Customer Service and Retention is about delivering maintenance support at such a high level of competency the end-user will happily consider your dealership their preferred vendor. Aftermarket product support can be your most effective competitive weapon. Delivering quality service that delights and retains customers is a key responsibility of the Service Manager. We must understand what drives customers away and what can be done to make sure they remain delighted. Keeping them happy is not as difficult as you might think. We will explore many proactive steps that can be taken to ensure that customer expectations are being met.

In this text, you will find many, many ideas, programs, processes, best practices, performance measurements, and problem-solving tools. Adopt and utilize the ones that best fit your operations.

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