Buy the 4-Volume Successful Parts Management “Tool Kit” – and receive free global shipping. Kit includes:
- Successful Parts Management – Machinery Dealer Manager’s Study Guide
(e-Book not sold separately) Click HERE for Tool Kit content details. - Achieving Excellence in Dealer/Distributor Performance
- Strategies, Tactics for Achieving Dealer Excellence
- Dealer Problem Solving Handbook for the Master’s Program in Dealer Management
What readers are saying
“Congratulations! I can’t believe the “legs” you have been able to sustain with your extremely useful dealer development resources. I remain proud of your commitment to bringing education to this industry. You probably don’t appreciate how much of a leader you have become!”
John M. Vandy, Former Training Manager, J.I. CASE Corporation
Individual Titles Are Available at a Discount Below
Successful Key Account Management – Machinery Dealer Manager’s Handbook
By Walter J. McDonald – 2024, 232 pages
Text Highlights:
- Key Account Best Practices -Self Assessment
- Assemble the Key Account Team
- Gather Relevant, Important Facts about the Key Account
- Identify and Define the Roles of each Purchase Influencer
- Clarify Influencer Preferences and Fears – Understanding Buying Decisions and the Decision-Making Process
- Determine How the Account Views Our Dealership on the Customer Relationship Hierarchy
- How Customers Evaluate a Potential Machinery Dealer
- Establish Product Support as a Competitive Weapon
- Assess Realistic Revenue Potential Including Product Support (cont. below)
- The Easiest Way to Hit Your Revenue Goals by Debbie Frakes
- Develop Necessary Selling Skills
- Contact Strategy to Successfully Service All Accounts to Optimize Market Share- A/B Account Growth Strategy by Steve Ross
- Participation Rate and Market Share by Tim J. Murphy
- How to Sell Large, Complex Engineered Systems
- Life Cycle Costing
- Rental Profit Optimization
- How to Avoid the 7 Deadly Sins in Your Used Equipment Business
- Making Parts Forecasting More Accurate and Sustaining Parts Sales Momentum
- How to Dodge the Biggest Mistakes In Key Account Management
- How to Avoid the Biggest Vulnerabilities in Key Account Management
- Customer Acquisition via Tender/Bid by Tony Grove
Appendix
- Refresher on Formulas: Cost of Sales, Pricing
- Masters Program in Dealer Management Textbooks
- Master’s Program in Dealer Management Distance Learning Seminar
- Dealer Marketing Resources from Winsby, Inc.
Why I wrote this book
The focus of this work is to examine the Best Industry Practices in Successful Key Account Management in today’s machinery dealership.
Many dealer principals tell me they don’t feel as though their organization pays nearly enough attention to this challenge.
Every dealership has a small number of very large accounts that contribute significantly to the overall success of the business. Again, a Key Account is an account that if you lost it, would have a catastrophic impact on your business.
Hopefully, your dealership has strategically avoided the risk of having 80% of your business in only 2 or 3 accounts. However, the definition of a Key Account must include the criteria of providing sustainable revenue, potential for sales growth, and relationship match between the dealership’s positioning and customer expectations.
Most importantly, the accounts fit in the Strategic Direction of the Dealer’s business model.
The days of back-slapping and expensive dinners are receding. This is particularly the case in Europe and North America, where major customers expect tangible enterprise benefits from their supplier relationships in terms of uptime as well as reductions in total cost of ownership and CO2 emissions reductions. Customers expect their dealers to provide cost-effective solutions to their unique requirements.
Trying to “wine and dine” potential new clients is only successful when those types of events surround product presentations, factory tours, industry seminars, etc. These events are introduced to the customer in an effort to show the value of your product, company, or proposal.
For example, simply providing tickets to a football game is not going to get it done when trying to win over an account, despite what your salesman thinks. Those types of entertainment expenses should be reserved for rewarding existing customers to further cement the relationships or further expand relationships deeper into the organization.
What are the Best Practices in Key Account Management today? The concept of “high-tech/high touch” is proving to be a very successful approach to developing and keeping those accounts that are essential to your long-term financial success.
However, the challenge in Successful Key Account Management is to simultaneously ensure dealer resources, offerings, culture, and systems also meet the requirements of smaller customers. We will review how to build this mindset in your company.
And, of equal importance, we will see how Product Support can play a critical, crucial role in acquiring and keeping those very large, very important customers.
We’ll explore Key Account Management the procedures and policies I have seen that yield the best results.
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table of contents
“To my knowledge, Walt is the only one with decades of exclusive focus in driving the success of the equipment distribution industry culminating in his Master’s Program in Dealer Management curriculum. It is the definitive guide for your improvement! Successful Key Account Management is the latest example of that dedication. This is a pivotal issue in today’s market. Don’t miss the opportunity to continue your education!”
– John M. Vandy
Former Training Manager and Director, Product Support for J.I. Case, former President and COO of Doosan Infracore
“Congratulations Walt McDonald. After 45 years, you have again delivered an exceptional contribution to the business of machinery dealerships. From a machinery dealership’s perspective, there can be no other result other than Successful Key Account Management. You have delivered a thoughtful, articulate, and valuable resource that provides any equipment dealer willing to do the assessment, evaluation, and implementation of the roadmap to get there.”
– Tim J. Murphy
Former President and CEO of Nortrax (Deere CE and Forestry Dealer) leading their multiple U.S. and Canadian Operations
Parts Management Study Guide
Guiding Principles for Successful Parts Management
Managing Overall Dealer Operations (THE BIG PICTURE)
Overall Dealer Operations—Benchmarking Performance
Managing Parts Operations Improvement
Parts Gross Profit Margin Improvement
Parts Marketing and Business Development
Parts Management Action Plans for Improvement
Supporting Service Operations Improvement
Best Practices in Service Operations
Increase More Profitable Aftermarket Sales
16 Tools to Build Service Business
Marketing Your Parts and Service
Maximizing Aftermarket Profit Performance
How to Conduct Successful Aftermarket Marketing and Sales
10 Biggest Mistakes in Key Account Management
Key Account Management Checklist
Sell Maintenance Contracts and Track 2nd Segment Work
How to Sell Planned Maintenance Programs
Tools to Improve Parts & Service Labor Sales
This e-book is not sold separately. It is only available as a part of the Dealer Management, OEM Regional Management, and Parts Management Book Sets.
Achieving Excellence in Dealer/Distributor Performance with Reader’s Guide
By Walter J. McDonald – 2018, Paperbacks, 426 pages total
Text Highlights:
- Revenue Center Performance Benchmarks
- Aftermarket Sales and Operations
- New Machinery Sales Management
- Ultimate Financial Survival
- Special Reports:
- OEM Agreements
- Product Support Success Story
$123.75
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Strategies, Tactics, Operations for Achieving Dealer Excellence with Reader’s Guide
By Walter J. McDonald – 2018, Paperbacks, 612 pages total
Text Highlights:
- Six Strategic Questions for Dealer Executives
- Best Practices Audits:
- Customer Retention, Parts, Service
- Rentals, Used and New Machinery
- How to:
- Handle Angry Customer,
- Conduct Successful Aftermarket Marketing,
- Develop High-Performance Team,
- Manage Key Accounts,
- Structure Accelerated Start-up for New Sales Reps,
- Build Big Hairy Audacious Profit Model
- Special Reports:
- Becoming a More Effective Manager
- Increase Service Labor Productivity (pp. 47-64)
$146.25
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Dealer Problem-Solving Handbook: For the Master’s Program in Dealer Management
By Walter J. McDonald – 2018, Paperback, 84 pages
Text Highlights:
- The Problem-Solving Process
- Issues, Problems and Possible Solutions:
- Dealer Principle/Ownership
- Parts Operations
- Service Operations
- Rental Operations
- Used Equipment Operations
- New Equipment Operations
- Special Reports:
- Organizational Development
- Vendor Relationships
- Banking Relationships
- Controlling Obsolete Inventory
- Dealer Project Planner Worksheets (pp. 78-81)
