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A “Total” Selling Approach

Build Sales Opportunities with PFW IntelliDealer

PFW Password - Summer 2005 The selling of equipment is now more complex than ever. There is a wide variety of equipment and attachments available that needs to be located in a timely fashion, marketed and sold properly, maintained effectively, and resold at maximum potential. With that in mind, a top-quality dealership management system is required in order to turn the raw data associated with the equipment unit, and its owner, into information that can be used to protect unit margins.

Newman Equipment in Indianapolis, Indiana, is implementing a Global Positioning System (GPS) to track unit utilization and engine hours. According to service manager Dan Norris, “The servicing of the equipment can be completed in a timely manner. The ability of the PFW system to interact with the GPS system is great for being able to do these functions from one screen, PFW IntelliDealer. The combination of the two systems has allowed us to increase our parts and service sales.”

In a previous edition of the PFW Password, industry expert Ron Slee offered advice for dealerships looking to prevent customer defections and get the most out of the equipment market and aftermarket. He emphasized that equipment should be protected by the authorized dealer, who can sell the right equipment, provide the proper parts, and perform effective service. Slee mentions that the authorized equipment dealer has the sole responsibility of supporting the whole machine, and if a lack of continuity exists in that support, the dealership will suffer.

Additionally, Slee stressed the importance of well-trained Product Support Sales Representatives so that the customer can get the most out of the machine. He recommended that dealerships sell both an extended warranty and a maintenance contract and noted that dealerships should be able to effectively manage work orders and service scheduling. This is achieved through a system that should make it easy for dealerships to maintain a service schedule that includes, as an example, start and stop dates.

Of course, by being diligent about aftermarket equipment care, a “double-win” is set up: revenues are increased through the parts and service work performed and, as the value of the machine is preserved, through resale.

In the Winter 2003 issue of the PFW Password, Slee listed what a dealership management system needs to provide in terms of key information:

• purchasing patterns and history;
• meaningful customer retention statistics;
• a pertinent customer profile: name/address, preferences for POs, and machine population data;
• information on who the customer is buying from;
• buying habits by week, month, and quarter to determine changes in a customer’s buying habits;
• equipment make, model, attachments and special-modification information; and
• demographic and psychographic information, so the personality of the customer can be determined.

eServices Customer Updates
When customers perform transactions through PFW eServices they are also constantly updating customer information and their equipment profile. Consequently, when sales staff have access to up-to-date customer and purchasing information, they can improve their customer relationships and increase loyalty. In other words, when they are more informed about who their customers are and what they are buying, they can respond to these needs more readily and effectively. As well, eServices helps dealerships reduce transaction costs as walk-in traffic is reduced. eServices is a competitive advantage over those dealers who either don’t realize the power of electronic services, or whose system vendor doesn’t offer this convenience.

Jeff Lashley, Owner, Lashley Tractor Sales in Lithonia, Georgia says, “We have found that we have set the standard for electronic commerce with a number of our larger accounts. It is interesting being in a class with Office Depot and Grainger being that we are such a comparatively small company. We are starting to take advantage of selling these customers more of our other products due to the ease of the transactions.”

Through eServices, customers can more conveniently do business with a dealership. Customers gain the power to initiate a trade- or sell-transaction, schedule service, shop for and order equipment and parts, purchase merchandise, look up their own work orders and identify repairs, check their rental invoices, add to a machine’s parts history, and interact with a complete parts, service and equipment quoting system.