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Successful Key Account Management – Machinery Dealer Manager’s Handbook

Text Highlights: Appendix 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… Continue reading Successful Key Account Management – Machinery Dealer Manager’s Handbook

Dealer Parts Manager Book Sale

Utilizing Service Management Tools

By Walter J. McDonald

A dealer VP of Aftermarket recently purchased my new 600-page Service Management—Machinery Dealer Manager’s Handbook. In my discussion with him, he stated his three priority issues were: Here are the recommendations I provided on how to address his three priority topics. Step one is to identify quantitative performance benchmarks of highly successful dealers for each of… Continue reading Utilizing Service Management Tools

Parts Management: Accelerating Performance

By Walter J. McDonald

It wasn’t long ago: Parts “managers” were super parts countermen, chasing down parts, answering phones, scrambling to help impatient technicians, servicing even more impatient counter customers, and trying to respond to their manager who wanted to know why the UPS shipments from last week had not been put away yet. Fortunately, today most dealer owners… Continue reading Parts Management: Accelerating Performance

Participation Rates and Market Share

By Walter J. McDonald

Participation Rate is the key to market share growth for a machinery dealer. However, there are two machinery distributor deal participation rates. And, the opportunity for one occurs much more frequently than the other. Each Participation Rate reflects purchase activity between an end user and the machinery dealership. The Primary Participation Rate is the customer’s… Continue reading Participation Rates and Market Share

Building a Wildly Successful Machinery Rental Business

By Walter J. McDonald

The most successful machinery dealership rental operations are under the close control of a Rental Bus Driver. This Revenue Center Manager is responsible for the overall profitable operations of the department. To be successful, your rental business management process must include qualitative insights together with quantitative performance metrics that are reviewed weekly. Today’s rental market… Continue reading Building a Wildly Successful Machinery Rental Business

Who’s visiting your website?

By Debbie Frakes

People visit your website, because they are interested in your products and services. But if you don’t know who they are and when they visit, you may never have the opportunity to welcome them as a customer. More than 90% to 95% of purchasers (customers and prospects) will investigate a dealer by visiting their website… Continue reading Who’s visiting your website?

What Impacts Dealer Absorption Rate?

By Walter McDonald

The absolute number representing “Recovery Rate” is interesting but not a call to action. It only indicates your current position relative to the target score of 100% Absorption Rate. Managers look at it and say WOW with little insight into how to make any improvements. Fixed Operating Expenses are those dealer expenses that do not… Continue reading What Impacts Dealer Absorption Rate?

Eliminating Obsolete Inventory

By Walter J. McDonald

The two big CASH TRAPS in machinery dealerships are: Old un-sold used trade-in units Obsolete parts inventory. Dealers who launch serious Operations Improvement efforts for the first time often find they have as much as 35-40% of parts inventory value in dead/obsolete stock. This article discusses reasonable and practical approaches to eliminate parts inventory line… Continue reading Eliminating Obsolete Inventory