Reaching New Horizons How are you going to get there?

Reaching New Horizons

How are you going to get there?

by: Ken Edmonds, Service Management Coach

Last fall, I had the privilege of talking with dealers at conferences on both coasts about the future. The range of opinions I heard from them was interesting. On both coasts, I found dealers who believed that the status quo would last another five to 10 years and thought there was no immediate threat to the current business model. At the same conferences, I talked to dealers who believed there was a clear and present danger to the model.

The initial version of this article was submitted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the current circumstances are different, I believe that, after the pandemic, the probability exists that as things return to normal, these behaviors may become common again. I think the principles outlined below are more critical than ever before.

I would encourage dealerships to view this crisis as an opportunity to learn new behaviors and better understand how they can serve their clients. Look at what your clients wish they had done before the crisis started and identify opportunities where you can help them prepare for the next one.

I will say that now is not the time to focus on sales. Instead, I strongly suggest that, as a company, focus on how you can serve your clients, how you can help them and how you can give to them — and I am not talking about giving away the products you sell. You can share your expertise and take time to help them research solutions. People will remember how you treat them. If your focus is on selling and another vendor is focused on helping and serving them, the other vendor is going to win 95% of the time.

Sales Managers

I asked two sales managers from one company how they thought the industry would change in the next five to 10 years. They thought that nothing would change.

These managers are quite entrenched in the status-quo mentality. They are not looking at how the industry is going to change and, even worse, they are not starting to plan for what those changes will mean for their teams.

Service Manager & Owner

At a separate meeting a few weeks later, I visited with the owner and the service manager of the same company, and I asked them that same question. They both thought that the industry and the product mix would change substantially. It amazed me that there was so much discongruity between the members of the management team. It shows a couple of things that are common in the industry. In too many companies, management team members are not sitting down at the table and coordinating plans for the future. Instead, each manager seems to operate autonomously from the others.

Differing manager beliefs can result in a situation where everyone is heading in a different direction. The employees can then be working at odds with each other and the company stops making progress. It is much like a ship with more than one captain, and each is steering the ship in a different direction.

The Dilemma

There are a lot of conflicting views about the state of our industry. Some of them are quite different as to what the future looks like, but I can say that, almost unanimously, the experts agree that believing in the status quo is not going to work.

What is the future going to look like? What is your product mix going to look like? What are customers and the buying process going to look like? These are questions that your management team members need to be discussing, and I recommend making sure that you all get on the same page so that, as a company, you can move forward.

What is Real

Change is inevitable and now is the time to start preparing for future changes. It takes time to change a business, much like turning an ocean liner. While an ocean liner can turn overnight, a business cannot change overnight; it takes months — and often longer — to implement enough change to affect the direction the company is heading. Management team members must be headed in the same direction, going to the same destination.

Start Planning

The first step is agreeing to what the future will look like as a team. I recommend that you regularly get your managers together and discuss the future. Discuss how they think the customer is going to change over the next five years and the next 10 years. What will customers want? How will they buy products and services? What will they want to buy? How can you position

your company to dominate the market?

These are all questions that need answers. Once you agree on the answers, you can move on to the next step. It is time to start planning by setting goals for 10 years out, five years out, years one through four, and then monthly for the next 24 months. Start Identifying Needs

With a clear idea of what the customers of the future will want to buy and what you will offer to meet their needs, you can identify how your product mix and sales methods need to change. You can also look at whether you should plan to acquire a business that can help you meet those needs.

It may be that you need to expand your product line, and you can find a vendor that will help you in that process. Or, you may decide that you want to partner with another company to fill the gaps in your product line. Some of the better options might include fully supporting customer networks, including phone systems and digital signage. In many ways, those services are similar to your current offerings.

The best choice may be to develop your in-house capabilities to support a broader product offering. If so, you will need to research the availability and desirability of the options. Be sure to set goals for when the research will be complete and when to begin implementation. Start Turning

Once you have a plan for where you want to go, then you can start to turn the ship. Have each department head look at what he (or she) will need for training and what changes are going to be needed in employees, tools, software and systems. The next step is to develop plans for getting these in place. In most cases, the process will be gradual, making small steps in the direction you want to go.

Each department will have different training needs. Some training may be available from vendors, through your local community college and through BTA and its partners. The key is to find the training you need and get started with the process. With a clear idea of what the customers of the future will want to buy ... you can identify how your product mix and sales methods need to change.

An Ongoing Process

Adapting to change in the market is not a one-and-done process. It is something that needs to be ongoing. I would recommend that you have five- and 10-year plans that are living documents. At least once each quarter, you should meet with your management team and review the plans to see how they are working. I recommend meeting annually to review your progress and to extend your plans another year into the future.

I can make you two promises. First, the future is going to be different than the present. Second, change is going to happen whether you are ready or not. With a good plan in place, change can be exciting — like a visit to a new land. There are new horizons for your company. The question is: How are you going to get there? n

For nearly 16 years, Ken Edmonds served at Sharp Electronics

Corp. and then at Konica Minolta Business Solutions as a problem solver for both technical and service management issues. In early 2018, he retired from Konica Minolta as a district service manager. Before that, Edmonds had an extensive background in the imaging business, having owned a successful dealership and serving as a service manager for multiple dealerships. In total, he has more than 40 years of experience in the technical and computer fields. Edmonds is currently consulting with dealers on strategies to improve profitability. He can be reached at ken@kedmonds.biz. Visit www.kedmonds.biz.