Ron Giuntini is the author of this post and is justifiably proud of his efforts relating to engaging leadership in the aftermarket.
Aftermarket contact with end-users will often be 10-20 times more frequent than selling products. It would benefit OEM leadership to be more engaged in the details of direct and indirect processes that impact the effectiveness of the relationship between their installed customer base and their distribution network. The central point of this article is why and how to engage leadership in these Aftermarket processes.
What are the signs that business leadership is not engaged in their aftermarket service business?
The lack of focus is the primary driver for leadership not to be engaged in Aftermarket customer contact; everyday factors often negate leadership’s ability to ‘get into the weeds’ of customer-centric processes. Besides the lack of focus, a driver that can distance leadership from engaging in customer relationships is when selective functions interacting with customers have been outsourced (i.e., call centers); often an effort at being more efficient, but can be at times a ‘bad move’ in customer relationship management when poorly implemented in the B2B space.
Engaging leadership
There is a need to implement a multi-pronged approach to engaging leadership in processes of 2-3 pay grades below their current level. Senior leadership and director-level managers need to ‘get into the weeds’ to understand what it ‘really’ takes to create a practical customer experience. Employing a schedule for all those above to participate, applied from two to three times per year, should be established. The variety of processes that the group should be employed is the following:
- Answering calls during work hours from customers regarding a series of issues, from billing to change orders to dispatching technicians to warranty claims.
- Answering calls off-hour for ’emergencies’ to obtain parts and techs.
- She was involved in multiple stages of escalated technical trouble issues.
- I am physically counting parts during cycle counting to ensure order fulfillment accuracy.
- I was visiting customers on sales calls.
- I am participating in customer advisory boards.
- I am participating in trade shows.
- I participate in customer classroom training for new application software, new product introduction, and more.
All the above actions not only provide leadership with often ‘humbling’ perspectives of the ‘real world’ issues of what it takes to interact with customers but also send a message to the ‘troops’ that leadership ‘has their backs’; truly a win-win for the customers and the company.
Suppose the leadership believes such activities are ‘below their pay grade,’ and they resist participating with ‘enthusiasm.’ In that case, that will also be an indicator of the company’s culture. Ironically, the director-level personnel of the Aftermarket Business Unit often resist the most because many had worked their way up from the ‘minion’ level and are reluctant to re-engage in their previous work.
Engaging workers in higher-level activities
In addition to the above, there is also a mirror-image initiative, engaging the ‘minions’ to participate in activities 2-3 levels above their pay grade. For example, a warehouse picker would be invited to lunch with a customer. The warehouse picker would be ‘excited’ to join the ‘boss,’ and the customer would often appreciate that the company was an ‘inclusive’ enterprise. A by-product of such initiatives is highly loyal employees and a greater understanding of the importance of a positive customer relationship.
All the above recommendations should be engaged in a systemic program. To do so, a line item in the annual budget process should be created to allocate resources for this initiative; However, its cost would often be immaterial, but it is indeed a stake in the ground for its execution, repeatability, and its good governance signally.
About Ron Giuntini
Ron Giuntini, a Principal of G35 Software, Inc., has over 40 years of experience in the B2B Aftermarket, working as a management consultant for such companies as United Technologies, GE, Textron, Rockwell Collins, Oshkosh, General Dynamics, Acer, and many others. He has also been responsible for a global Aftermarket business unit of a worldwide OEM, as well has been employed by Strategy& as a management consultant, and has held manufacturing leadership roles at several suppliers to OEMs. Ron is considered an industry expert on the B2B Aftermarket; they engaged by PEs for acquisitions, engaged law firms for arbitration cases, published extensively, was a presenter of workshops, a lecturer at universities, and a speaker at dozens of global conferences. You can contact Ron here: ron@g35software.com or 570.713.4795 and on Linkedin.
About Middlesex Consulting
At Middlesex Consulting, we help Industrial equipment OEMs grow their aftermarket service revenue and profit while mitigating some of the continuously changing business environment risks by creating service offers that achieve your customer’s desired business outcomes. And your time-to-value usually starts within three months. You can learn more about us here.
Photo credit: Photo by Kampus Production from Pexels