So how do heavy equipment manufacturers compete for the attention of their dealers today? The successful ones offer better development and support than their competitors. The OEM must have better training, better resources, and a much easier way to deliver these resources to dealer individuals. If dealers are to be actively engaged representing their company and products, manufacturers have to make it easy and desirable to do so. Technology enabled Partner Relationship Management solutions offered by LogicBay have helped the world’s leading heavy equipment manufacturers sell more product through their dispersed networks of dealers. This same, cost-effective solution is available to other heavy equipment manufacturers, large or small.
Training and Certification- Certification is typically the method our clients use to credential people who are hired in their dealerships. Certification defines the standard of competence that a person needs to attain, and proves that they have the knowledge to effectively represent the brand in the marketplace. Through LogicBay’s PRM system, manufacturers have the means to quickly develop training (whether online, instructor lead, or through regional or national meetings) and provide immediate certification. Do you have a certification process? If so, how easy is it for your dealers to ramp up and certify new employees? Is it easy for you to know who is certified and who is not on any given day?
Marketing Effectiveness – Heavy equipment manufacturers are using LogicBay’s Performance Center to offer a variety of marketing materials for the dealers’ own marketing efforts. Dealers can access product presentations, image libraries, direct mail templates, territory customer lists, and much more to increase the power their own marketing endeavors. The manufacturer can issue news and alerts, warranty alerts, support new product rollouts, push out new marketing collateral and product support information quickly and efficiently through the PRM system. How easy is it for people in your dealerships to find the marketing information they’re looking for to close a sale or support a service request?
Collaboration – Companies today are finding that if they can increase the communication between individuals, the company benefits tremendously. This collaboration can work in three directions. First, peer-to-peer collaboration between dealers themselves allows them to easily share best practices and communicate with each other. Second, communication between individuals at dealerships and individuals at the manufacturer fosters efficient information-sharing, like ideas for sales tips or field service fixes. And third, increasing the communication and collaboration between the manufacturer, dealer, and the end user provides the ultimate means of sharing ideas and solving product or other channel issues. LogicBay’s PRM solution provides the means for individuals to easily and effectively collaborate with each other. Can your dealers easily collaborate with product and service experts at the manufacturer level?
Performance Management- We define performance management as the method that’s used by manufacturers to determine which dealers receive market development support. Our clients like to know which dealers are more supportive of their programs and area of focus than others. At the end of the day, our clients allocate their market development funds (commonly known as “MDF funds”) and incent specific desired performance behaviors of the people in the dealerships more efficiently, backed by reportable information. To what degree are you able to measure the desired behaviors of the people in your dealer channel, and then reward the desired behaviors?