MANAGEMENT & OPERATIONS
good is impeccable service and profession- al salesmanship that has made the buying experience memorable for the customer,” he says. advantage of the most cost-efficient mar- keting research tool ever devised — the Internet. “The Internet is a very inexpensive research vehicle that can give a dealer bet- ter insight to when customers in a given area are searching for a [specific] product or service,” explains Vinny Lobdell Jr., vice president of sales for Healthway.
Avoid bad practices
“While the majority of dealers in our industry provide excellent customer serv- ice,” Batiste explains, “I have seen some dealers take the attitude that once the sys- tem has been installed and paid for, any complaints are not their problem.” While it may be unfounded, some water treatment dealers have been tagged as hav- ing poor ethics. This point leads to the fact that dealers have to answer customer complaints quick- ly if they want to keep their business. “When a customer calls with a com- plaint, the dealer needs to respond imme- diately and resolve the complaint to the customer’s satisfaction,” Batiste says. Dealers also need to be aware of the threat big-box stores pose to their busi- nesses and how to compete against them effectively. “Over 50 percent of the home units sold in the marketplace today are sold through retail stores such as Home Depot or Sears,” Batiste explains. This fact is symptomatic of larger prob- lems for the independent water dealer. Batiste continues, “The dealer channel is fragmented with a wide variety of prod- ucts being sold, from name brand, NSF-cer- tified products, to dealers assembling units in their garage. System manufacturers gen- erally don’t try to control dealer’s activi- ties, and generally don’t follow up with consumers to check their satisfaction level with the product and the service. Manufacturers and distributors selling components directly to dealers generally don’t know what is being made, or how it is being installed.” If they want to survive these rocky eco- nomic times, dealers have to be prepared to do whatever it takes to make sure their cus- tomers are fully satisfied. “Some dealers will need to change their practices and make a commitment to pro- viding top quality customer service at the point of sale and while delivering post sale services,” Batiste concludes.
WT
Add-on services
Diversifying your company’s product menu is another way to bring in more money. Offering commercial water systems, plumbing repairs, hot water heater replace- ment and residential service plumbing work are all ways to improve your bottom line. “Many of the dealers we are working with are now offering a free indoor air quality evaluation,” says Lobdell. “By pro- viding a simple but effective test you can add tremendous value through your serv- ice department.” Add-ons, Lobdell says, can also provide inroads to new leads.
Attract new customers, retain existing ones
Happy, satisfied customers can be the best business promotion a dealer could ever ask for. “Referrals are the golden nugget in direct sales,” says Lobdell. “The best deal- ers attract new customers by providing impeccable service and support to their existing customers.” Batiste offers similar advice, “If the deal- er builds a reputation of selling quality products, and providing world class cus- tomer service, the dealer will generate refer- rals and be successful in the community.” Although companies should strive to find unique ways to keep their customers 100 percent satisfied, the core values of quality customer service are universal. “To be successful, a dealer must offer world class customer service and top qual- ity products at competitive prices to the customer,” explains Batiste. Lobdell says all successful dealers share the same traits. “The one common denom- inator that separates the great from the
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