From The Desk of Keith Ely
Only a few weeks ago, as we watched the economy come to a halt, we saw our nation’s truck drivers keep going. With that, we saw heavy truck dealerships continue to be integral providers to and supporters of the transportation industry and truck drivers. Our travel was suspended, along with the rest of the country’s, and we took immediate measures to move our interventions, discoveries, and classes to a virtual environment so that our customer partners would not miss a beat on our projects. In addition, we started asking the question – what else can we do to help our customers?

As United States Air Force General David Goldfein said April 22…” the projections are no vaccine for upwards of a year. So, that means we’ve got to refine our ability to survive and operate and do the missions our nation requires. And we’ve got to bring back those missions we have slowed down, so that we can get back to some kind of sense of new normalcy in an abnormal world.” Your customers and you as well are all operating in an abnormal world. That means being creative and identifying methods to better serve our employees and customers. 

Our mission, to increase PROFIT for commercial dealerships by transforming their business operations to best in class, has not changed. The concepts of maximizing total absorption while having an accurate and high velocity balance sheet are our core beliefs have not changed. What has changed is how we help you to fulfill this mission.

We will support you, the dealer, throughout and past this crisis. Whether we do that by moving our interventions to a virtual environment, providing virtual education courses to your staff, or simply keeping in touch on a regular basis, we were with you in the past, we are here by your side now, and we’ll be there as the economy recovers.  

We are excited to be able to offer new ways of servicing our customers. In the first week after travel was suspended, we did what we thought was impossible: held a three day, online “Digital Discovery” with a customer. The feedback was profound. We learned that by holding the Discovery online rather than in-person, we were able to find a cadence that allowed the content to be more readily absorbed. Team members from multiple locations all joined in the same conference and shared in the learning without missing a beat. Engagement was excellent and the customer loved it so much that we are now doing “mini” Digital Discovery's for their other 30+ locations this week. The concentrated, focused engagement with the dealership and department team has led to continued performance improvement for the dealership.

In addition to the “Digital Discovery”, we have successfully carried on our service, parts, used truck and accounting interventions with our customers. As with the discovery, these online interventions have proven very effective and impactful. We can schedule the interactions for short time periods over the course of increased touches. This has allowed dealership personnel to focus on the task at hand (I.e. implementing a parts cycle count procedure, installing the first step of a service process, reviewing used truck inventory, or digging deep into a financial statement item), pause and research/work on what was learned and then come back later in the day or the next day for another 2 – 3 hour deep dive. Attention spans are better, and reinforcement happens more quickly. Overall, the interventions are proving to be extremely effective.

A customer commented, “By far this is the best most usable program in margin management, in employee management, in shop management and in customer management that I have ever been involved in.” Another customer has made the statement that “the virtual engagement with my team allows them to focus on a specific issue, train on it, implement and test it and then follow-up immediately to address problems, findings, etc. We are making real-time progress and our management team is asking questions they have never asked. Most importantly, our first-time fill rate and parts inventory performance continues to improve, and we are becoming more efficient.”

We are also engaging customers in current market analysis and how to target customers and products. Even though the market has dropped, customers are depending on the dealership to help them meet their needs to keep trucks moving. Understanding and anticipating their needs is vital and we are helping our customers do this. 

Additionally, we are developing DMS-specific virtual classes for Service Operations Leadership, and Parts Inventory Performance. These are deep-dive courses designed to improve departmental performance while improving utilization of the DMS. We look forward to providing you with knowledge about using your DMS for the utmost in operational excellence.

Lastly, our Business Intelligence team has been hard at work developing tools to help the commercial dealership see their business with more clarity. We are tracking weekly the current volume in repair order and parts ticket count for over 80 dealership locations to help determine what is happening in the market so that we can help our customers right-size the department or dealership and prepare in advance as volumes start to increase. From parts inventory analysis tools to dig deep into parts inventory performance to real-time used truck values to financial analysis based on today’s business model, not two months ago, to staffing modeling based upon current volumes, we are using data to help dealers “control what you can control.”

Your dealership can run at its best - now and past this crisis. We are constantly questioning and testing what will help you improve your business. In unwavering support, we thank you for your partnership. 

-Keith Ely

Did you miss our Leading Through Crisis webinars? KEA Advisors has you covered. Watch Part 1 and Part 2 on our YouTube channel now! While you're there you can check out our previously recorded webinars as well.
KEA Advisors
785-842-6498
PO Box 1229
Lawrence, KS 66044