Reason 1 – The Problem
Every business leader and business manager has a core set of skills and knowledge.
The corollary to this statement is that every business leader and business manager lacks skills and knowledge in something.
So what do you do when you need missing skills and knowledge to accomplish a specialist one-off task or project?
Or what if you think you have the skills and knowledge required but you just don’t have the time or the resources available in your own internal team to get it done properly?
Wrong answer: You kick the can down the road and deal with it later.
Unfortunately, this is what most people do, most of the time.
You’ve probably done it yourself at some point. I know I have.
So, like me, you’ll know what result you get from kicking the can down the road.
At best, all you’ve done is postpone the inevitable i.e. the act of dealing with the issue or problem properly.
At worst, the act of delaying means the problem has now got worse and will take more effort, time and money to fix. Ouch!
At it’s extreme worst, the situation will have got so bad that you lose your job or your business. S**T!
In short, kicking the can down the road is (almost) always the wrong answer.
Right answer: You get someone to help you.
This is the right way to address a skill or knowledge gap or a shortfall in resources required for a specialist task or project.
And no, asking for help is not a sign of weakness, or an admission that you can’t do your job properly, as some people say to me.
Asking for help is a sign of maturity.
But what if you would like some specialist help and it isn’t available or the quality of the available help is poor?
This is exactly the experience that I had during my career as a manager and leader of aftermarket businesses.
When I wanted specialist aftermarket parts support or consultancy services, I could never find it.
My effort to find it always wasted lots of time and money, caused me stress and only yielded resources that purported to be aftermarket and parts experts when they weren’t really.
Does this sound familiar?
When my colleagues wanted manufacturing specialists – they got them.
When my colleagues wanted marketing specialists – they got them.
When my colleagues wanted systems development specialists – they got them.
But when I wanted aftermarket or service parts specialists – I had to go without.
Which means that our customers lost out on the enhanced service experience they could have received.
And means that my staff lost the opportunity to deliver their best and become the best they can be.
And also means that my business had to forego the lost growth, customer retention and financial stability that a stronger aftermarket business could have provided.
That felt wrong and was unfair – to me, my customers, my staff and my business.
Something had to change.
I felt very strongly that aftermarket business leaders (like me at the time) deserved better and deserved to have the same access to specialist resources enabling them to deliver the customer service experience, staff experience and aftermarket business results that everyone deserves.
That’s why I started Servispart Consulting.
Adrian Botham
Founder & MD, Servispart Limited
Reason 2 – The Opportunity
If you work with engineered products in a manufacturing or distribution business then you’ll already know that the aftermarket parts and service side of the business is much more profitable and financially stable than the product manufacturing and distribution side.
But do you also know that the leading manufacturers of engineered products are growing faster than their competitors and making 50%-80% of total profits from aftermarket services and support rather than manufacturing and distribution of new product?
Servitised (or advanced) manufacturers as we call them, also lead the way in adopting new business models and disruptive technology to meet customer service needs that are more sophisticated and demanding than ever before.
Simply put, if you’re still investing most of your time, money and effort in new products, then it’s time to rethink your strategy and start exploiting your undeveloped aftermarket opportunities to accelerate growth in sales, profits and cash flow; out-compete your competitors, and win/retain more customers.
But developing your aftermarket services when your resource and knowledge base is focused on new products is a seismic shift. If you’ve never done it before then you’ll need help to reduce the time, cost and risks involved.
That’s where Servispart Consulting can help.
About Servispart Consulting
Servispart Consulting is an independent management consultancy dedicated to the aftermarket needs of manufacturers and distributors of engineered products (parts and equipment).
We deliver servitisation, aftermarket growth strategies and improvements to aftermarket processes, systems, service partners and organisations.
We take on your most complex aftermarket challenges and situations and work alongside you to help achieve better results, much faster, more cost-effectively and with much less risk than you can alone.
So if you are looking to:
develop or revise your servitisation strategy or aftermarket strategy;
grow your business by winning new customers, or improving field services;
improve your profitability and cash flow by improving your processes, systems or organisation;
optimise your service parts operation by improving planning, logistics or data management;
resource your business by partnering or procuring services or technology;
Servispart Consulting may be able to help – contact us now for a confidential, no-obligation discussion regarding your business situation, your challenges and how we might support you.
