I just ordered my first parts online, through my automotive shop management system, with a direct connection to an electronic catalog and a local supplier. I know that isn’t a big deal to most of you, just as I know I’m a little late to the e-party, especially considering how long the party has been going on. Nevertheless, I’m here.
I’d love to be able to tell you what a great experience it was, but I can’t; I’d be lying. It was so bad I wrote about it in our sister magazine, Motor Age. In fact, the experience would’ve needed to be a bit better just to be considered bad.
You would think the opportunity to generate more revenue with less cost and effort would be appealing, but based upon my experience, that can’t be the case. Even though we finally managed to cobble together an online connection to one of the four suppliers we contacted, their performance was, and continues to be, less than stellar…not that the first supplier to succeed did much better.
That connection was accomplished almost exclusively through the efforts of our software provider, which could indicate their overall level of interest.
I’m still waiting for the remaining three suppliers to figure things out. But, frankly, you will have to forgive me if I choose not to hold my breath.
I don’t want to appear cynical, but it’s hard not to shrug your shoulders and wonder what’s up when you initiate a request that will ultimately result in higher revenues for one of your suppliers, and they ignore you. I guess it might make sense if I wasn’t paying my bills or maybe even not paying them on time, but that isn’t the case. It might make sense if I wasn’t buying very much, but isn’t the driving force behind this kind of connection the motivation to get us to buy more stuff regardless of how much we may have purchased in the past?
Instead of service, it begins to feel like disservice, which is exponentially worse than poor service or even the absence of service. Dis-service feels more like someone is intentionally going out of his or her way just to annoy you!
So, I just have to know: How serious are you guys about creating a direct connection between the service bay and the parts counter? Because from where I’m sitting, it seems like a lot of involvement and not much commitment.
In Motor Age, I suggested the flow of service should move in the opposite direction of the flow of revenue. In other words, the responsibility to provide service rests with the party headed for the bank with a deposit clenched tightly in their fist. If I’m paying, I should have the right to expect performance from whoever cashes the check. If you’re paying, it’s my responsibility to perform. So, which way is the money moving?
You want me to buy from you, you want to connect directly to my service bays or have me connect directly into your inventory: Make it easy for me. Don’t make me jump through hoops; I jump through enough hoops when my customers push the money in my direction. If you don’t want to make it easy, start moving some cash this way.
