The folks at Carlisle & Company put together a fascinating two-part series called, "58,976 - Transformational Objectives For 2010" (Part 1 & Part 2). While the article talks about Cat Logistics' successful efforts to improve warehouse productivity in 1995, the purpose of the story is to encourage OEMs to set (and achieve) aggressive, numeric goals that improve their aftermarket business. The authors argue that successful goals must be easily understood by everyone in the organization and that having too many measurements, or overly sophisticated ones, will fail.

They go further by recommending that OEMs not waste time looking for the "perfect" measurement, just pick one goal that supports a larger business objective and go. (As long as the selected measurement plays a role in achieving a business objective—like cost reduction, revenue generation, market share growth, etc—having a singular focus on a simple goal/measurement will have the desired effect.)

The authors then look at five focus areas within OEM aftermarket business to identify goals that meet these criteria, and to highlight best-in-class (BIC) results. (Keep in mind that the goal must be simple to understand and measure but, if achieved, has benefits that are deeply-felt by the business.)

It turns out that two of Carlisle's focus areas—Sales/Marketing and Service—can be significantly improved using Enigma's technology. Looking at the goals for Sales and Marketing the recommended measurements are: service retention; satisfaction with OEM support (for improving service retention); satisfaction with wholesale support (accessories, mechanical and collision); website capability; and dealer satisfaction with OEM marketing support. Looking at the goals for Service the recommended measurements are: owner service satisfaction; fixed-right-the-first-time [we call this first-time-fix-rate (FTFR)]; dealer service manager satisfaction; and technical support. (See the Carlisle blog for the specific goals and BIC measurments that should be targeted.)

To understand how this works let's look at the FTFR measurement in the Service category. FTFR can be a frustrating goal for OEMs to target because it is largely controlled by the dealer channel. (FTFR is tied to quality of maintenance execution.) However, Carlisle points out that technical support—another important objective—has a significant impact on FTFR. This is relevant because the accuracy and usability of technical support material is entirely in the hands of the OEM. And dealers rely on the technical support materials when they perform service. Therefore, if an OEM sets a goal to have BIC technical support materials, dealers will deliver better service and FTFR will improve. That means OEMs should make measuring and improving "satisfaction with OEM support" a focus objective. (It is simple to measure and has far-reaching benefits.) We can even carry the example further and show how improved FTFR delivers improved owner satisfaction (dealer loyalty), which drives improved dealer service manager satisfaction (brand loyalty), and so on.

See how this works? When you focus on improving OEM technical support, many other important aftermarket goals can also be achieved. A similar case can be built around the objectives in the Sales and Marketing category.

At this point, I hope no one is asking themselves, "So what?" Anyone responsible for aftermarket revenues should recognize that Carlisle has done you a tremendous service by sharing key objectives that, with the right organizational focus, can have a transformational effect on your aftermarket business. Carlisle provides the objectives that will have a significant impact on the bottom line of your aftermarket. Enigma provides the technology that simplifies your ability to achieve those objectives.