ASTI 2015 Recap

Another great ASTI (Appliance Service Technical Institute) is wrapping up in New Orleans. As usual, the United Servicers Association provided a great program.

Attendees were treated to training classes on everything from basic appliance training to advanced brand and model specific sessions. Classes and discussions on business management helped service companies address changes in business techniques and marketing as the world continues in digital evolution.

For fun, skills competitions were held, Mardis Gras parades passed the hotel, and the French Quarter was just blocks away with all of New Orleans famous hospitality at attendees disposal.

Todd and Trev attended to represent W.L. May and did send us some pictures of their experiences. Those of you who visit our social media sites may have already seen these.

The Showroom Floor

Todd Talking to Few Booth Visitors

Skill Competitions Included a Door Rebuilding Speed Contest

Justin Duby from Just-In Time Appliance Repair In Grants Pass, OR

The French Quarter At Night

Todd With Mardis Gras Beads and a Big Smile

Todd Enjoying a Cool Beverage Before Coming Back Home To Portland

Todd asked me to share how invigorating the experience always is for him. He always enjoys seeing other folks in our business in a more relaxed environment. But what he likes the best is when he sees a person at their first ASTI.  When he sees them making the realization that United Servicers Association is sharing so many useful skills it makes him proud to be involved in bringing such a positive event to the industry.

For Trev, it was his first ASTI. He was also quite impressed with the knowledge that was being shared by so many participants from the United Servicers Association. As a side note, he pointed out that he really enjoyed that the event was in New Orleans this year because the food was just so delicious everywhere they went in that city.

We hope to see YOU at next years ASTI and at the Fall regional meetings later this year.  Until then have a great Spring and Summer.

Parts Inventory Management: Elusive and Evolving

Today we reprint an article, with permission, that was featured in the January 2015 USA Newsletter. It is by USA's Executive Director Paul Mac Donald and covers an important issue facing the appliance service industry. Thanks to Paul for allowing us to share it with you.

As I wrote last month, the best way to facilitate first call completes is to pre-diagnose every service call before rolling a truck. But the second biggest contributing factor is also worth investigating. It’s all about having the right parts to complete repairs in a single trip. Having the right part will not only make you more profitable, it leads to happy customers who are impressed with your efficiency and speed, and inclined to make recommendations to family and friends across their social network. 

Typically, replacement parts inventories are not managed well. This can be a major problem for service providers, as consumers unleash their displeasure on Yelp, Facebook and Angie’s List. Technology in modern appliances is unique to each brand and model, and repair parts are costly, making it impossible for service providers to stock their trucks with fast-moving common parts. 

Service providers are being forced to take a new approach to managing parts inventories. Gone are the days of universal parts with elements that fit in eight different models. New appliance models are released every six months as consumers crave the latest gadgets and gear. Have you seen the Dacor wall oven with Wi-Fi connectivity enabling users to surf the net from the control panel? Imagine Martha Stewart walking you through stuffing a turkey via YouTube on your oven control. I’ve seen it in action. It’s impressive, but there’s not one part in that oven that can be used on a Wolf or GE oven. 

Evolving technology in appliances presents a real repair challenge.  How do service providers ensure they have the right part at the right time to achieve a first call complete? To make money in the service business a service provider has to pre-diagnose every call. Based on a customer’s complaint and the machine’s ability to self-diagnose using fault codes and internet connectivity, the servicer must order every conceivable part before running a call to the customer’s home. This is no joking matter since you may order three parts and only need one.  The other two go back to the supplier for credit. Parts distributors are taking the brunt of this new inventory return phenomenon. Sooner or later this condition is going to come to a head and the industry will be forced to resolve it and level the playing field so that no one party takes the hit. 

It is time to raise the retail price of appliances to cover the warranty and service obligations after the sale. So far we have not seen much motivation or movement from the manufacturers, however, in my opinion, they have to address the cost of this new phenomenon. Ultimately the consumer will bear the brunt of the cost to repair appliances of the future. One manufacturer has already stepped up to the plate. When you repair a Dacor appliance under warranty the manufacturer speaks to the consumer to validate the failure and pre-diagnose the repair. Then they ship all conceivable parts to the authorized servicer at no charge so that they have every chance of completing the repair in the first trip without the burden of cost of acquisition or returning of parts. Such costs have to be accounted for in the selling price of the appliance. You can’t ask for better than that. Or can you? 

I predict the appliances of the not-too-distant future will not only self-diagnose, but also self-repair, via internet commands. It won’t cost much more to build appliances with dual components during manufacturing so that when one fails the central controller will simply switch to the back-up component without the help of humans.  

Attend the United Servicers Annual Service Training Institute the 2015 ASTI February 9-12 in New Orleans to see all the latest technology in appliances and what’s coming next. Registration and details at asti.us. 

Paul Mac Donald

United Servicers Association

Three Types of Repair Companies

(Flickr user 401K 2012/CC)

How is your business doing? Are you happy with your current level of success? Would you like to to be more profitable?

We want you to succeed. In fact, your success is vital to our own. From this side of the counter we often see businesses in one of three stages: growing, holding on, or falling behind. We also see a lot of the same factors helping determine where a company might fall in that spectrum. Lets looks a little closer.

Growing. Even during the height of the economic downturn. some appliance repair companies managed to grow and expand. While each of those companies have their own style and approach to service, they also have a lot in common. Most of them are aware of how the Internet has changed marketing and have adjusted accordingly. They did not do this without help. Many of them also utilized training offered by the United Servicer Association. These companies also make time to keep up with new products and attend product training whenever it is available.

Holding On. The companies that we see holding on are not expanding their businesses. Occasionally they will take advantage of training opportunities if they are convenient enough to attend. These companies may need more training in Internet marketing. Sometimes they are learning new products on the job, wasting valuable time in the process.  They might also be losing time by not keeping a big enough inventory of parts on hand, resulting in return trips that cost both time and vehicle expenses. Not everyone that is just holding on is lacking in skills, though. Sometimes retirement is close by and they have no exit plan. They are willing to go out of business when they retire, leaving them with no desire or need to grow their business.

Falling behind. Sadly, we see some companies falling a little farther behind each year. These are the toughest cases to watch. Often these companies declined opportunities for further skills, either mechanically or digitally. They tend to blame the economy. Many times there is an avoidance of anything resembling a computer. By avoiding jobs involving computer boards, and pinning their hopes on the phone book ads that used to work so well, they find themselves with fewer and fewer jobs. These are the people that need to hear what the successful companies are doing. Unfortunately, they are the same people who will probably never even see this post.

If you want to be one of those "growing" companies, it is up to you to keep your skills up to date. To help you achieve that goal, W.L. May will be sponsoring and attending the ASTI (Appliance Service Training Institute). The event will be held in New Orleans, LA from Feb. 8-12th. Classes will be offered not only on product training, but also on business and Internet marketing. We hope we see you there!

For more from education and entertainment from W.L. May Company click...HERE

Five Seasonal Items

(Flickr user Squidish/CC)

Here we are, almost half way through November. The annual onslaught of kitchen related appliances is underway as people prepare for their various holiday celebrations. We here at W.L. May have been busy, not only with helping find those obscure range parts, but in a few other ways as well. We have some upcoming activities and some products worth mentioning. Here are five things:

1. This year, W.L. May is holding a Toy Drive to provide toys to sick kids who will be hospitalized at Christmas-time. All of our branches are accepting donations of new, unwrapped and unused toys. The hospitals involved have asked donors to avoid toys with violent or religious themes, We thank you in advance for helping out.
2. Cadet, the makers of high quality electric heaters and a Northwest-based company has joined forces with W.L. May to help address your winter heating needs. As an authorized distributor, we now have access to their entire product line and look forward to serving you.
3. We have a few new dishwasher installation kits on hand that are proving to be popular. The basic kit (Part#  DWK-6572SSDW) includes 1 6ft SS Dishwasher hose with 3/8" standard elbow, 6 ft straight power cord, 3/4"  "Whirlpool Elbow", an 1.5" hose clamp, 3 yellow wire nuts, a roll of Teflon tape and a Romex connector. The same kit is alternately available with  a 6 ft 90 degree power cord (Part# DWK-6572DW).
4. During the late fall and early winter, we make a point of deepening our stock of kitchen appliance parts. There are also range part specials we are running through the end of the year, your account manager can share details. Getting around during the winter can be challenging, so we offer drop shipping to your customers on your behalf. If we are for some reason out of stock, parts can also be special ordered from the factory and drop shipped to your service company on a next day or second day basis. Again, ask your account manager for details and shipping options. 
5. United Servicers Association is now taking registration for their main meeting, the ASTI (Appliance Service Technical Institute) that will be held in New Orleans, LA from February 9-12th, 2015. As always, this will be a great opportunity to improve your repair skills as well as your business skills. It is also a good way to see new products and share service experiences with repair companies from all across North America.

As you can see their is a lot going on. W.L. May is here to help you out along the way. Our goal is keeping you supplied and informed, We are a solution oriented company, we just happen to sell appliance parts. Have a great holiday season both personally as well as professionally!