CHARLOTTE — Automation is key for equipment dealers looking to sell aftermarket products as it will help increase attachment rates and streamline their integration into the sales cycle.
“What I’ve found visiting dealers is that, on the front end, there’s no new automation,” Brett Davis, president of agriculture and construction at Trsnact, said at Equipment Finance Connect in Charlotte on Monday. “Of course, banks have portals, insurance companies have portals, but it’s a nightmare. How many different systems do you have to tumble through to get things done?”
Equipment dealers should be taking a hint from auto dealers, he pointed out.
“That’s the one thing in the auto industry that I love, because they figured that out with Dealertrack,” Davis said. “This is what has to happen in [the equipment] industry, because otherwise we’re just going to continue to flounder in the way we sell these aftermarket products,”
Attachment rates for ancillary products in the equipment industry are “in the teens,” Davis said, noting that standardizing a protection program for used equipment should also help increase attachment rates, he said.
“I’m working with some dealers to create a blanket used [ancillary product] program for every single piece of equipment that leaves the door,” Davis said. “Don’t we want that 40% or 50% margin on parts and service?
“Fleets need to go out with plans that protect the customer and the dealer, and stitch that customer back to that dealer at all times,” he said.
