Office Technology Service Excellence Diamond Award Winner
It doesn’t take an advanced degree or knowledge of rocket science to figure out why some dealerships are more successful than others. Consider Automated Business Products, one of the leading office technology dealerships in Salt Lake City, UT. The current incarnation of the company began in 1999 after current president Lee Christensen and two other partners acquired a small 20-year old office technology dealership and changed its name to Automated Business Products. During the next 15 years the dealership grew from a $1.2-million dealership to a $16-million dealership. How’d they do that? A large portion of Automated’s success is the result of hiring the best people in the industry, while being a respected and valued business partner to its clients. Along with that is a commitment to delivering quality products and personal and caring service to customers. As Automated says on its Website, “Doing what is right for the customer is the only way we know…it’s the only way you should accept.” The key words there are “customer” and “service” and when you put those together you have the foundation for ABP’s success. Their customer service shines brightest in the technical service clients receive every single day.
Right to left: Lee Christensen, Todd Bennett, and Mike Archer CFO, one of the original partners.
That’s not just a lot of talk either, because Automated is one of a select group of dealerships in the country to earn BEI Services and ENX magazine’s Office Technology Service Excellence Award. This new industry award recognizes service excellence among document imaging dealerships based on key performance metrics. “We’re recognizing dealers and technicians whose service performance meets, or exceeds, specific and clear measurable goals for machine and technician performance,” observes Wes McArtor, president of BEI Services. Some 250 companies submitted their data to BEI Services for analysis with only nine achieving the highest level of efficiency within their service departments. Truth be told, the bar was set high. A significant amount of time was spent qualifying these dealerships by evaluating the data and verifying the numbers were accurate to ensure their service departments were performing as well as the numbers indicated. For Christensen, this award reflects the great job done by Automated’s Director of Service, Todd Bennett, and his team. With more than half their technicians winning individual awards, it’s no wonder this dealership is one of the top in the nation. The relationship between Christensen and Bennett goes back to their days at IKON and Bennett was Christensen’s first hire after acquiring Automated. “When Todd and I first started working together we took a look at IKON’s service model and evaluated it closely,” recalls Christensen. “But IKON focused on measuring parts cost more closely than they did labor effectiveness. We looked at that ratio and determined the labor component of our cost structure was much larger than the parts component so we decided we weren’t going to worry so much about parts usage. What we wanted to establish was a culture of call avoidance and a fix it right the first time approach in our service model.” As a result Automated focuses on total service calls, replacing parts before they fail versus waiting until something breaks. “We try to expand the volume of copies or prints between calls for any technology we service,” says Christensen. That’s what ultimately led ABP to adopt the BEI Services program. “Their tech compensation model was a nice fit for what we were already trying to do internally and was the answer to providing service excellence in our marketplace,” notes Christensen. The ability to compile, standardize, and apply uniform error-correction has made a big difference at the dealership. ABP uses data exported directly from a large population of copier dealers’ service computers to monitor average service costs and identify which machines in the field are exceeding the average cost. That information helps identify where improvements can be made and the projected savings generated by those improvements. He appreciates having data on all aspects of machine and technician performance, including model and segment performance, call-backs and hold-for-parts ratios, part-life, copy volume performance, and refurbished machine performance. In the last seven years, ABP’s MIF, defined as “Machines in Field”, has increased by 42 percent. “The number is somewhat subjective,” he explains. “It does include machines that are billed locally but are out of our service area. We also have a number of HP’s under contract.” He’s found the best way to evaluate MIF is by volume. “I track volume in a more localized way, or volume generated by techs touching machines,” he explains. In October 2008, ABP’s techs were responsible for 30 million black & white copies and 1.8 million color copies. As of November 2014, those numbers had grown to 35 million black & white and 7 million color.
The ABS management team.
More importantly, ABP’s service department has been the foundation of the company and they’ve got the numbers to back that up. For example, in key service categories’ call back percentages, ABP has experienced a 46 percent improvement as of November 2014. First call efficiency has been increased 35 percent while ABP’s average hold for parts rate is 9 percent. Meanwhile, the average copies between calls are 31,092 on MFPs and 32,708 on HP products. “That is subjective and depends on segment mixes in the field,” acknowledges Bennett. Going by the numbers and BEI Services’ grading criteria, the dealership’s service techs score a solid A-, placing them among the top of their class. Bennett and Christensen are well aware that the dealership’s service department is of excellent quality. “Receiving a prestigious award unsolicited really solidifies that we truly are doing a great job in service,” states Christensen. “The biggest improvement is our overall customer satisfaction,” beams Bennett. “Most of our techs are very experienced; they understand the program, the benefits to them, the customer and the company. They know that high productivity, quality calls, and smart parts usage equates to improved copies between calls. As a result techs are receiving good bonuses, customers are receiving great service, and company profits have improved.” That said, Bennett realizes there will always be new technicians to train. “New techs are helped to assimilate into our culture and understand the BEI system that we manage.” It comes with the territory. “This is where we put a lot of our effort for improvement,” states Bennett. “We strive to improve the numbers when we identify an issue.” Implementing this program has been helpful, and from a service perspective it is in sync with what ABP strives to achieve. “My customers like my techs even though they don’t see them a lot, which is my goal,” says Bennett. Automated has and continues to work hard to ensure the service it provides to customers on a daily basis is second to none. That’s why a commitment to containing costs and labor expenses by properly training techs and stocking them with the correct parts is top of mind within the dealership. Bennett’s ability to see what his costs are on specific models and understand what his costs are based on allows him to make informed decisions, which ultimately lead to greater customer satisfaction. Although some dealers have been able to reduce the number of techs in the field as a result of having all this data at their fingertips, his existing technician team has been able to handle additional workloads with the utmost efficiency even as ABP’s customer base grew. “I didn’t have to hire additional staff for a long time,” states Bennett, who just added an additional tech on January 1 to keep pace with the dealership’s growth in color output volume. Bennett reports that ABP’s techs are compensated for how well they perform their jobs, and as a result are as satisfied as their customers. “This model has changed the way we manage our people,” says Bennett. “Since we changed to this type of program, it’s more advantageous to them to have more clicks in that territory since it’s based on the volume of each machine.” Plus Automated has become adept at identifying problem machines sooner rather than later. “Whenever problems come up, sales reps and techs are getting in front of customers a lot faster than ever before,” states Bennett. It’s all about being proactive, which leads to greater customer satisfaction, even though the data allowing for the improvements are transparent to the customer. “The most noticeable thing for our customers is they’re not seeing us as often,” states Bennett. “Service response is the first thing many potential customers ask about. How fast are you going to be here? Since having access to this data I can’t remember the last time a customer asked about our response time.” Still, it’s one thing to have all this information; it’s another to act on it. “This information helps us understand what ‘good’ looks like,” adds Christensen. “We can tell what good looks like on a specific machine model because we’re going by information from a database that is tracking similar machines from all over the country. The data lets us know what to expect from them as far as copies between calls. In addition it allows us to understand what ‘good’ looks like from the standpoint of technician performance. Now instead of looking at technician performance from a call completed standpoint, we can analyze their performance from a qualitative standpoint, which is in my opinion much more accurate.” Both Christensen and Bennett are excited about being recognized as a Diamond Office Technology Service Excellence Dealer. “It’s going to be exciting to tell my techs,” says Bennett. “Being recognized with this award really confirms how good our people are. I have an excellent staff.” This recognition is also something that Christensen and Bennett, as well as ABP’s sales organization, plan on sharing with customers along with how this access to service-related data enables the dealership to offer the highest levels of service. Indeed, Automated’s sales group and Bennett consistently talk about how ABP’s service department leverages data to improve its service levels. “This is a big deal,” states Bennett. “Once we start talking about copies between calls and how we do it, I get their attention.” Christensen concludes, “When it comes to differentiating ourselves in the marketplace, this is the way to do it.” Automated Business Products Salt Lake City, UT www.abpweb.com President: Lee Christensen Director of Service: Todd Bennett Brands Serviced: Ricoh, HP, Kyocera, Canon, Fujitsu Territory Covered: Northern Utah Approximate Yearly Revenues for Dealership: $15-$20 million Approximate # of Customers Serviced: 4,000 ABP’s Key areas of service excellence:
- A 46% improvement in call back percentages
- A 35% increase in first call efficiency
- Average copies between calls is 31,092 on MFPs and 32,708 on HP products
