The service department is increasingly important in the equipment dealership, making your role more complex and challenging than ever before. Companies that are your customers have seen tremendous change in the past decade. Thousands have gone out of business, and those left have grown dynamically. As we go forward, there will be fewer and fewer decision-makers deciding who services these customers.

Because of these changes, building a solid relationship with these companies will be vital to every dealership. Management contracts will be the norm, as customers outsource all functions that are not part of their core businesses. The success of these long-term contractual relationships depends significantly on you and your department. The customer service you provide, the value of your services, and the cost and expense control you maintain will determine your dealership's success in the future.The purpose of this book is to prepare you for this opportunity and challenge. And the training and tools that go along with it.

"Service Management in an Equipment Dealership" is a book that will help you professionally manage your dealership's service department.

Our view of service and the service manager we present may differ significantly from how you currently view your position and department. In many dealerships, service has been considered a support function, not a profit center or department.

Here, we argue that not only is service of increasing importance and satisfying customers critical, but also as a profit center. Generally, we use the term dealership for either a distributor or the dealership. Because of its increasing importance, examining service individually regarding efficiency, effectiveness, productivity, expense control, and profitability is vital. We have presented long-term objectives in several critical areas that you can use as guidelines for best practices. Your job will be to set short-term objectives based on your company's strategies and market.