Regular readers of this column should know at this point about my affinity for the American Trucking Associations‘ Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC).
I’ve always enjoyed TMC’s meetings for two main reasons: The technical knowledge about commercial vehicles on display is second to none and there is no better place for someone working in the parts and service space to spend a week embedded with fleet professionals to learn more about their operations.
I guess technically that’s all one reason, education, but it’s two differ-ent types of education, which is why I wrote it as such.
It’s the second reason I’d like to focus on. While at TMC I spend a lot of time in task force meetings listening to fleets and service providers discuss their partnerships and how the latter can implement best practices and processes to help the former. I enjoy attending these meetings to see the cooperation and collaboration from both sides. When a good discussion gets going you almost forget the attendees come from different sides of the industry.
I wish that cooperation was as strong the other 363 days of the year. And from some recent conversations I’ve had with fleet maintenance professionals during TMC’s Annual Meeting in March and the months since, most of them feel the same way.
This isn’t to say that service providers and their fleet customers don’t get along. I don’t think that’s true. I think we can all agree conversations at TMC are calmer and more composed than most fleets and their service partners have during regular business hours, but that isn’t to say the two sides fight all the time.
From what I can gather, most fleet managers say their issues with their service providers aren’t that they don’t communicate, but that they don’t communicate transparently. Too often service providers withhold key information about a repair that ultimately impacts a customer’s ability to get his truck back on the road.
As you’d expect, fleets don’t care too much for that.
One fleet manager told me he often feels his dealer partners string him along when he’s waiting on a vehicle diagnosis — claiming his truck “is the next one” to enter the shop — in order to keep the truck at the dealership. The fleet manager told me this is trouble-some because the service provider is putting its best interests ahead of his, leaving him uncertain on how to schedule around the unit’s downtime. He says the service provider’s desire to complete the repair is understand-able, but when his truck sits for two days for a diagnosis that ultimately uncovers a three-hour repair, he often feels betrayed.
Another fleet manager told me he believes truck dealers are beginning to neglect customer service as vehicles become more complicated. His theory is if fleet customers are fully reliant on dealers to provide warranty work and service on their advanced new equipment, what’s the motivation for those dealers to invest in customer service? Customers are captive to the nameplate, he says.
I don’t know if either fleet manager is right but I think their concerns have merit. I’ve talked to enough frustrated fleets to know the customer service they receive isn’t flawless. I think it’s something that should alarm all of us.
A fleet running 500 3-year-old tractors from a single nameplate is overwhelmingly reliant on its OEM, but that doesn’t mean that situation is a requirement. I’ve heard stories from fleets (and dealers) about large carriers abandoning a dealer or truck brand due to poor service communication.
That’s something we all need to remember, regardless of where we fall in the service channel. No customer is guaranteed.
