Boost Profits with a Service Truck - Charter Software Inc.

Equipment dealers are always looking for ways to boost their revenue, and mobile service is the answer to increase and expand their service profitability. According to a recent Dealer Business Trends & Outlook survey by Farm Equipment Magazine, more than 40% of the dealers surveyed said they planned to invest in mobile service. “Branching out into mobile service is an investment that can definitely bolster dealer’s revenue,” says Charter Software president Anne Salemo, “but each service truck needs to be tracked to gauge performance,” says Salemo.

Steve Wurtzel, Operations Manager of Carleton Equipment, a five-location Bobcat and Doosan dealership headquartered in Kalamazoo, MI, is thrilled that he can monitor what’s selling and moving on each of his 12 service trucks using a function in his ASPEN business system. “There’s a lot of money out there on each truck,” says Wurtzel, “Each truck supports a separate inventory, which can be about $15,000.” To track the inventory and profitability of his mobile service trucks, Wurtzel is using ASPEN Alternate Stocking Locations (ASL), an added functionality of Charter Software’s ASPEN dealer management system. Using ASL, dealers can also monitor the profitability or shrinkage of inventory carried on service trucks or stored at consigned or off-site inventory locations.

Prior to using ASPEN ASL, Carleton’s mobile techs were committing parts to open invoice tickets, which they would take back to the dealership with them to close out when they returned at the end of the day. “Sometimes they would use hand-written notes to indicate parts they needed to replenish, which would have to be deciphered and manually entered into the system,” Wurtzel says. Using the ASPEN ASL feature along with A.I.M, ASPEN’s mobile application, Carleton’s mobile techs create pick lists for pickup right from the field. “They can sell parts right off the truck, just as if each truck were its own mini branch store,” he says.

The ability to monitor each mobile service truck or stocking location allows dealers to identify process issues and determine opportunities for improvement. ASPEN’s ASL functionality is an affordable add-on to our ASPEN business system that simplifies this reporting.

Anne Salemo, President, Charter Software Inc.

Using ASPEN’s ASL dealerships can:

Track parts volume and labor generated by each service truck or alternate location
Track billing for parts supplied to mobile techs
Easily replenish parts stocked on trucks
Get an electronic sign-off process for passing parts to techs
Set separate pricing for parts sold off trucksRecord differentials and shrinkage

Interested in learning more about ASPEN business management system or ASL? Click the button below and a Charter representative will be in touch shortly to answer your questions!