Business Corner [Jan. 1990--Electronic Servicing & Technology]

Trends for the '90s

By William J. Lynott

Lynott is president of WI Lynott. Associates. a management consulting firm specializing in profitable service management and customer satisfaction research.

The 1980s were a traumatic time for the electronics servicing industry. For all practical purposes, black-and-white television, like old soldiers, just faded away during the decade. New technology continued to render color TV sets less prone to failure; at the same time, it made possible a host of new and complex electronic products. For example, the desktop computer and its peripheral devices have grown from virtually nothing 10 years ago into one of the world's most important industries.

Another problem servicers face is that, as we enter the 1990s, some manufacturers seem increasingly obstreperous about negotiating fair rates for what little in-warranty work remains.

These and other influences during the past decade have sharply increased the casualty rate among electronics servicers. Precise figures are difficult to come by, but there are certainly thousands fewer small electronics service companies now than there wore at the beginning of the 1980s.

The survivors

Does all this signal even tougher times during the decade just beginning? I don't believe so.

For one thing, the long and painful shakeout in the industry has left a group of survivors who are more sophisticated, more energetic, and far more adapt able to change than many of the pioneers who helped to build the industry as we know it.

In my travels around the country, I'm seeing a new breed of service dealer.

For the most part, these folks started business during times that were already turning hard. Many of today's electronics servicers cut their teeth long after the plush times marked by fragile vacuum-tube sets and emerging color receivers that seemed to be down as of ten as they were up. Most never luxuriated in the simple inventory requirements that centered on a few dozen fast-moving tubes and an assortment of standard resistors and capacitors. Most never witnessed a visit by an open handed manufacturer's rep who was desperate to find a qualified service organization to handle his company's products.

These are the people who have held their businesses together - some even prospered -- during a time when others were fading into oblivion. These are the survivors.

If you're reading this, chances are you're one of those survivors. Congratulations! The fact that you have weathered all or part of the toughest decade yet for electronics service dealers says a lot about you.

New opportunities

But now it's time to look at the new decade -- to consider what problems and opportunities for the electronics servicer are likely to emerge during the 1990s.

If you've been tuned in to one of the most important changes in the business climate in years, you already know how important time is to people today. Businesses in every industry are finally coming to recognize how important it is to today's consumers that they make the best use of limited time. Waiting for a servicer to show up or for a TV or VCR to be repaired is not on anyone's list of enjoyable pastimes. The servicer who learns how to reduce the time between a service call and the completed repair is going to gain a major competitive ad vantage during the 1990s. You can't procrastinate on this point. If you have doubts, take a look at your local Yellow Pages and notice the number of service dealers already advertising "service to day." I enjoy challenging servicers on these claims as I travel around the country, but I'm finding out that most of them are actually delivering.

Then there is the new emphasis on convenience. Entirely new industries are being built around consumers' needs to have service available at their convenience. Just look around your town and you'll see banks, supermarkets, auto dealers and realtors staying open Saturdays, evenings, even Sundays to meet their customers' expectations.

To me, this is perhaps the most important single marketing concept for servicers to embrace during the 1990s: It is the customer's expectations that must be met. It is the customer who decides what is or is not "good service." With more than 35 years in the service industry, I'm no stranger to the fact that many service executives are accustomed to deciding what does and does not constitute good service. That's the way it was in the beginning. I know because I was one of the guilty ones. We had more reasons then for not being able to get out there within 24 hours than you could shake a stick at.

That philosophy won't wash today, and those who are quick to grasp the need for change are the ones most likely to be around 10 years from now, celebrating the beginning of the 2000s.

Author's note: If you have ideas and innovations that help you manage your service business more successfully and more profitably, write to ES&T. Please don't hesitate to let me know if you disagree or have suggestions.