 United Servicers Association
e-Servicer Newsletter
Greetings!
SPRING ARRIVES as its own metaphor. Daffodils push up through the crusty
earth. Knotty buds unfold. A pale green washes the field. The slant of
light shifts. Warmth blankets the air. The familiar cycle has announced
itself again. It's time for some renewed growth both outside and inside your business. Have you followed through on your New Year's resolutions? How many new initiatives planned for your business have taken root? Now is a good time to stop and check your progress.
Oh, and remember to change the batteries in your smoke alarms too.
Sincerely yours,
The USA Team |
 Appliance Service Training Institute a
Big Success
Dean Landers MC at ASTI. |
"WOW! What a powerful collection of class offerings in both technical and
business management training! Attendee after attendee approached me to offer
thanks to the entire USA/PSA ASTI team for coordinating such an extraordinary
event." explained USA president Dean Landers. "Congratulations to each person for taking time away from your
business and family life and investing in your own personal development. The
dividends gained will be both immediate and long term as you digest and
incorporate the information you have gleaned from the various classes you
attended. Thanks for joining us at this fabulous event. Your participation made
it the success it was! " Don Holman with Mike Basich. | Don Holman, had this to say:
ASTI 2010 was a
fantastic event that has no comparison in the appliance service industry.
The classes were very well attended beginning with the pre-event classes on
Electrical/Wiring Diagrams and Basic Refrigeration. This participation and
excitement continued all the way through the other technical and management
classes until the final bell rang at 5:00 Saturday. This was a
pleasant surprise as many people caught early flights on the last day or arrived
after the start of the convention. This just shows how much interest
was generated by PSA and USA's joint efforts to assemble and host such an
event as ASTI 2010.
Hans Hansen in the testing room. | I am happy to report
that we had many people test and earn their certification by comparing their
knowledge against the only standard accepted worldwide to satisfy the
requirements for the basic skills needed to perform their job responsibilities in
our industry. A total of 189 people passed the test as follows:
60 Certified
as Certified Service Managers (CSM)
29 Certified
as Technical Certified Appliance Professional (T-CAP)
88 Certified
as Master Certified Appliance Professional (M-CAP)
12 Certified
as Customer Care Specialist (CCS)
We are very proud of the
fact that these individuals chose to help raise the standard and image of our industry
by volunteering to compare their knowledge and experience to such a high standard.
Just so you know that
passing a test and becoming certified is
not necessarily an easy task, we also had 42 people test their skills and were unable to meet the standard and pass the
test(s) with an acceptable score.
To view all the ASTI photos and download the ones you want click here
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ASTI Platinum Sponsor
Returns for 2011
Woburn,
MA March 1, 2010 - Tanner Andrews, President of the United Servicers Association,
announced that the Platinum Sponsor for the 2011 Appliance Service Training Institute
(ASTI) will once again be Mr. Appliance®, North America's leading appliance repair franchise
system. "We are delighted to have
the support of Mr. Appliance, which
is owned by the Dwyer Group. Their sponsorship of the ASTI conference clearly
indicates the value of the conference and their commitment to a robust service industry,"
explains Andrews.
"On behalf of the Mr.
Appliance team we are very proud to be the Platinum sponsor of the ASTI again in
2011. The United Servicers Association provid es valuable leadership in
education of the repair service industry and we are already looking forward to
the next conference," says Doug Rogers, President of Mr. Appliance.
The 2010 ASTI was recently held at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in Buena Vista Florida and was attended
by over 550 service professionals. The 2011 ASTI will be held on the West Coast and
is expected to continue to draw service professionals from across North
America.
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A Letter From a Service Company to N.E.W.
One of
USA's members sent this e-mail letter in mid-February to his NEW Regional
Service Manager. We are reprinting the letter with his permission (name
withheld).
"I was
rethinking the NEW situation. Obviously the $XX rate is a non
starter. I have tracked every single call we have done for NEW since we
went on the $XXX exclusive. 53 % of the calls do not require any
parts. I have to assume my careful following of the numbers should be
somewhat indicative of the industry as a whole. This means that the NEW
will lower its cost drastically on 53 % of the calls if it institutes a labor
only rate with NEW supplying all parts. I have also tracked my average
cost of parts for every call we have done. My average cost of parts per
call (this includes the calls that need parts and the calls that do not need
parts) has varied but it has always been under $XX per call, sometimes as low
as $XX per call. NEW can buy parts even cheaper than I can so once again
if NEW goes to labor only and supplies the parts it can achieve even more cost
savings."
Read complete letter and the response from NEW
Tell us what you think on this issue and we'll pass your views on to NEW anonymously. Send your view to:
administration @unitedservicers.com
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Keeping Safeguards in Place
The business was successful, but did not have the same success as
others in its peer group. The owner felt that their liberal approach to
payment of the owner's expenses, automobiles, credit card payments and
other "owner" benefits were most likely the explanation. Outside
consultants had been shunned as an unnecessary expense. The PD looked at
his financial statements, but really did not know what to look for.
The State in which the business was located was conducting a sales
tax audit and the PD sought outside assistance for he felt the issue was
beyond what Betty could handle. He brought in an outside accountant
that in the course of reviewing the records found numerous checks that
he did not understand.
Read complete article
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BSH Home Appliances Announces
"Service Agency of Year" Reward Program BSH H ome Appliances,
manufacturers of Bosch, Thermador, and Gaggenau Appliances, understands that
delivery of after sales service is a critical aspect of customer satisfaction and loyalty to our brands. In recognition of the importance of our service partners, BSH Home Appliances will be
rewarding those agencies regionally and nationally which provide the highest levels of customer
service based upon a balanced scorecard of key performance indicators and
customer surveys.
Read full article
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 5 Tips to Create Strong Passwords
Recently a USA member had his personal email and Facebook accounts hacked. Within minutes the hacker had sent a distress email to the member's contacts in his email program asking for emergency funds to be sent to him overseas. When the member's friends read the email they attempted to contact the member through his Facebook account. The hacker was in control of both the email and Facebook accounts and assured the friends that this member was in trouble and needed money wired to him in England right away. This type of scam happens hourly on the Internet and is often the result of weak and common passwords used on several programs.  Recent security incidents have stepped up the need for robust secret
code. Last month, 20,000 passwords obtained from a phishing scam
turned up on a third-party Web site, revealing login credentials to
Windows Live Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo Mail accounts, among others. A
subsequent analysis of the compromised passwords revealed that many users were tardy in creating secure passwords.
With these in mind, here are five considerations to strengthen passwords
and the password-generating process, for both work and play.
- Use tools that automatically generate random passwords
- Use alphanumeric characters and unique symbols to create stronger
passwords
- Instead of mnemonics, try a 'pass-phrase'
- Change passwords periodically
- avoid generating passwords using personal information
Read complete article |
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|
Most Valuable Partner Award
Tanner Andrews of USA & Shawn Connely of Appliance Parts Depot. |
At the recent ASTI, USA presented MVP awards to parts distributors that supported the
independent service provider in 2009 by sponsoring a USA RSM training
meeting at the branch level.
Recipients of the award were
Appliance
Parts Depot
1st Source Servall
AP Wagner
D&L Appliance
Parts
Trible's Appliance Parts |
Life Time Achievement Award Presented to
Jim
Pearce at the ASTI
At
the recent Appliance Service Training Institute held at the Disney
Coronado Springs Resort, USA posthumously honored Jim Pearce with a Life
Time Achievement Award for his many contributions to past USA
conventions and the appliance service industry. Jim's wife Darlene
Pearce and her children as well as Jim's parents were on hand to receive
the award. For Jim's daughter, Jennifer, it was a magical weekend.
Read "My Magical Weekend" ,
by Jennifer Hinton
Pearce |
Most Valuable Player Award
Was awarded to
USA past president Walt Dews
at the ASTI for his many dears of dedication to the industry and USA.
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Most Valuable
Player Award
Was awarded to
USA's visionary creator
David Ashton
at the ASTI for his many dears of dedication to the industry and
USA.
Dave was unable to attend the event but sent this letter :
Dear Tanner,
The Most Valuable Player Award presented to me is sincerely welcome. I am honored to be remembered in this way. I am sorry that due to my illness I was unable to receive this award in person. Please extend my thanks and appreciation to the board and partners.
Sincerely,
Dave
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USA Membership Renewals Due
To renew
your
USA membership just follow this link to the USA web site or click here to go directly to our secure on-line
renewal site and login with
your personal username and password.
If
you need assistance or wish to speak to someone in person about your
membership renewal please call us at 1-800-683-2558.
Why
should you
renew? As a member you and your business benefit from business
management and
technical training programs, government lobbying, building stronger
relationships
with manufacturers and networking, which all contribute to a better
bottom-line
for your business.
Tanner
Andrews
President
United
Servicers Association |
Need help running your business?
Profits not where you'd like them to be?
Join USA today and gain the confidence you need to run your business instead of it running you.
With a USA membership you'll receive:
- Management & technical training
- Annual national convention
- Networking with fellow servicers
- Peer group facilitation
- Industry relations
- Meet with representatives of all major manufacturers
- Increased business productivity and profits
- Proven service strategies that work
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