It is hard to believe we’re almost halfway through 2026. As I look back on the conversations with customers, industry colleagues, and attendees of industry events so far this year, most of them center around the same themes: labor shortages, margin pressure, inventory strategy, and the growing role of technology in our business. All important. All real.
But one idea I came across recently had nothing to do with KPIs, dashboards, or pricing strategy, and it may be more impactful than all of them.
It came from a story about Toyota Motor Corporation from back in the day. In an effort to better understand American customers, they built a full-scale mock dining room to show their executives how people in the U.S. actually live and use space. The point was simple. Stop guessing what the customer experience looks like and start experiencing it firsthand.
That idea should resonate with every aftermarket leader, because too many parts and service operations today are being managed from behind the counter, or worse, from behind a report.
The Disconnect That’s Costing You Money
Let’s be honest about how most aftermarket departments operate. We measure fill rate, track technician productivity, monitor response time, and review parts sales by category. All necessary. None of it tells you what your customer is actually experiencing.
Your customer does not feel your fill rate; they feel whether they got the right part the first time. They do not see your technician utilization; they feel how long their equipment is down. They do not care about your internal process; they care about how easy or difficult it is to do business with you.
That gap between what you measure and what they feel is where margin quietly erodes. Lost follow-up work, parts sourced elsewhere, and customers who stop calling, and you never know why. That is not a pricing problem; that is an experience problem.
Build Your Own “Reality Check”
You do not need to build a mock showroom to fix this, but you do need to stop assuming your process works and start testing it.
Here is a simple exercise that every dealership should be doing. Have your team act as a customer. Call your parts department and try to identify a part without using internal shortcuts. Submit a service request and track how long it takes to get a clear answer. Ask about a backordered item and see how it is communicated. Then document what actually happens, not what should happen, but what actually happens.
This is where things get uncomfortable. You will find delays longer than you expected. You will see unclear or inconsistent communication. You will uncover additional steps that add no value. None of this shows up cleanly in your KPIs, but your customers feel it every day.
Where Dealers Win Right Now
Today, most dealers are fighting the same battles. OEM pressure, aging inventory from the past few years, higher floorplan costs, technician shortages, and customers watching every dollar. You are not going to outprice everyone. You are not going to outstaff every competitor.
But you can be easier to do business with, and that is where the opportunity is. Dealers that reduce friction win more parts business, capture more service work, and retain customers longer. Not because they are the cheapest, but because they are the most reliable and the easiest to work with.
Three Moves That Actually Drive Profit
If you take a hard look at your customer experience, it usually comes down to a few core areas. Focus here first.
- Make Parts Ordering Simple
If your customer has to call twice, wait on hold, or send multiple emails to get the right part, you are already behind. Whether it is through better internal processes or e-commerce tools, the goal is simple: to reduce the effort it takes to buy from you. Every extra step is an opportunity for them to go somewhere else.
- Get Better at Communicating the Bad News
Backorders and delays are not going away. What separates strong dealers is how they handle them. Silence creates frustration. Overpromising destroys trust. Clear, proactive communication keeps the relationship intact. Customers will tolerate delays; they will not tolerate uncertainty.
- Connect Service to Customer Impact
Closing a work order is not the finish line; confidence is. If your customer does not fully understand what was done, why it was done, and what to expect next, you are leaving money on the table. That is where follow-up work, PM agreements, and long-term loyalty are built.
Train Your Team to Think Like the Customer
This is where most dealerships miss. We train on systems, parts, and processes, but we rarely train on perspective.
Your team needs to understand what downtime actually costs your customer. They need to feel the urgency behind a down truck, not just process the ticket. When that shift happens, priorities change. Speed improves, communication sharpens, accountability increases, and the customer notices.
This Is a Leadership Issue
At the end of the day, this is not a process problem; it is a leadership decision. It is easy to manage from reports. It is comfortable. It is clean.
But reports do not tell you where friction exists. They do not show you frustration. They do not capture lost trust. That only comes from getting closer to the customer experience, walking your own process, talking to customers directly, and challenging the way things have always been done.
The best aftermarket leaders I see today are not the ones with the most sophisticated dashboards. They are the ones who stay closest to the customer.
A Simple Challenge with a Real Payoff
If you want to make this practical, start here. In the next 30 days, run a full customer experience audit inside your dealership. Have your team go through the process as a customer, identify where friction exists, and pinpoint where confidence breaks down.
Then fix one thing. Not ten. One. One improvement that makes it easier for your customer to do business with you.
Because in today’s aftermarket, profitability is not just driven by parts margins or labor rates. It is driven by how easy you make it to win and keep business.
And that starts by stepping out from behind the counter and seeing your business the same way your customer does.
About the Author:
Chris Aiello is the Business Development Manager at TVH Parts Co. He has over 20 years of experience in the equipment industry, including service, quality assurance, and business development roles. Chris now manages a national outside sales team selling replacement parts and accessories across equipment markets, including material handling, equipment rental, and construction and earthmoving dealerships.
