4 Ways Your Electronic Parts Catalog Can Build Your Business

The Age of the Electronic Parts Catalog For many years, automotive technicians and engineers were forced to receive and relay information about the parts required for maintenance and repair via manual research and tedious calling. “Before we ever had the online catalogs,” says Nicole Glenn, Service and Parts Director at Freeway Honda in Birmingham Alabama, “if there was an updated part number, we wouldn’t find out for 24–48 hours, at least. And then you had to go back and call the part vendor. Because the vendor, back when we used a paper catalog, could take 5–7 days to even let you know.” As you can imagine, this dated process put a massive strain on efficiency, not to mention threatened accuracy. Then came the electronic parts catalog, a virtual database of all parts for maintenance and repair. The EPC allows dealerships and repair shops to perform fast lookups of the parts required for the issue at hand. The middleman is eliminated, cutting financial waste and increasing customer satisfaction. How Does an Electronic Parts Catalog Work? Today’s EPCs are more than just digitized versions of their paper counterparts. They can contain a wide array of valuable product information, from data sheets and engineering drawings to 3D models in CAD and other imaging formats. Here are four ways an electronic parts catalog can build your business. Immediate Updates and Increased Accuracy One of the greatest advantages of an EPC is automatic updates of part information across the board. “The technical publishers, they can make changes and it’s updated to the electronic parts catalog in real time,” says Glenn. “And another benefit of an online parts catalog is you can automatically look up, right then and there, without picking up a phone, to see if another local dealership has it.” With real-time updates and a decreased possibility of human error, the chance for incorrect information drops significantly. Customer Satisfaction With considerably lower customer wait times and decreased error rates, customer satisfaction skyrockets and return rate increases. Customer acquisition is much more costly and challenging than customer retention, so this is crucial. Many customers say they will not return to a company after just one negative experience. That leaves very little room for error. Fortunately, an EPC is one way to take control and ensure each customer has a positive experience and is likely to return repeat business—or even recommend more. Reduce Turnover and Training Efforts Turnover and training are some of the biggest drains for time, effort and money in any organization. The ease of use of current electronic parts catalogs eliminates the need for intensive training efforts. There’s no need to hire new talent to work your EPC—current employees can quickly and easily learn to utilize this tool to their benefit. Cut Financial Waste The above three benefits of EPC together work to seriously increase cost-efficiency. Lower rates of error mean fewer costly corrective actions, higher levels of customer satisfaction means less customer acquisition, and reduced turnover means less expensive and time-consuming employee onboarding and training. Overall, these saves can have a huge impact on your business. Take Action If you haven’t already transitioned to an electronic parts catalog, the time to do so is now. And even if you have, consider the software you’re using. Is it the most efficient option? Does it best suit the unique needs of your company? There are plenty of options out there, so do your research to ensure your company stays one step ahead.