Partsearch Highlighted in Jim Champy's Book, Outsmart!

Jim Champy:

On the problem with the parts industry:

I've never understood why appliance manufacturers and retailers of consumer durables can't find a better way of getting the parts customers need for their washer-dryers, television sets, refrigerators, and the like. Finding the right person to talk to when you need, say, an ice-maker bucket or a remote control is always a hassle, with customers bouncing from retailer to distributor to manufacturer. Then, they have to wait weeks for the new part to arrive -- weeks without a crucial appliance. That was the aggravating system that PartSearch set out to fix. Chapter 8 describes how Glenn Laumeister put together a catalog of EIGHT million parts and accessories encompassing more than 560 brands.

On recognizing the need to make order out of chaos:

From day one, Partsearch was dedicated to helping retailers, repairmen, and consumers thread through a maze containing literally millions of parts. It was a market that had never bothered to organize itself; every manufacturer's parts list was configured differently.

On a real solution to Customer Service:

In contrast to the vague dreams of many such dot-com high-flyers, Glenn found the concept of Partsearch intriguing, he told me, "because it was a very straightforward, down-to-earth business where the customer is actually happy that they've interacted with you."