Something I keep running into with machinery manufacturers and dealers: AMC revenue rarely goes to a competitor. It goes to a spreadsheet nobody opened.

The pattern is usually the same:

- The AMC list lives in one person's Excel file

- The renewal date passes and nobody calls the customer

- The customer keeps calling for service, and the team keeps going because "they're an old client"

- A few months later someone realises you've been servicing that machine for free

Nobody decided to drop the contract. It expired while everyone was busy.

What seems to work for the companies that fix it:

1. One named owner per contract, not "the service team"

2. Reminders at 60/30/15 days before expiry, not on the expiry date

3. The engineer can see contract status before the visit

4. Management gets a monthly list of expiring and lapsed contracts, with value

You don't need special software to start. A shared sheet with date alerts gets you most of the way. It tends to break once you cross a few hundred contracts.

How are others handling this? Excel, an ERP module, a CRM, something else? And has anyone actually measured how much AMC revenue slips through?

Disclosure: I work at a company that builds a CRM for machinery businesses, so I see this a lot. I wrote a longer piece on it and can share if anyone wants it.