When everything’s running smoothly, no one notices the aftermarket. People only look up when something goes wrong.
That’s the paradox at the heart of the role. The better you perform, the less visible you become. Success looks like silence: no breakdowns, no delays, no complaints.
It’s like managing an airport control tower. Staggering complexity is managed in real-time to enable thousands of flights to take off without a hitch. Tens of thousands of happy holidaymakers and businesspeople get to their destinations, blissfully unaware of how much could have gone wrong but didn’t.
The aftermarket works in much the same way, with huge amounts of complexity being managed behind the scenes, from balancing unpredictable parts demand with inventory constraints, to aligning planning, pricing, and fulfillment across regions and channels. But unlike air traffic control, there’s no headline moment when things slip.
Instead, the impact accumulates gradually. A delayed part delivery creates a service backlog. Dealers escalate issues or seek alternative sources. Teams resort to emergency shipments to maintain customer commitments. Costs rise. Margins erode. Trust begins to slip. The aftermarket keeps operating, but its real potential as a driver of growth, profits, and long-term dealer and customer loyalty remains untapped.
Aftermarket leaders understand the value their function can deliver. The question is whether the wider business sees it. Without that recognition, the function is destined to remain under-leveraged, under-invested, and under-appreciated.
Changing that starts with making the impact visible.
Visibility is the currency of influence. Without it, even the best work struggles to translate into recognition, investment, or strategic influence.
When leadership can see the aftermarket’s contribution, it earns credibility and becomes part of the growth conversation. Visibility changes how people think about the function, from ‘it’s just keeping things running’ to ‘oh, we need this to drive loyalty and revenue’.
Without it, you get caught in a trap: the aftermarket quietly delivers results, leadership assumes things are fine, and so the strategic impact of the role goes unseen. Like oxygen, the aftermarket is invisible until it’s missing — and by then, it’s too late.
So how can aftermarket leaders make their impact visible and step into the influence they’ve already earned?
Building influence isn’t about grand gestures or personal campaigning. It grows from the ability to connect dots others can’t see, surface insights others don’t have, and tell stories that resonate beyond your function.
Here are three approaches aftermarket leaders can adopt to raise visibility and build broader influence across the business.
Dashboards show performance; stories show impact.
Operational metrics are vital, but they don’t speak the language of the boardroom. A 5% improvement in order-to-delivery time is interesting, but translating that into business outcomes—like lower expedited freight costs, faster revenue recognition, and improved dealer satisfaction—is what shifts perceptions and opens doors to more strategic conversations.
Aftermarket leaders sit on a goldmine of real-world intelligence that others don’t have.
They have powerful insights into what customers need, what dealers struggle with, and where service gaps affect loyalty. When that insight is shared in the right forums, it becomes a powerful asset, connecting operational realities to commercial priorities.
Rather than waiting to be asked, there’s an opportunity to bring forward the knowledge that only you have.
The aftermarket touches every part of the organization: finance, service, pricing, customer success. That vantage point provides a unique opportunity to build relationships that cut across silos and help other leaders see how their work links to yours.
That might mean aligning with finance on working capital goals, partnering with sales on customer renewal strategies, or collaborating with product teams to resolve recurring service issues.
By making those connections, aftermarket leaders can elevate their function from an operational cost center to a foundational pillar of enterprise strategy.
Influence starts with visibility, but it doesn’t stop there.
When aftermarket leaders learn to tell powerful stories, share critical insights, and connect people across the business, the true impact of their work is better understood.
Over time, that visibility unlocks influence. Recognition grows. Investment follows. And the aftermarket earns its place at the heart of strategic decision-making.
Because while air traffic controllers only make headlines when the system fails, aftermarket leaders deserve to be seen for the strategic value they quietly deliver every day.
Download The Secret C-Suite to explore how leaders are increasing visibility, reshaping perceptions, and earning strategic influence.
Get the Guide: https://www.syncron.com/resources/aftermarket-leaders-operational-excellence-to-influence