IDEAS, EXPERTISE & INSIGHT SHARED
Collaboration the order of the day
by Service Dealer Editor, Steve Gibbs
 
Steve Gibbs

The third Service Dealer Conference to take place at the Oxford Belfry Hotel proved to be a tremendous success yesterday. 

 

It was delightful to hear such positive comments from both dealers and sponsors who had gained valuable insight from the range of speakers and seminar sessions which the day had offered. Also the forum the event provided for dealers to mix with each other and the sponsors to share ideas, knowledge and stories of how the season has panned out for themselves was again much appreciated by all who attended.

 

Dealers from businesses large and small, across the UK heard presentations and joined in with talks and breakout sessions all themed around the event's title, 'The Challenge of Change: Embracing & Adapting to a Changing Market'.

 

Events kicked off with a welcome from Service Dealer's owner, Duncan Murray-Clarke, who also set the positive tone for the day. Duncan told the assembled dealers, "Businesses like yours are the engine room of the UK economy. Despite all this general uncertainty and negativity, our sector, like the majority of SME’s in the UK, is more than surviving.

 

"We mustn’t lose sight of the fact that we do some things very well in the UK and if we can deal with the rapidly changing landscape and technologies, then things might not be too bad after all. That is why we have focussed this year’s conference on change, embracing it as well as the challenges and opportunities it brings."

 

The first of the day's speakers to address the delegates following Duncan was Caroline Drummond MBE, the CEO of LEAF (Linking Enviroment and Farming). Caroline proposed the question to the delegates, "Where does sustainability fit into your business?" She talked about how ideas of sustainability touch everyone's workplace in many ways and that dealers who wanted to do what they can to get a handle on the concept need a balance of traditional and modern techniques.

 

Next up was Jim Wade, Principal of the JCB Academy. As well as explaining the great work that the JCB Academy does, Jim talked about how they go about developing engineers and business leaders of the future. He also talked about how the industry has a responsibility to enthuse these highly qualified young people who are graduating to join their workplaces. He said that representatives of dealers or manufacturers should be enganing with local schools and colleges "to make sure we are selling the positive message about the industry and where careers can lead."

 

The third address of the morning came from David Frieberg VP for Planalytics, Inc. He was considering how companies can avoid chasing last year’s weather and improve the accuracy of their sales forecasts. He said, "We cannot of course control the weather, however its impact can be quantified. It can be measured and it's impact can be managed."

 

A fascinating and timely presentation from Journalist & Ag Supply Consultant, Cedric Porter, came next on the emotive subject of Brexit. Cedric took the angle of how could dealers make the most of opportunities which will undoubtedly come through Brexit. He made it clear though that the time for businesses to prepare was now, as no matter what sort of Brexit we get - be it hard, soft or even no Brexit at all - it will impact all businesses. An opportunity which he saw as a consequence of Brexit is that it'd make us look beyond Europe for our trading partners - most likely to the much more rapidly expanding parts of the world like Asia and Africa.

 

After the lunch break which afforded the dealer delegates the opportunity to both network and browse the Sponsor Showcase stands, there were two Breakout Sessions available to choose from. Dealers could pick which subject was of most interest to their business and join a smaller seminar session which allowed them to really get involved in the debate and put their thoughts and ideas forwards in a group of a less intimidating size.

 

The breakouts available were a session on Communication entitled 'Standing Out from the Crowd' and one on Technology entitled 'Transforming your business with technology'

 

So none of the delegates missed out on any valuable nuggets of information imparted in either session, the two group leaders fed back to the entire conference following the breakouts. Julio Romo, Communications Consultant, Digital and Innovation Strategist, spoke about the Communication session saying his group had been discussing methods designed to promote individuals and their dealerships. Insight was given on how to use digital and social media for dealers to present themselves and get the local community to engage with them. For example Julio said, "Tell stories which your audience can engage with. Be yourself and don't be too corporate. People want to communicate with people."

 

Edward Reisner, Managing Director of I.T solutions company Jigsaw24 said that the Technology session had concerned how dealers could begin their journey towards digital transformation. He said it was important when a business is making the transisition to a more digital way of working to start with a small team and make sure that whoever in the company is the most digital-sceptic takes it up first. Work with them and train them so they can become a true advocate for the change for their colleagues.

 

Making a welcome return to the afternoon session from last year was Simon Batty, MD of Maple Associates. His plenary addressed the subject of dealership performance, looking at how delegates might go about recruiting the right staff and winning profitable customers - and how to keep both long-term.

 

Split into two interactive discussion sessions the first asked the delegates to think about growing sales across the whole portfolio through targeting of customers and effective sales management. Simon offered five best-practice tips and a 'how to' guide.


There then followed thoughts on recruiting, developing and retaining staff in a competitive employment market. Simon talked about how to identify and attract the right talent, motivate and engage people and how to develop them properly without losing them. Dealers were encouraged to contribute to the group with their own thoughts on the subject, which led to some lively debate and fascinating insights into how dealerships are run across the country.

 

To begin to round-up the day's thoughts and events a panel debate around the subject 'Embracing and adapting to change' saw Julio Romo, Caroline Drummond, Cedric Porter, Simon Batty and Edward Reisner offer their thoughts on the subject.

 

This was followed by a Question Time-style wrap up of the day, hosted by Service Dealer founder Chris Biddle, which allowed any questions arising from the day's events to be answered. Subjects such as 'can the UK be food sustainable?',  'can you overdo social media?, and 'will increased cordless sales effect workshop profitability?' were tackled by the experts. 

 

Duncan Murray-Clarke concluded the Service Dealer Conference 2017, thanking all the day's contributors and hoping that everyone had enjoying the proceedings, but more importantly will have come away with knowledge that will help them progress their own dealerships.

 

From a personal perspective I'd like to thank the whole team at TAP for superbly organising a fantastic programme of events which ran smoothly and was enjoyed by all. Also I'd like to thank everyone who attended for contributing throughout the day, adding to and opening out the debate. I'm looking forward to next year's 30th Anniversary event already!

 

Finally Service Dealer offers thanks to all the sponsors of this year's event:

 

PRINCIPAL SPONSOR:
Kramp

PLANTINUM SPONSOR:
STIHL GB

GOLD SPONSORS
Husqvarna

Catalyst Computer Systems

 

SPONSORS:
Gardencare
Grizzly Tools
Kubota
The Ad Plain
Garden Trader
BAGMA
Ibcos

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