I hope you managed to stay safe during storm Éowyn. Those of you living along the western seaboard got it particularly rough as record breaking wind speeds were recorded there. I hope that there was no serious damage done to your homes or business premises and that you have power and water restored.
For dealers in the domestic machinery market the winter months can be relatively quiet. Fewer lawnmowers, strimmers and hedgecutters are sold during this time. A bottleneck situation can occur in the spring, or when the weather begins to get milder. During this time people dust off their mowers only to find out that the machine has broken down and won’t start. Others may decide to purchase a new mower. Adding these two groups together can lead to dealers finding themselves inundated with repairs and new machines to sell. If this bottleneck could be spread out over the quieter times it would be much better.
Now may be a good time to encourage your customers to bring their machines to your workshop to get serviced. Creating an advertising campaign promoting the importance of having ones machine serviced could be worthwhile. Campaigns can easily and cheaply be done through social media such as Facebook and Instagram. The different platforms will depend on the age group of your customers. For example Instagram favours the younger age group. Get as many followers as you can.
You could also advertise your promotion through regional newspapers, though this could be a bit more expensive but this risk/reward strategy could be worthwhile.
Having mowers brought in for servicing sooner than later has many advantages. It would give extra work for the workshop mechanics and possibly avoid the congestion that would occur a few weeks later. It will also give the opportunity of early diagnosis of major faults. Doing this early allows time to order in unusual parts.
The economic outlook for our customers is looking good. If your winter servicing promotions come to their attention they may be inclined to spend that bit extra to get their mowers ready for the summer season ahead. Many will have already received their first pay packet of the year and are seeing the benefit of the tax cuts that were announced in last October’s budget. These tax cuts took effect in January. This should put extra money in many people’s pockets.
This makes for a favourable environment for our customers to spend money especially on upgrading homes and gardens. The future looks bright for a good trading year ahead for dealers so make sure to have your showrooms stocked up with plenty of spare parts and new stock.