The longlist of dealerships nominated for Dealer Of The Year honours at the forthcoming Service Dealer Conference & Awards have been announced.
Our core awards will once again recognise Dealers of the Year across the Garden, Professional Turfcare, Farm Machinery, Forestry Equipment, and ATV/Quad sectors.
This year the nominations for the dealerships in the running for an award, have come from both suppliers putting their most valued dealers forward, as well as dealers entering their own businesses. And a significant change this year is that assessment has principally been achieved via feedback from the most important people to a dealer's business - their customers.
An expert panel met this week to assess all the feedback which has been received in from customers up and down the UK - with the standard of entries extremely high.
As well as the masses of customer comments, the judging panel also considered the feedback from manufacturers and suppliers, taking into consideration any awards they may have bestowed on their dealers during this past year.
How dealers present themselves to their customers has been taken very seriously also, with websites and social media presences considered. Testimonials from customers from sources such as Google Reviews and Yelp, as well as those included on dealers’ own sites, have also been taken into consideration.
The judging panel were mightily impressed with the standard of entries this year, being blown away by some of the comments sent in by customers. Dealerships large and small across the UK are represented, illustrating just how healthy a state the current independent dealer network is in.
The full list of all nominated dealers, across all categories, is as follows:
The nominated dealers will be whittled down to a shortlist of three finalists per-category and then the winner announced 'Oscars-style' on the evening of the Awards ceremony at the Oxford Belfrey Hotel, on November 17th.
Also being announced on the night will be new awards for The Star of the Dealership and The Apprentice of the Year.
Service Dealer will also be presenting a Lifetime Achievement Award.
For full details of the Conference & Awards, and to book tickets, click here.
