Service Dealer recently hosted another of our regular panel discussions with some senior representatives of machinery manufacturers and suppliers of business services.

Once again we'll be keeping names anonymous to facilitate a frank and honest exchange of opinions and we thank those who kindly gave up their time to speak with us.

Start of the year

We began with a general discussion of how they felt the year had begun for their companies and their dealers - and what we heard was that there is a real mixed bag out there right now. 

What most agreed upon is that there's a lot of stock in dealership showrooms and yards currently. More than there has been for several years. The question that these suppliers are now asking is, is there in fact too much? Have dealers, who have been burnt by having inadequate stock levels in recent times, over ordered?

There was talk of how dealers received stock late last year, well after they expected delivery, and haven't yet had the opportunity to sell it. There was concern voiced that this kind of scenario could lead to credit issues with certain dealers. The argument was presented that some businesses took all that  they could get their hands on, but now it needs paying for - and that's proving difficult for some.

We we told that our panel's dealers on the whole are feeling confident about the year ahead, with service levels being good at the moment for example. The problem that dealers are facing though, is both the overriding economic situation hitting consumers, but more importantly, it's our old friend the weather that is causing the most headaches.

Ever since all this stock was taken late last year, the unhelpful climatic conditions have meant that this season has just not got started in any meaningful way yet. Therefore dealers are sitting on stock and may find themselves struggling to pay bills. 

Due to these extenuating circumstances, it is difficult to see what may be the true picture of this coming season. It was also remarked that dealers may have difficultly remembering what a 'normal' season is due to the turbulent nature of the past 5 or 6 years of drought, floods and Covid.

What all this meant, we were told, was if dealers were to feel a pinch this year, it would be regarding this issue of cash-flow.

Growth opportunities

However, it wasn't all doom and gloom. We spoke about where dealers might see growth in their businesses in 2023. Essentially the message we heard was that growth will be possible with investment in the right product areas. What exactly those areas are of course, will be specific to each individual dealer.

We did hear though that some dealers have found success in branching out into new, but related areas, to their established businesses. Moving into more commercial markets for example, when domestic has previously been the principal focus, was spoken about. 

Also new and developing technologies such as robotics were mentioned as having great potential. The end-user desire for autonomous machines across domestic, commercial and agricultural sectors would only grow larger our panel felt. This could of course raise new issues for commercial users such as new health and safety concerns - but the technology for dealers of all machinery specialisms certainly presents opportunities.

Looking to the future again, a discussion was held over which alternative fuels might prove themselves popular amongst manufacturers and users. Hydrogen was spoken about as being a source that several companies are currently prototyping. Also low emission fuels are being looked at - as well as electric of course.

A slight note of caution was voiced over electric though for specific product areas such as utility vehicles. It was felt that the limits they could reach might perhaps not be as powerful as required by professional end-users. Therefore perhaps hybrid-systems would end up being favoured it was posited? The challenge would be, it was said, managing consumer expectations.

Women in the industry

Finally, inspired by the formation of Service Dealer's working group of female dealers, the session ended with a brief chat about the position of women in the industry.

The notion of greater diversity in the sector was was ,of course, agreed to be a positive move and indeed one that would benefit all. The consensus was that the situation has improved over recent years, with more women in key roles at manufacturers and dealerships than ever before - but more could still be done to increase numbers.

The representatives spoke about how their companies were proud to feature their female employees in promotional materials around events like International Women's Day, how more women dealers were attending their workshops and trips and how concerted efforts were being made to include a broader spectrum of people as models in their catalogues and websites.

Making increased efforts to encourage more women to the join the industry, especially young women, was agreed to be an endeavour very much worth pursuing. 

What would be a successful means of achieving this though? Well, that's something that's going to need some serious thought and effort by all invested parties.