Service Dealer held another of our regular video conference calls on Wednesday. This time we spoke once again with senior representatives of manufacturers, business service suppliers and trade associations.

Following the conversation, owner of Service Dealer, Duncan Murray-Clarke, said, "With the opening of golf courses and garden centres this week, it seems that slow careful steps are being taken which we hope will give a few more dealers the confidence to open in whatever capacity they can.”

Back to work?

It seemed appropriate somehow that we held our conversation on the day when parts of the country were making their first, tentative steps back to work. Clearly the start of a slow process, it is going to be strange and changed business world we begin to emerge into.

Just take a look around your own dealership. How does it compare to just a few short months ago? It's hard to get one's head around isn't it? That's if you are even open.

On this point, there was discussion on our call regarding whether dealers are open or not yet. It was debated that with the well-publicised return of the garden centre trade this week, will this act as encouragement for the outdoor powered machinery dealers who have been closed, to look to begin the process of reopening?

It was reiterated that closing for dealers in our sector was never actually mandatory. Understandably, there's a desire now that the message is clear within the industry that dealers are allowed to be open for business - as long of course, they are able to adhere to the social distancing rules.

In regards to compliance with the social distancing measures, a couple of recommendations were given to us as to places where dealers could source items such as signage, protective screens, sanitiser stations etc. BAGMA have some information on their site about kit to get post-lockdown ready and a company called Marsel P.P.E was also cited a potential source of materials.

We were told by one manufacturer that they believed a handful more of their dealers had reopened in some capacity since we'd last spoke a fortnight ago - with 46% open being their latest figure. It was hoped by many on the call that if the message was strong within the industry that dealerships can take measures to make their way of working Covid-safe, the number of open retailers would continue to increase.

We also heard from BAGMA and the AEA that the government had acknowledged receipt of the joint letter which they sent on behalf of the commercial groundscare sector. Whilst it didn't offer a lot in the way of any actual detail or promises, it has at least raised awareness of the importance of the machinery sector in supporting the maintenance of green spaces. Something which would've come into sharper focus this week of course, with the re-opening of golf courses and the wider use of public parks.

Industry events 2020

An interesting point of discussion which arose was looking ahead to the autumn. How will live manufacturer demo days and face-to-face interactions between suppliers and dealers fare? Right now, the thought of events like this taking place does seem a very real challenge.

You can read today how Stiga have taken the tough decision to postpone their always well attended, three-day September dealer conferences. MD Gary Whitney says they are looking at alternative ways to showcase their new products for 2021 to their dealers.

The question arises, will any of the raft dealer demo days we traditionally see in the early autumn months be able to take place? And if they do, will dealers feel comfortable in attending?

It's sad because events like these, however much we sometimes moan about their timing or location, do perform such a valuable role of bringing the dealer network together to share knowledge and to catch up. The situation won't be easy for both organisers and attendees.

A similar concern to this which some manufacturers naturally have, is whether dealerships across the country will be happy to welcome in sales reps to their premises later this year? What format will those interactions take? Rather than zooming all over their territories will your area sales managers be simply Zooming you instead?

Therefore we thought we'd run a short survey today to gauge the thoughts of our readers on these matters. It would be great if you could spend a few moments to let us know what your feelings are regarding the fate of autumn 2020's manufacturer-organised, dealer demo days.

Looking ahead

In other areas of discussion it was felt that movement in the right direction was beginning to happen across the industry, with some staff being recalled from furlough for example. On this subject, whilst we knew that staff are not allowed to perform any paid-for work for their employer whilst placed on furlough, it turns out they are permitted to undertake training relevant to their job. So maybe whilst at home, various remote learning could be taken advantage of by any staff you don't have with your business currently.

Also the supply chain was once again said to have held up pretty well under the circumstances - certainly there were no horror stories reported. Factories around the world are said to be cranking up and the logistics companies are coming back on stream.

One point of discussion which did arise, was whether as a hangover from this period of lockdown, would new product development and release suffer further down the line? Has the prevention of design teams getting together and moving around the world meant that R&D has been adversely affected? It's just speculation at this stage obviously, but if it has had an effect I suppose we won't notice for a couple of years, considering how long the development period is for new products to come to market?

Certainly it seems accepted working life will change for both manufacturers and dealers. All will have to adapt and all will, sadly, have to deal with the effects of this inevitable recession. 

But as we've said many time before, adapting is in the nature of independent dealers. How quickly have we seen remote ordering come into its own in the past few weeks for example?

Another suggestion mooted, was that the 'sharing economy' - or as it used to be known, the hire department! - might become increasingly appealing for consumers? With everyone's finances tight following this unparalleled catastrophe, perhaps the short-term loan of equipment to undertake one-off jobs, might be a prudent way forward for a lot of customers?

Who knows? This is uncharted territory we are moving into.