Service Dealer held our first group video conference call of the year with senior representatives of manufacturers, distributors, business service suppliers and trade associations, on Tuesday this week.

Once again we had a frank and open discussion, covering a range of topical subjects. As ever we thank the participants, who helped us gauge the temperature of the industry at the start of this most unusual year.

Industry shows

A subject which stood out for me this week as certainly raising strong feelings amongst some participants on the call was the notion of the industry show and event scene for 2021 and beyond. Shows are something that it feels like we have been discussing every year, ad infinitum - and the debate around them will not be subsiding anytime soon.

Those with the strongest feelings felt that as an industry we are perhaps 'overshowed'. It was hoped by some that the pandemic might have re-set the dial somewhat on the number and frequency of shows for our sector. If we've done without them for the past year, do we need to go back to how we were before was the argument?

It was actually believed by some, that with all we've heard lately about shows coming back and new shows in the offing, there will in fact be more pressure on companies to exhibit at more events than ever before. Even if there was little appetite amongst manufacturers to attend - and crucially little material benefit in terms of sales gained - a view seemed to be held that if my competitor is attending, I should too.

Whether all these shows will actually take place this year on the dates that they have currently scheduled, was described as the million dollar question? Companies have intentions to attend, but hard and fast plans are difficult, considering how quick everything can change.

It was said how important it is of course to keep in touch with dealers and customers - but over the past year new, virtual methods have of course been trailed by many companies. It was thought perhaps that these were effective for keeping in touch on a business-to-business basis (i.e manufacturer to dealer) - however, the keenness of the end-user to attend an online show was up for debate.

It will certainly be interesting as we progress throughout this year and into next, to see just how many of the proposed industry shows do go ahead as scheduled and with what level of support? It's certainly a confusing picture at the moment with some saying they are going ahead this summer and others not.

Might we see a similar situation to a few years ago where several of the so-called big boys got together and chose to support the two main trade association shows (GMA's Saltex and BIGGA's BTME) - but only attending each, every other year? We'll have to see how it all pans out.

Brexit

Also high on the agenda of the industry representatives we spoke to, were the immediate effects of Brexit.

Having been in this new world for a few weeks now, with a deal only sorted at the 11th hour, the practicalities of what this means is being felt by companies who need to move metal around Europe - which frankly, is pretty much everybody.

The key word which we heard repeated on Tuesday in regards to this, was confusion. It seems that with the massive increase in paperwork and legislation, there is quite understandably many inconveniences occurring at every step of the chain.

We were told that freight companies might not know the rules which can lead to delays. Or there is a lack of consistency from freight company to freight company, which leads to more confusion and more delays!

Also new certification is required for some items - particularly with the movement of second-hand machinery we were told - and specifically its cleanliness. Again as we've heard before, the best advice to any dealer who may be involved in importing or exporting, seems to be to seek a professional broker's advice. With the complicated legal picture at the moment, it appears to be the most sensible means of progressing. Although we heard that these might be quite hard to get hold of at the moment too!

Stock levels

Related to these delays caused by Brexit are of course concerns for dealers regarding stocking availability - both for whole goods and for parts.

We've been hearing concerns expressed for some time now regarding what the first quarter of this year would look like - and whilst everything isn't perfect (the Brexit issue and the well-publicised shipping container crisis are having inevitable adverse effects) - things don't appear to be terrible (as evidenced by Campey today).

It seems the plans made last year and the stocking which went ahead by companies in preparation for what was always predicted to be a difficult time, has certainly helped. There will of course be issues. Manufacturers rely on a chain of suppliers to produce components for their products - if any of them get hit by delays, covid-related or otherwise, there is of course a knock-on effect. However at the moment the people we spoke to were certainly pretty upbeat in their dialogue with us - and appeared to feel their dealers felt similar.

It does seem inevitable though, that with these crazy increases in costs being seen for shipping and logistics around the world (a containing going from $2000 to $12,000!), prices for consumers will eventually have to increase. An interesting thought we heard regarding this from one manufacturer, was that perhaps dealers who had already purchased new stock for the year might welcome an increase in RRP. 

The argument was they have already purchased stock at the old price so an increase in cost to the consumer would see an increase in margin for them. Also at the moment, for garden machinery certainly, there isn't that usual competition for the consumer's pound in the their pocket because no-one can go on holiday - so 2021 has the potential to see more expenditure on home and garden improvements once again.

An interesting perspective, dealers will be keen to find out if it plays out like that.

Training

Obviously Lockdown 3.0 and how it was going for the companies on the call and their dealers was also discussed.

Training we heard, was another area of our business lives which had been effected by the restrictions in place. It sounded like hardly any face-to-face training is taking place in the industry currently. Companies had invested time and money in making sure the technology was there to offer learning remotely - which in some ways can be preferable as it's less traveling away from the dealership, saving time and expenses.

We heard it said that sales training is perfectly fine to be carried out this way, but that mechanical training for technicians can suffer. This simply doesn't work as well as it does in a real-life environment. Companies were trying their best by utilising tech such as helmet cameras etc, but it's just hard to make it interesting and engaging.

Once again it was valuable for us to hear from some key players in the industry regarding what they see as the key issues right now. Next time we'll speak to our dealer panel to hear how they're finding things at the sharp end.