It's that time of year again!

The entry forms are readied and the team is poised to receive your entries for this year's Dealer Of The Year competition.

Always an exciting period for us here at Service Dealer, it's truly great to be able to focus our minds on something entirely positive. Being a news source we of course have to turn our attention sometimes to subjects which are difficult, uncomfortable or downbeat.

However, we do believe a good proportion of our remit as the voice of the industry is to, whenever we can, shine a light on the superb work which is undertaken in our sector. Nothing exemplifies that more, than the UK's incredible dealer network.

Every year when we run this competition, we never fail to be blown away by the volume and enthusiasm of the customer feedback we receive from the public in support of their local dealers.

I'm sure there are days (weeks?!) where dealers can feel unloved and under-appreciated by the people they have through their doors, on the phone or online. However, the Dealer Of The Year process constantly highlights to us the esteem in which customers hold their specialist retailer.

And being unashamedly mercenary about it, if your customers hold these feelings about your business, why not use this goodwill to your company's advantage?

Winning a Dealer Of The Year award is not only a fantastic boost for you and your team, it's a gold-plated marketing opportunity. The PR you can generate locally via your social channels and local press, plus the national recognition from the industry and your peers, should not be underestimated.

Hence we're encouraging as many of our readers as possible to think about entering this year.

Dealers are able to now nominate their own businesses via the Service Dealer website - and as well as this a dealership can also be nominated by customers, suppliers and manufacturers.

Many factors are taken into account when judging the categories, but the most important is customer feedback - which will once again be acquired online, between now and October. The judging panel will meet later that month to assess entries.

As last year, the core dealer categories for the 2019 competition are:

• GARDEN MACHINERY DEALER OF THE YEAR
• PROFESSIONAL TURFCARE DEALER OF THE YEAR
• FARM MACHINERY DEALER OF THE YEAR
• FORESTRY EQUIPMENT DEALER OF THE YEAR
• ATV/QUAD DEALER OF THE YEAR

There are also two other award categories:

• Star of The Dealership
• Apprentice of The Year

With these categories we want you to tell us who really goes that extra mile to help make your business a success. This is a great opportunity to nominate an employee who exceeds expectations within your business.

As ever the glittering presentation ceremony will take place in the evening following the Service Dealer Conference at the Double Tree by Hilton Oxford Belfry. The date of this year's event is Thursday November 21st 2019.

It will be great to have more entries this year than ever before, so make sure your dealership is in with a chance of winning. Visit servicedealer.co.uk/nominate-2019 and it could be you!

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Elsewhere today, you'll see we're running a short survey, canvassing your thoughts on the concept of LANTRA offering their machinery training courses for customers through the dealer network.

We're interested to hear your opinions regarding the feasibility of the idea as a potential additional revenue stream for dealerships. Do you think following the purchase of a piece of kit, your customers would be interested in an additional purchase of LANTRA approved safety training? Or perhaps, best operation guidance to help them get the most out of their new kit?

Service Dealer is always interested in investigating new ideas which could add to the unique benefits of customers using their local independent specialist dealer, rather than going online to box-shifting websites.

The training might be provided via access to online instructional videos, or by a hook-up with a local training provider, or perhaps in your own store?

What do you think about this? Is it an idea you could see mileage in?

Please share your thoughts with us today, it will only take a few moments.

TAKE THE SURVEY