Over 150 delegates attended the Service Dealer Conference and Awards yesterday (19 November) at the Oxford Belfry Hotel.
Key note speak was Adam Henson, farmer and presenter of BBC Countryfile who gave a very entertaining, and relevant address in which he talked about many of the issues he has faced with the family farm, most of which apply to almost every business. Succession, diversification, communicating with the public – as well as his perspective on machinery and equipment, and the dealers who supply and support him.
“Integrity, honesty and long-term relationships are the key," he said.
Adam provided a behind-the-scenes’ glimpse of his work on Countryfile, which he said now outperforms X-Factor in the ratings, and of the success of his Cotswold Farm Park started by his father Joe, which attracts over 100,000 visitors a year.
There followed three business debates featuring a cross-section of dealers, chaired jointly by former AEA CEO Roger Lane Nott and Service Dealer editor, Chris Biddle.
The first, called Dealer 2020, looked at the future of dealerships five years hence – and beyond. The panel of Ian Nutt (Lister Wilder), Alex Scott (T H White), David Sturges (Godfreys) and Lewis Anderson (Rochfords) covered a range of issues notably the impact of the internet, succession planning, communication with customers and of course recruiting new staff. Ian Nutt gave a nod of appreciation to Adam Henson, “We have young people who have had their interest in our industry heightened by Countryfile,” he said.
The second panel looked at the role of Service and featured Neale Hopley (Buxtons), Guy Freeman (Ibbetts) and Tom Bigwood (Bigwood Agri) who stood in at the last moment for Steve Halley of Cheshire Turf who was detained by a family illness. The general consensus was that the panel were happy and willing to carry out service work where machines had been bought elsewhere (as they are often contracted to do so by suppliers) because of the opportunities it gave them to connect with potential new customers. However, the issue of repairing machines that had been bought on-line and which were plainly unsuitable for a customers requirement often proved difficult.
The third panel focussed on Communicating with Customers and featured Brian Mitchell (Cyril Johnston), James Hayes (Hayes Garden Machinery) and Andrew Meek (Congleton Garden Machinery). First up, Brian Mitchell who had managed retail stores for Next, Comet and most recently B&Q before joining Cyril Johnston, said "Now I’m with a specialist garden machinery dealership I cannot understand why anyone would want to buy elsewhere! The problem is that, as specialist retailers we simply do not get out message across”. James Hayes agreed, “We put ourselves in front of the public at every opportunity at event like local shows, point-to-points and village shows.”
The conference programme finished up with a Question Time panel comprising Adam Henson, Ian Nutt, David Sturges, James Hayes and Brian Mitchell. The opening question took the panel out of parish politics into the mainstream with EU – In or Out? Adam Henson said that farming community was generally in favour of staying in (depending on the details on any re-negotiation talks), but it all depended on how and if subsidies could be replaced. “I think as a nation we could stand on our own two feet, but without subsidies, food would more expensive”.
Ian Nutt said “I agree with whatever Adam thinks, because he and his colleagues are my customers!” An audience poll however suggested an overall wish to remain in the EU. On a question about use of social media in businesses, another audience poll suggested that widespread use of the likes of Facebook and Twitter was a long way from reality amongst dealer businesses.
The conference sessions were generally deemed to be a success with further tweaks in the future to make sure that they were even more effective. However, the value in this type of event, as always is in the networking and inter-action between dealers which went on long into the night.
