How's business?

It's a question that's asked a lot. But somehow this year it feels more significant than ever considering the weather conditions we've experienced during 2018.

Now that we've reached a slightly more normal September, do you feel a corner has been turned following that summer which is now officially the joint hottest ever on record? Are things picking up?

Or did you never really feel the pinch anyway during those dry months?

I've heard from dealers these past couple of weeks saying that since it's become a bit cooler and a bit damper business has noticeably improved.

Equally though during the midst of those sweltering weeks, others were apparently doing just fine thank you very much. It's a very interesting season in that regard.

So therefore today we would very much appreciate your feedback as we're running our annual Autumn Dealer Survey, to try to get a sense of how the network feels about business in 2018. We've posed these questions for the past couple of years at this time, so it's interesting to make that comparison.

The results of our Autumn Survey in 2017 actually saw little change from when we conducted it the previous year – if anything the results could be read as being slightly less encouraging than in Autumn 2016.

With the key question of how your Overall Business had compared to the previous year, 2017 saw an even split between respondents who said it was up and those who had said it was down (38% each). This contrasts with 2016 where a clear majority (56%) said that overall business had improved.

Will this be markedly different this year. How much has the weather really impacted?

Taking the different facets of the dealership’s business individually the biggest disappointment for most dealers who responded last year was that machine sales were down on 2016. 56% said machines sales were less than previously, compared to only 35% the year before. It doesn't seem too outlandish to surmise that it will be these whole goods sales which have suffered the most this year due to the conditions. But let us know.

Hopefully performing well again will have been the service department. 50% said they saw an improvement here in 2017. Did that long winter this year see customers being sensible and making sure their equipment was serviced and ready for use?! Anecdotally earlier in the year there seemed to be a lot of talk of service departments being packed out, with plenty of work building up. It'll be interesting to hear whether that equals an improvement overall for most.

When we asked this time last year, parts sales hadn't particularly changed for most respondents during 2017. 52% told us that sales levels had remained about the same compared to the year before. One can imagine though, that if users haven't been able get their machines out onto the scorched grass this summer, the demand for replacement parts could well have dipped?

If as we might assume, a lot of dealers are therefore relying more and more on their service department to keep the business ticking over, does that mean the confidence has been there to increase charge-out rates? Dealers who took our survey last year said that overall rates hadn't been altered much. 50% said they were set at between £30-£40 per hour, which is what most had said in 2016 as well. Will there be a noticeable upswing this year?

Finally, in terms of staffing, whilst most who responded to the Autumn Survey last year stated that levels had remained the same, a decent amount clearly felt business had been doing well enough to warrant taking on more people. 27% said they had increased their number of employees, which compared with only 14% saying similar in 2016. It would be great to hear that dealers this year felt they were in a position where they needed and, crucially, could afford to increase their staffing levels - but is it realistic?

It'd be great if you had a couple of moments to take our survey and answer a few short questions today. It'd be even better if you could take the time to leave a comment, letting us know what you've found to be the highlights and/or the disappointments for your dealership so far during 2018.

As ever we'll publish the results and a selection of your thoughts in the next issue of Service Dealer magazine.

Thanks in advance for your help.

TAKE THE SURVEY