Yesterday the Crown Plaza in Stratford-Upon-Avon, played host once again to an incredibly special Service Dealer Conference and Awards. The third time in this great venue and the event just keeps on delivering!
As someone who turns up on the day and gets to enjoy proceedings alongside our valued dealer delegates, I feel perfectly entitled to enthuse about all that we experienced this year. There was so much fabulous content, alongside fantastic spirit and good-humoured camaraderie amongst the gathered dealers, that I already can't wait for next year's!
It was so rewarding for the Service Dealer team to hear throughout the day the raft of positive comments from the dealers in attendance. It was fascinating to hear the breath of what elements of the programme had particularly landed with different individuals. With topics as diverse as looking out for own and our colleagues' mental health in the workplace to the leaps and bounds being made A.I and how those can be applied in dealerships - there was plenty for everyone to lock into and take back to try out in their businesses.
And then in the evening, the Dealer of the Year Awards proved once again, what an incredibly talented and dedicated network we enjoy across the UK and Ireland. The celebrations that continued on into the early hours of this morning (there are most likely still some stragglers in the bar downstairs from my hotel room as I write this!) were well deserved - coming at the end of a long, tough season. You can read who took home all the prizes, here.
We will feature a full and thorough report on the day's presentations, written by my esteemed colleague Martin Rickatson in the upcoming issue of the magazine. Also there will be plenty of top quality video footage of the day and night released soon - as well as tons of professional photography (unlike my immediate, personal snaps used in my blog today!).
Until then, here's my roundup of yesterday's Conference that took Resilience as its theme - and well and truly ran with it!
The Intro
The Conference was opened and hosted by Service Dealer owner, Duncan Murray-Clarke - who began by welcoming our dealer guests and thanking all of our vital sponsors.
Duncan set up the theme for the day by addressing the current political and economic situation, saying how some of the recent changes we have seen are directly impacting companies of our sector's size. Duncan said, "The much higher levels of NI contributions employers are paying and minimum wage increases add to the headache of SMEs. And ultimately these costs are being passed on to customers or stretching already thin margins."
He continued, "Again this year, the impacts of climate change are also not helping - with extremely high levels of rainfall making life very difficult for farmers followed by prolonged drought which slowed groundcare machinery sales and of course effected the harvest yields and Outdoor Power Equipment in general. Once more, ag dealers selling big kit have been hit the hardest."
However, Duncan explained that the industry has moved considerably since our Conference had begun ten years ago and how it feels that the dealer network has risen to meet the challenges. "Resilience," said Duncan, "just seemed right as a theme this year."
Embodying this notion perfectly, was a dealer guest who made a surprise entrance to the main room yesterday morning. Delighting colleagues and peers with his unexpected entrance, completing his twelfth marathon of 2025 and thus his extraordinary charitable challenge, was Winchester Garden Machinery's Jason Nettle.
Jason had got up at some ungodly hour yesterday, in order to time his final run's completion with the morning's proceedings. An understandably exhausted Jason had a quick chat with Duncan on stage confirming just what he's been telling us through his columns in this Weekly Update this year - that it's been excruciatingly painful and hard work, but worth it for the fantastic amount he's raised for some amazing charities. More was added to Jason's total last night at the awards - and we'll have more about that when everything has been counted up, hopefully by next week.
The Keynote
Moving on and our keynote speaker was a fascinating booking this year. Stuart Goldsmith is a professional comedian, popular podcaster, as well as an in-demand corporate presenter. Taking on board our theme of Resilience, Stuart applied the notion to the comedy industry, allowing the dealers in the room to draw parallels to their own similarly independent work lives.
Stuart spoke about how we don't learn resilience from a series of bullet-points. We acquire it through a succession of micro-decisions we make - often with the most valuable lessons coming from the toughest moments.
"Resilience," Stuart said, "isn't about not making mistakes, but recognising it in the moment, coping with that, resetting yourself, going again, and not ruminating about it for days afterwards." He quoted fellow comedian, Sarah Millican's rule of not being allowed to think about a terrible gig after 11am the next morning - and equally not feeling smug about a great one after the same time.
Stuart stressed how we shouldn't tie our self-worth to our work, with a key message being, "You should go towards the thing that scares you. Learn from the hard stuff, ground yourself in the moment and move on stronger."
The Breakouts
Our dealer delegates enjoyed two of the ever-popular, smaller grouped breakout sessions this year. These were -
How to Forge Ahead - A lived experience mental health playbook
Presented by Nick Elston, an award-winning speaker and transformational speaking coach, his session was focused on helping our dealers take care of themselves as well as managing those around them. Nick said that we should be on a mission to get to know ourselves again. He also spoke how how we should be looking out for others, and recognising the reasons why we don't ask for help.
Nick said, "Humans are good - but why do we not tell them what we need? If you tell people, they will step up." To this end he said that we should lead our teams with compassion and empathy - always looking for other people's perspective. And if we don't understand their views, we must ask. Nick ended his session with a lovely quotes - "Every storm runs out of rain."
AI Rebooted - New tools, real value and smarter thinking
Returning after his popular seminar last year, marketing consultant and senior tutor at Cambridge Marketing College, Neil Wilkins, was back because, incredibly, AI tools available to dealers have evolved hugely during the past twelve months. Neil explained that for 2026 usage, we'll be getting into deeper conversations with our AI tools, rather than issuing prompts. He went as far as saying that what we shall need to be experiencing for the best results, is something more akin to a relationship with the AI - letting it get to know us and our requirements.
Neil said, "We shall work more with AI in a hybrid sense - and that's where the magic will happen." Any challenge that a dealer will have, there will be an AI solution there to help solve it alongside you. He talked about thinking of AI as multiple agents - one for marketing, one for data management, one for customer relations. And then, what if those agents had their own agents?!
He said anyone who ever said they were busy will have a practical use for AI - especially in repetitive, repeated tasks where human input has no benefit. He said "Start small, but go deep. Pick one process to automate and see where it takes you."
The Insights
Conference this year, also benefited from three Insight sessions, with each expert speaker offering their own take on how they interact with with the dealer network and the wider industry.
First of the two Customer Insights was ex-BAGMA head, now owner of JoJo's Vineyard, Ian Beecher-Jones. Iain spoke on both sustainability and regenerative practices and what those look like to his business - as well as relating the growing UK viticulture industry to the dealer sector. Ian said, "A big interest for my business for the future will be how I can apply robotic mowing technology to the vineyard. We need to find a way, working with a dealer, to make this work. Dealers will really need to engage with robotics for our sector."
He advised dealers to visit and speak to their local vineyards to see what they require. He said there are plenty of opportunities for dealers in the sector - but challenges also because money isn't rife in the industry yet. To this end he encouraged to try more English and Welsh wine - as a mindset change in society will help growers, and subsequently dealers.
Our next customer speaker was this time from the high-end commercial turf care sector, with Jim McKenzie MBE, of the Celtic Manor Resort addressing the main room. Speaking on what a top-level turf professional needs from their dealers, Jim spoke with passion about the great, special relationship he has with his local specialist, Hopkins. He said theirs is a long and fruitful association, based upon trust and understanding - and that's what his advice would be to other dealers.
Jim said of the greenkeeping industry, "We want our dealers to come and see us. We want them to see how we work and what our problems are. That way they can see how they can help us run our business." He explained how they need an awful lot of equipment to maintain not only their course, but also around all their hotels and conferencing facilities.
Jim summed up by saying, "Our service dealer is fundamental to what we do. It is a partnership and we wouldn't be able to do what we can without them."
Finally, offering another perspective was well-known industry figure, Gary Whitney. Gary who has straddled both the manufacturer and dealer side of the industry fence, is today specialising in robotic mowers with his Smartlawns consultancy business. Offering his thoughts on pain points and opportunities for dealers, Gary talked us through his career in the industry, always tieing it back to how dealers can find success with their customers.
Gary explained how throughout his career it was addictive to meet customers' needs and solve whatever problems they faced. He said it was vital to walk in their shoes and listen more than talk. He said, "Don't be the most aggressive sales person. Build relationships that out-live a single transaction."
Looking ahead, Gary said he saw great opportunity for dealers with robotic and battery solutions. He argued that transitioning to robotics gave commercial end-users a reason to change up their fleets. But to deliver this, Gary said dealers must develop the skills of both their workshop and their sales teams to match their customers' expectations.
The Wrap Up
Duncan concluded the Conference by drawing together the theme of Resilience that we'd heard perspectives on throughout the day, He said, "There are plenty of examples of dealerships this year who are helping themselves, questioning what they are doing, evolving and going where the market is going. But it can be hard sometimes to pause, look up and change direction. Maybe utilising some AI to streamline, or investigating why a specific area is down on sales and looking into it - as well as that new growth area.
"With all that is going on in the industry and the pressures that there are, we hope that today has delivered some real value to you. We hope you have enjoyed it but more importantly will come away with knowledge that will help you progress your own dealerships - maybe even help you be more robust."
It was a fitting end to - what I feel justified in saying - was an incredibly valuable day. I would personally like to thank all the speakers for presenting with such clarity and purpose - and to all the amazingly hard-working team at TAP for organising such a packed and seamlessly put together event.
Finally, a huge gratitude to this year's sponsors. Without their support this amazing event dedicated to the dealer network, simply wouldn't exist. So huge thanks to -
Principal Sponsor
Al-KO & Weibang
Platinum Sponsor
Husqvarna
Gold Sponsors
EGO
Ibcos
Kress
Kubota
STIHL
Toro
Silver Sponsors
AriensCo
Cramer
Networking Sponsors
Garden Trader
The Ad Plain
