I was in the States for a few days over Easter - the first time I've been since October '19. I tell you what, travelling there is quite stressful at the moment, what with all the last-minute pre-tests and admin to complete in order to even be allowed on the plane.
Anyway once all that was successfully out of the way, I was walking down a street in New York when I heard someone shout 'Steve!'. I turned round and it was an industry friend who works for one of our magazine's advertisers! As we stood there comparing stories of nervous Zoom-call Covid tests, neither of us could quite believe the coincidence! It also caused us to muse on that old cliche about it being a small world.
Now hopefully that small world can start to become bigger once again what with travel opening up, affording us that privilege of acquired knowledge and experience that leaving your own space grants. A possible upcoming opportunity for this that readers may be interested in for example, is part of our Update today with the Equip Expo in Louisville commencing its registration for October's event.
Previously known as GIE+Expo, this show was the site of my last visit to the U.S. I've written about it before, how I genuinely believe this to be a great event for dealers. With its huge inside static-stand exhibition space, combined with its massive outside, hands-on demonstration area, it's the perfect set-up for an outdoor powered machinery show. Add into that all the dealer-specific training and education opportunities it offers, I honestly think that for UK specialists who could afford both the time away from the business and the inevitable travel expenses incurred, it would be a worthwhile excursion.
Service Dealer will be attendance at the show once again this year, for what sounds like an even greater, expanded experience from when we last visited. It would be marvellous to see any of our readers there.
Dealers facing similar issues
Sticking with the small world theme, it was fascinating to read this week, the results of the American trade magazine Rural Lifestyle Dealer's annual dealer survey. It is quite remarkable how their independent retailer readers appear to be facing incredibly similar challenges and worries to ours.
The headline takeaway from their survey is that for the first time in years, 2022 is seeing American dealer optimism regarding business growth wane. They say that just one-third of dealers anticipate sales growth of at least 2% this year. This apparently brings to an end five straight years where at least half of the dealers who answered their survey, anticipated growth heading into the new year.
The magazine attributes this change to being ". . a direct reflection of today’s volatile environment where labour, product supply and consumer demand are difficult to predict." All concerns that we have of course been hearing from our readers throughout the past two years.
There are several great quotes from U.S dealers themselves in the magazine's summary - many of which sound like they could have come from members of the UK's network. One says, "Manufacturers are demanding orders, although they have no clue as to delivery or build dates. Everyone is flying by the seat of their pants." Another is quoted as saying, "I’m expecting honest ETAs from suppliers so we can be honest with our customers. We want to under-promise and over-deliver."
It's well worth a few minutes of your time today, having a read through the whole article. The parallels that can be drawn between the situation for dealers thousands of miles apart, is striking. I realise it makes no practical difference to one's own situation the mere fact that someone else is going through something similar, but I feel it's worth reminding ourselves that these are truly global problems that are being faced. I feel it's always reassuring in adversity to have it confirmed that it's not just happening to you.
Struggles with stocking, with communications with suppliers, with business confidence and with consumer demand are subjects that our readers are only too familiar with right now. It may well be helpful to see these ideas raised and discussed elsewhere, perhaps giving a fresh perspective on things and potentially inspiring a slightly different approach.
In fact maybe a meeting of minds from across the Atlantic, to discus common problems that all dealers are contending with at somewhere like Equip this year, would be of benefit to all. Any collaboration that can lead to greater understanding and a more acute grasp of the situation, is an opportunity worth pursuing.
