Yesterday was once again a superb day and evening (and even later night - this time including bacon rolls!) for the dealers who attended the Service Dealer Conference and Awards. Held for the second time at the larger venue of the Stratford-Upon-Avon Crowne Plaza, the event delivered in spades, being packed full of valuable advice to take back to dealerships around the country.
The larger venue enabled even more dealers from across the country to come together, share experiences, and learn from an impressive lineup of speakers and breakout sessions throughout the day.
The Dealer of the Year Awards, presented during a gala dinner last night, were a highlight of the evening (read more about the winners here). But before the celebrations began, the Conference itself offered an engaging experience, focusing on this year's theme: Driving Success.
As ever, I feel it should be pointed out that I’m not personally involved in organising the Conference - therefore allowing me to effuse about it! Like our dealer delegates, I attend on the day, soaking up the atmosphere and the fascinating presentations. I feel I can confidently state that this year's event delivered on every level, offering thought-provoking, valuable content and an enjoyable experience from start to finish.
Throughout the day (and night!), I spoke with a bunch of our dealer delegates who had great things to say about what they'd seen and heard during the day. Many had different favourite moments (and ones that had open their eyes!), all able to go home this morning with different nuggets of advice to try out back at the dealership. Some, I expect, will also be going home this morning with a hangover!
A detailed report on the day’s sessions will be featured in the next issue of the magazine, written by my brilliant colleague Martin Rickatson. Additionally, official professional photographs and videos will soon be available online (a step up from my personal snaps used here this morning).
For now, here’s my roundup of yesterday’s memorable events:
The Intro
Dealer delegates were welcomed to the Conference by host and owner of Service Dealer, Duncan Murray-Clark.
Duncan set the tone for the day, speaking on how dealerships will need to adapt over the coming years. He said, "With products needing far less aftercare, if we are honest with ourselves we all knew that the market, and even the route to market was going to evolve. STIHL demonstrated this earlier this year with their arrangement with Screwfix for part of their range - the first premium garden tool brand to do so.
"Tomorrow’s dealerships still have an important role to play - but we need to accept some changes that technology brings and evolve to work in those spaces that are profitable and relevant. Ag dealers of course have their own challenges - especially with wholegood sales being so far down this year and no doubt there is a fair bit of expensive kit sitting on your forecourts at the moment.
"So, our content today (more than ever) is based around progressing our dealerships that will help us drive success. We need to keep evolving.."
The Keynote
First up to address the Conference was Ellis Watson, a business leader, whose impressive career has taken him on a journey including senor roles with Mirror Group Newspaper and Simon Cowell, leading businesses through change and disruption.
Ellis went down an absolute storm with delegates. Funny, affable and a natural communicator, he had people buzzing about his presentation all day. He talked about how dealers should build their passion into their work. He told the room how it's vital to make customers feel that as businesses, we are really pleased to see them.
He also stressed how dealers need to be open to change and disruption. He said a dealer's greatest strength will be their years and years of experience - but how their greatest weakness could also be their years and years of experience! He said, "It's so bloody important to challenge your own model."
He went on to tell delegates, "The joy of surpassing your own ceiling of potential, is so fulfilling." He said dealers have the ability evolve themselves and their businesses, concluding, "You'll say with this disruption has come this amazing opportunity."
The Breakouts
There were two of the popular, smaller-grouped, interactive breakout seminar sessions. Dealer delegates got to experience both during the day. They were:
AI in Action: From Research to Results
Presented by Neil Wilkins, marketing consultant and senior tutor at Cambridge Marketing College, Neil delivered a practical and engaging workshop exploring AI applications, demonstrating the tools and techniques that he said can deliver measurable business value.
Neil firstly pointed out though, that he doesn't really like the word 'artificial' in this context, stating that none of these tools that are available to help dealers, can work without human input. "I prefer the term Hybrid Intelligence," he explained.
Neil addressed fears that some may have over A.I, saying that a lot of what's written about the technology is pure hype. Through working in collaboration with AI tools, he said, any small business is able to gain practical benefits in terms of personalisation, automation, efficiencies and forecasting. All of these can only be achieved though, through us learning to be sophisticated Prompt Engineers - i.e explaining, refining and entering into a conversation with the AI, to reach our desired output.
Neil ran though a series of live practical demonstrations, using free A.I tools such as Grok, Perplexity, ChatGPT and Made, to illustrate just how anyone might utilise these facilities to help with areas such as research, analysis and content generation.
How Criminals Are Hacking Your Business
Presented by Warwickshire Police Cyber Crime, in company with the Regional Cyber Crime Unit, the hosts of the workshop (who have requested we don't use their names or share pictures of themselves) gave delegates an insight into how cyber criminals use team members to gain sensitive information from businesses.
The officers running the session gave clear and frankly terrifying examples of how these full-time criminals are targeting businesses. Perhaps the most devastating attack used frequently, involves Ransomwear. "It won't happen to me," is the most common refrain heard when the police have to deal with the victims of these crimes, we were told. But it can and does because, as we heard, the criminals are using way more sophisticated methods than badly spelled and formatted emails.
In terms in how to protect yourself, the guys admitted it was a minefield, but one tip they did give was to always update your devices when prompted, because as soon as you don't, criminals can exploit everyone on the old system. They also said help can be found in the National Crime Security Centre. They also stressed how important it was to report anything suspicious to ActionFraud - which they accepted people had experienced problems with in the past, but they said had improved hugely in the past couple of years.
Customer Insights
The Conference was lucky this year to hear from three leading experts in their fields, who were all able to speak to our delegates about both their own professional experiences, but also crucially on how they rely upon their local dealers to keep them going. Our speakers were:
Karl McDermott, head groundsman, Lord’s, who explained to the dealers in the room that he sees them as his partners in an incredibly important, two-way relationship.
He told our delegates, "I need you guys. I rely on you. I'm trusting you to tell me that the machine you are recommending is going to work for my needs." He went on to explain how at Lord's they desire to be the most innovative cricket club in the world, and therefore they need their dealers to tell them about the latest machinery developments.
He summed up by telling the audience, "Do not underestimate your place and value in the industry. My dealers are part of the success of Lord's."
Andrew Ward MBE, farmer, who told the audience that a dealer's relationship with their farmer customers is vital. "We both rely on each other," he said. "So know your customer and know their requirements."
He encouraged dealers to spend time on their customers' farms to understand their on-going costs and practical aspects like their land's soil type. "We want service on-time where possible," he stressed, "and for a decent price."
Andrew finished up by saying he believes we are about to see the biggest changes to farming for many, many years. He told the dealers that they need to go through this together with their customers, "..so we can support each other through these hard times."
Jim Buttar, head groundsman RFU (Twickenham) emphasied how important trialing potential new machinery is to him and his team at the home of rugby. "I don't want to just see a bit of kit on a stand," he said. "I want to see how it performs over a 6 month period. After that, I guarantee you I shall give you nothing but honest feedback."
Speaking on what he wanted from his dealers Jim said that what is vital is a can-do attitude. "I need to know they are on the end of the phone. I need to feel our relationship is continually developing." He went on to stress, "I can't afford to have a machinery break-down on a match day."
Jim summed up by saying of his relationship with suppliers, "I need to know that I've got support there."
The Wrap-Up
The Conference drew to a close, with what has become a traditional Q&A panel session with some of the guests who had spoken throughout the day. Joining Duncan on stage again were Karl, Neil, Jim, James and Andrew.
Some topics covered included copyright laws on AI; should households pay more for their food shop?; do sponsorships have an influence over machinery purchases?; what has a dealer ever got wrong for you?; what one cyber-crime prevention strategy should a dealer implement?; would you ever buy a petrol mower for your facility again?; and can A.I make a smaller dealer look larger than it is?
Finally, Duncan took to the podium one last time to sum up the day's proceedings. He said, "Despite the continued unpredictability of the weather and trading conditions - this year our dealer sector (with perhaps the exception of new ag equipment sales), has been OK.
"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."
From my point of view, I'd like to thank Duncan and his amazing team at TAP for organising and staging another fantastic Conference. Absolutely full of superb content once again, I'm sure everybody left with various kernels of insight lodged in their minds!
I'd also like to thank all the dealers who attended. It's your voices that make Service Dealer and our Conference what it is.
Finally, but by no means least, we all at Service Dealer would like to thank our incredible sponsors - without whom, there simply wouldn't be an event to enjoy. Here's to 2025's!
The Sponsors
Principal Sponsor
Kress
Gold Sponsors
AGCO
EGO
Husqvarna
Ibcos
Kubota
Milwaukee
Societe Generale Equipment Finance
STIHL
Toro
Yamaha Motors
Networking Sponsors
Garden Trader
TAP
