The Service Dealer Conference took place yesterday at the DoubleTree by Hilton Oxford Belfry - which was packed with dealers attending from across the country,

There were representatives of dealerships large and small, multi-branched and single premises, and retailers of garden, professional turfcare and agricultural machinery. I feel confident in saying that all would have left the conference last night, enriched and enlightened by what they had heard across the day.

I also feel personally confident in saying that this was the best Service Dealer Conference and Awards of their modern incarnation. Chatting to people afterwards, the consensus definitely appeared to be that the mix of speakers and the format of the day was bang on. It delivered on content and as a perfect vehicle for the industry to congregate and benefit from spending time in each other's company.

In these testing and uncertain times it was delightful to be part of such a positive atmosphere with a real sense of a community of fellow professionals coming together to share ideas and knowledge. All geared towards delivering best practice - and as a consequence, a profitable business.

Because the Conference's theme of Turning A Profit, undoubtedly pervaded the discourse throughout the day yesterday.

Duncan Murray-Clarke

Service Dealer owner, Duncan Murray-Clarke, kicked things off by welcoming delegates and sponsors alike and set the agenda, saying, "Our theme this year is turning a profit which, as you know, isn’t as easy as it sounds - especially in today’s challenging conditions. I am a small business owner myself and it isn’t always easy. If and when you do crack it, you then have to deal with all the issues that growth throws at you.

"We’re in an industry that relies on the volatile weather, a workforce that is hard to attract (and then retain), and there are of course those mounting challenges from digital communications."

Therefore, pondered Duncan, what would be relevant to kick off the conference this year, from the first keynote speaker? The common factor which challenges the industry is connecting with key people who help run and support our business, as well connecting with customers, said Duncan. These potential recruits and customers of course come from several different generations, so how do we find them and then connect with them in confidence and in ways that they are comfortable? Do they to need to change their attitudes or rather is it us that needs to adapt to get the best out of the emerging generations and their skills, asked Duncan?

There to offer some answers to those questions was Dr Eliza Filby, a generational expert, who has made it her mission to try and understand the complicated divides between the generations. She has advised the House Of Lords Committee on Intergenerational Fairness, the EU Human Rights forum and speaks regularly on the business circuit. Delegates will have also seen her on Sky News Press Preview and read her stuff in The Telegraph, FT and The Guardian, plus she is currently writing her second book, “A History Of Generations”.

Dr Eliza Filby

Eliza's keynote to the whole conference was on the subject of Communicating With The Different Generations - and was very much geared towards this notion of connecting with customers. 

Eliza broke down the four different generations which dealers encounter - Baby Boomer, Generation X, Millennials and Generation Z - defining their characteristics and, importantly, their expectations and desires when it comes to interacting with retailers. She spoke of a changing consumer landscape. Where traditional business would have come from the Baby Boomers, as they were the sector with financial stability, Millenninals are now coming of age. "Within the next 10 years, these Millennials will be your most important demographic," Eliza told the delegates. 

She explained that unlike the generations before them, Millennials are continuing to act as eco-conscious buyers, who are maintaining their values - therefore they will easily favour battery products over petrol power. The idea of recharging a device they use three times a day, is not a problem for these consumers said Eliza.

Eliza's talk truly got the room buzzing. Her insight was fascinating with delegates relating what she said both to their own businesses, but also to their family lives. You could sense in the chatter amongst the delegates as she finished talking, everybody took something of value away with them from what she had to say

It was an engagement which carried over when Eliza returned later in the day to run one of the Breakout Sessions - this time to more specifically address how generational awareness can help dealers in their interactions with staff. In the session which I attended, the majority of the time was centred around a dialogue specifically on issues surrounding how to retain staff. And it genuinely felt like a dialogue because from the off, Eliza was wanting to hear from dealers regarding the difficulties they are facing in their places of work. Problems around pay, hours, conditions, skills and attitudes were all brought up by delegates in the room. It was fantastic to witness dealers from across the country talk amongst themselves about issues they've faced and share thoughts about how they might best tackle them. 

Eliza thoughtfully discussed the subjects raised, offering examples of how companies in other sectors deal with the exact same problems of retention which dealers face. She said, "The number one way to keep your people is training." She said Millennials entering the market want to know there is career path for them and what they are doing is actually leading somewhere. Her other key point was the generation gap between older and younger workers in a business must be bridged to avoid unhelpful tension. The younger ones will benefit from hearing from the older generation's knowledge, she said - but equally as important is the older workers being open to experiencing new ideas and ways of working from the younger recruits. 

After lunch, delegates returned to listen to the second keynote of the day. Described by Duncan as the "industry education" slot, the conference was privileged to hear from Bob Clements, md of Bob Clements International, based in Kansas City, Missouri. Bob works with thousands of agricultural and groundscare dealers across the USA delivering bespoke and distance learning initiatives as well running their well-attended dealer boot camps. That's why OPEI partner with them to deliver their dealer initiatives at the GIE+EXPO each year.

Bob Clements

In an entertaining and fast-moving presentation, which was packed full of specifically relevant advice for UK dealers, Bob talked about structuring dealerships to maximise profits. Bob talked about how there was a "ton of money" to be made in this industry as long as dealers focused on the elements of their business which they could control. Bob argued that wholegoods sales are mostly out of the control of the dealership as they are dictated by the weather and the economy, therefore tremendous focus should be placed upon making sure your parts and service departments are acting profitably. 

He explained that as companies, "Our business is to create processes to eliminate chaos." He was also very keen to emphasise that the idea of working harder to add profitability to a company isn't quite right - moreover it's the concept of working differently he said. Just think a little differently, try new approaches and if they don't work, move on and try something else. It was an inspiring talk.

Bob was also on hand alongside Sara Hey, another member of the BCI senior team, to run the other Breakout Session of the day. With the amazingly confident title of 'Turning Your Service Department Into A Cash Producing Machine', this was a session which I know a lot of delegates had been looking forward to. And I don't think they were disappointed. In a deep-dive presentation  on the service department, Bob and Sara talked through their 8-step system of eradicating chaos from the department. Again this idea of creating a series of processes so things run smoothly was emphasised.

Sara Hey

As an observer, it was clear to see how much the people in the room were taking away from Bob and Sara's advice. The follow up questions which were generated, clearly illustrated the engagement in the room. 

For the final afternoon session of the day, the delegates came back together in the main room for an encore performance of a session which proved popular last year. Pete Harding of UK training company PFW Associates and Sara Hey of the USA’s Bob Clements Inc had put together another of their UK vs USA presentations - this year on the subject of recruitment issues and best practices in hiring for the dealer industry..

Once again a winning a formula, it's always useful to learn from colleagues on each side of the Atlantic. It was fascinating to hear the common problems faced by our two countries and the methods suggested to try to overcome what can be a very stressful and problematic issue for many independent dealers. Pete and Sara discussed a range of issues around the subject of when a company feels they should hire, how they might go about this and then what they might do to ensure they retain these recruits.

Sara Hey & Pete Harding

Pete pointed out how everyone is "fishing for candidates in the same pool", therefore they should be thinking outside the box in terms of how they try to appeal to these potential new recruits, possibly via social media. It was also interesting to hear them both talk about how damaging for small company, keeping the wrong person in the business can be. These toxic elements need to be removed as soon as possible they both agreed - with Sara suggesting that the cost of keeping a bad apple in the company for just 6 months would end up costing an owner 2 and half times that person's annual salary.

The day wrapped up with a panel debate and Q&A session. On the panel were Bob and Pete who were joined on stage by Keith Christian of BAGMA and representing the dealer community, Jason Nettle from Winchester Garden Machinery and Hannah Robinson from Brian Robertson Machinery.

Bob Clements, Keith Christian, Jason Nettle, Pete Harding, Hannah Robinson and Duncan Murray-Clarke

Split into two halves, firstly the panelists were asked their thoughts on what they heard during the course of the day, specifically relating to the theme of turning a profit. This was followed by a series of questions gathered from delegates. It was fascinating to hear some other perspectives on the day's events as well some real-world knowledge from the front lines. Topics covered in the questions put to the panel included how will dealers cope with an increasingly battery product future, the role of women in the industry and what they felt was the common barrier to profitability.

Duncan Murray-Clarke wrapped up the conference saying, "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."

I personally would like to say a big thank you and congratulations to the team at TAP who organised another superbly put together event. I felt that there was so much excellent content throughout the day - a sentiment I heard repeated to me many times following the conclusion of the day from both dealers and sponsors.

And speaking of sponsors, another big thank you must go to them - without whom, a valuable day such as this would not be possible. 

The sponsors this year were:

PRINCIPAL SPONSOR
Kramp

GOLD SPONSORS
Husqvarna

Etesia/Pellenc
Honda
Kubota
Catalyst Computer Systems

Ibcos

NETWORKING SPONSORS
BAGMA

uni-power

Hitachi Capital Business Finance