It doesn't seem possible, but we at Service Dealer Towers (remote) are on the verge of sending to the printers, the final issue of the magazine for 2020.

Where has the year gone? I'm not quite sure but I tell you what, wherever it is, it can jolly well stay there and not come back thank you very much!

Anyway, in our issue of the mag dated November / December, we traditionally ask our readers to contribute to a survey, looking back over the season in general terms, seeing how it compared to the one before. This year is no different.

Except it is different. Massively so. 

In doing some research for today's survey, I have been looking back on last year's, which seemed on the whole to be quite positive. 2019 had been a year where many dealers seemingly built back up following the difficulties caused by the prolonged drought of 2018. Overall business, the parts department and the service side were all up on the previous year according to most of our respondents.

Reading back on the some of the comments we received from readers, it's kind of heartbreaking with hindsight knowing what we've gone through, compared to what was hoped for. Dealers spoke of next year "looking promising". They talked about if Brexit was sorted (ahem!) then "next year should be positive". Most of all they were looking forward to some "stability in 2020".

We now know of course, that stability wasn't to be found in this unprecedented year. I remember many industry members referring to 2019 as an 'up and down' kind of a season. If that was the case, this one must be an extreme roller coaster with the brakes removed!

Thinking back on all that we've gone though, the season had barely got underway before lockdown was announced and dealers experienced that confusing period when they didn't know whether they were even allowed to open. Those were seriously worrying times. 

As the months passed we were then hearing about a surge in demand, especially for domestic machinery, from furloughed workers at home, with gardens they wanted to work on. Farmers also never stopped working and needed their dealers to be there for them, more so then ever before with the greater demands on domestic food production.

These increases in demands were of course counterbalanced by the slump on the commercial machinery side with the closure of sporting venues and local authorities redeploying staff away from grass cutting duties. As golf and the like came back on stream we did hear of business picking back up for dealers of the pro kit - but has it been enough to rescue the season?

Coming to the rescue for many has been the advances made online. It's been said that five years progress was made in a matter of months for our sector via e-commerce and virtual marketing. Dealers proved their adaptability once again, using all tools at their disposal.

Bearing all this mind, we're really interested to hear how the various departments in your dealership have fared this season. 

Also we're interested to hear your opinions on a subject which we've discussed on this Weekly Update over the past couple of weeks, and whether you believe it has impacted your business this year - disintermediation. This notion of the supplier cutting out the middleman, or dealer, and suppling goods direct to the consumer has certainly stirred strong feelings amongst some readers. We'd be interested to know if you feel our industry is feeling is effects the way some high street retailers believe.

As ever with our surveys, they are anonymous and there is space to leave your comments on how all the events of this year have affected your business. So please do take a couple of moment today to take the survey and leave your thoughts.

We'll be publishing the results in the next edition of Service Dealer magazine, and as ever we really appreciate and value all your contributions.