Firstly today, I'd like to draw attention to the fact that there is now only seven days remaining to get nominations in for 2024's Dealer Of The Year Awards.
That's seven days for you to enter your own dealership or one of your valued teammates - or seven days for a supplier or third party to nominate a dealership they have a relationship with.
When you receive this Weekly Update next Friday, no doubt we'll remind you again, but there'll only be a matter of hours left by that point! So don't delay. Get thinking about which categories you feel you deserve recognition in, get your nomination up together and get entering!
The team behind the scenes organising the Awards this year, tell me they've had some cracking entries so far - both for amazing dealerships and on behalf of amazing individuals. But we want more. We want more dealerships to put their own hands up and tell us why they are great. And we want manufacturers and distributors to also get in touch to tell us who across your network is putting a real shift in.
Personally, reading through the entries each year is a genuine tonic. Compiling industry news each week inevitably includes a proportion of less-than-cheerful stories. Companies failing, things going on fire . . . you know what I mean. But when it comes time to asses all the entries to the Dealer Of The Year competition, it reveals a side to the dealer network that doesn't hit the headlines each week. It highlights great companies, doing their job well - plus fantastic people making their colleagues' and their customers' lives better.
This is what we are aware happens week in, week out, in showrooms and workshops up and down the country. But if you don't tell us about it, we can't shine a national spotlight on it!
So please, make sure your business, your colleagues, or members of your network, are in the running this year. Click here to tell us all about them.
Long-term employees
One aspect of any business that without a doubt enhances its standing, and could easily put them in the running for an award, is the experience of its employees. I suspect our dealer readers are more acutely aware of this than many other sectors. Retaining quality members of the team is straight-up vital for dealers in our industry - especially when recruiting fresh blood is so difficult.
We have a fantastic story today that illustrates just what a long-standing member of staff can mean for a dealership, with the story that Willie Bilsland has retired from Hamilton Ross Group, after a quite extraordinary 63 years.
Jamie Gardiner, group operations director at the dealership tells us, "People like Willie are what make businesses' succeed and we owe him so much for his hard work and joyful attitude that he brought to work every single day."
Hopefully everyone reading this, will have a colleague like Willie in their dealership. And if you don't, I suspect it's not controversial to suggest that you'd like one?!
Because as Jamie implies, it's not just a pleasant experience to have a team-mate in your place of work everyday whose company you enjoy and who lifts the spirits of everyone around them - although that is undeniably important. Beyond that, it genuinely benefits the dealership in a very real business sense.
I'm sure most small business owners would agree that creating a workplace that encourages long-term employee retention is more than just a good human resources strategy. With the retention of skilled, knowledgeable colleagues, dealerships can surely help to foster customer loyalty, maintain their top-notch service levels and possibly even reduce operational costs though not always advertising for and training up new recruits.
I'm sure if you asked your customers what they value most about your business, many would cite your expertise and the trust they place in your company. A dealership who encourages great employees to stick with them for the long run, will exude these qualities.
So whatever the magic formula is for engendering a loyalty amongst staff - and everyone reading this today will have their own thoughts on that - finding and sticking to it, will offer a myriad of rewards.
