First off, we had an excellent response last week with readers registering to be kept up to date with the results of the tractor brand research which Service Dealer's owners, TAP, have been conducting.

The insight produced is continuing to be released through TAP's social channels, so make sure you are following @TheAdPlain on Twitter or Facebook. Today’s releases include information on the overall dealer perceptions which the research found and the top six tractor brands are revealed - so you might not want to miss it!

And now today we are very pleased to share with you news about some more insight coming your way later in the year, at November's Service Dealer Conference.

The team has been working hard behind the scenes to put together a thought provoking, helpful and unique programme of speakers and workshops - all of direct relevance to our independent dealer readers. 

Under the umbrella theme of Turning A Profit, joining the previously announced Bob Clements at the DoubleTree by Hilton Oxford Belfry in November, will be Dr Eliza Filby who can boast the grand description of 'generational intelligence' specialist.

What this means is that she helps businesses understand generational shifts within politics, society and the workplace.

If you are anything like me, I have a sort of grasp of what the terms Millennials, Gen Z, Gen X etc all mean, but truly knowing what the differences between them are - and how these differences might require a different approach from a business dealing with them, I wouldn't have much of a clue.

Thankfully, Eliza will be offering her expertise on how our dealer readers might think about connecting with these various societal groups. The intention is that delegates will come away with real insight which can applied in matters such as recruiting or retaining staff - or indeed in sales situations.

Eliza says one of her aims it to smash some of the misconceptions that come with speaking about the generations. She says that the types of questions she addresses include, 'Why are the over-50s dominating the Gig-economy?' 'Why do Millennials prioritise an in-work gym over an in-work pensions scheme?' or 'Why are Gen Z tech-inate but tech-skeptics?'

There should be plenty of concepts in both her keynote address and in her breakout workshop session which dealers can come away with and put into practice in their own places of work.

I know from many conversations I've had with dealers in recent times, how to connect with the younger generation is an area of genuine concern - particularly in terms of creating an interest in coming to work within the industry.

One dealer I was talking to just recently was telling me that there is little point these days in simply placing a recruitment advert in the local paper when looking for a young person to join your company. In order to appeal, he said, there must be a lot of interaction around the role. There needs to be social media activity.

This particular dealer was telling me how important Facebook especially, was to them when finding new people. He said their page wasn't so much of a selling tool, it was an awareness tool for their brand. It was important to them, he said, that they were creating a constant chatter around what they were up and what vacancies they had. Once this was achieved, word of mouth would spread and hopefully find the right, interested person.

Presumably this word of mouth wouldn't just be limited to Facebook either, but rather could travel across multiple platforms - or, you know, into the real world.

Ultimately this dealer I was talking to, believed very much that dealers would be best served nurturing their own grown new talent through apprenticeship schemes. Of course the same principal does apply with this too initially - how to connect with a young person to get them to show an interest in joining a scheme?

This dealership had many innovative methods of getting themselves onto the radar of potential recruits, making connections with local educational establishments being a key one. But even with a seemingly conventional approach such as this, the endgame was to ultimately get the students onto the dealership's social channels and interacting directly with them.

So clearly it's a huge and complex topic, connecting with the various generations. I for one, am looking forward to hearing Dr Filby's take on the subject in November.