The new look, redesigned Service Dealer magazine is now bi-monthly and includes a host of new and familiar features.
Jan / Feb 2014 issue contains:
2014 STATE OF THE INDUSTRY REPORT HERITAGE AWARDS PROFILE OF DAVID WITHERS LIVES REMEMBERED BTME PREVIEW LAMMA PREVIEW DIARY OF A SEASON + 2014 EVENT PLANNER
LET ME BE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR . . Governance by cliches is getting getting tiresome
Heaven help us that there are still 15 months to the next election, yet you would think that all we are missing are the ‘battle-buses’ and other such cliched elements of our political system.
On the basis that if you say it often enough and loud enough then cliches become ‘fact’, so what are we to make of this lot?
‘One Nation’, ‘Cost of living crisis’, ‘Big Society’; ‘Tax cut for millionaires’, ‘We’re all in this together’ , ‘hard working families’, ‘deficit reduction plan’, most of which are interspersed with such phrases as ‘going forward’, ‘game-changer’, ‘maxed-out’, ‘level playing field’, ‘black hole . .
All of which are preceeded by “The truth is”, or my particular hate, “Let me be absolutely clear . .”
Most of this verbal bandiage is used by those who have never run a business - and little of it makes any sense to the vast majority.
There is far too much focus put on the extremes of our society. The ‘Benefits Street’ community at one end and the ‘Bourgeois Avenue’ rich and powerful at the other, when in fact the heartbeat of our country is to be found in the shops, at football matches, railway stations, clubs and pubs.
Recent figures indicate that the economy is picking up and employment growing, much of which is driven by the confidence factor (something you cannot see or touch) - and you cannot improve living standards without a healthy economy.
Recently a major supplier said to me, “In the recession of the early 1990s, we lost dealers and lost money. During the downturn of the past five years, we have not lost dealers, and we have made money.”
The most important aspect of that quote is that we have learned the lessons of the past and we have adapted. Nobody said it was easy, but resourcefulness has always been an admirable virtue.
