After what has felt like an age, but in reality has been two years, the Service Dealer Conference & Awards finally took place again yesterday at the DoubleTree by Hilton Oxford Belfry.
And I must say, what a special day it was! The event was (safely) busy with dealers from around the country, representing businesses large and small, who specialise in machinery areas across the spectrum. From the ag specialists in the room, to the professional groundcare experts, to those who ply their trade in domestic, forestry and ATV machinery, I feel confident in saying all will be returning to their places of business with some fresh perspectives and new ideas to put into practice.
Following the event, Service Dealer owner, Duncan Murray-Clarke said, "I was delighted with the energy that the speakers, delegates and sponsors brought to the day and evening. The industry was due a big night out and it was so lovely to catch up with everyone."
From a personal point of view, I felt the conference was pitched perfectly. Speaking to delegates during and after the event, many said to me just how pleased they were to be back at the day - or to be attending for the first time - and how much they had benefited from they had heard. The industry's enforced time apart these past two years, seems to have genuinely built up an appetite for a gathering such as this.
Of course it's all very delightful meeting up with peers and colleagues on a purely social basis - and there was plenty of time for that - but a business conference succeeds or fails on its content. Having no involvement in the organising of the day itself - that's down to Duncan and his amazing team - I feel justified in saying that yesterday exceeded expectations. It delivered food for thought, lively debate, and a superb forum for the sharing of specialist knowledge.
Smart working
Duncan Murray-Clarke, kicked the day off, welcoming delegates and diligently explaining the covid-safety protocols in place for everyone's comfort. With the formalities out of the way Duncan remarked how at every conference in the past, there had been challenges and issues for dealers to address - but this year, he didn't quite know where to start!
Duncan Murray-Clarke
He said, "2020/21 has of course been extraordinary and no amount of past experience prepared us for what happened. But the changes the pandemic brought were soon accepted by the outdoor power and agricultural equipment industry.
"After that brief initial intake of breath we all went through, you the dealers started safely opening based on the guidelines and often with your own unique practical problem solving. For a change the weather was on our side and it soon became clear that people were focussing on their homes and more importantly their gardens. It took a bit longer for the professional turfcare sector to open up, and the ag industry carried on (albeit with far less human contact)."
Addressing the Smart Working theme of the day, Duncan went on to say, "The last 20 months have been like no other and we’ve all had to adapt and find new ways of working. We’ve had to be smarter with our time, juggling home life and our businesses. We’ve also had to find alternative ways for communicating with our teams and our customers to ensure business continuity. Technology has played an important part in allowing us to continue to operate and to keep in touch."
The first keynote address of the day came from Ed Gillespie who last spoke to the conference back in 2018. Ed's style of speaking from the hip and combining futurism with sustainability issues and sharp observation went down very well once again.
Ed Gillespie
This time his presentation was entitled 'Smart Working In A Changing World.' Ed talked about what is being termed post-pandemic, as the great reset. In his inimitable manor, he considered why we as humans are so "eff-ed" and what we could do to "un-eff ourselves"! In a wide ranging presentation that got the conference talking, he proposed that our ways of working have inevitably changed for good - the genie is out of the bottle is how he put it.
The power of technology enables new ways of working, said Ed, ways that have become trends these past 18 months that will be hard to shift. He warned the conference though, that with disruption such as we've seen, "..the road ahead will be bumpy."
Interactive sessions
The first of the day's breakout sessions followed Ed. These seminar sessions that split the delegates into smaller working groups, never fail to encourage an engaging dialogue between the presenter and the audience of dealers.
One of the sessions was run by Teresa Heath-Wareing, the day's other keynote presenter, and was billed as a 'Social Media Masterclass'. Teresa got her groups brainstorming, helping them to think of what they can post on their social media channels - and more importantly how to do it well for maximum engagement.
Teresa Heath-Wearing
She stressed how it was the quality of a dealership's social posts that matter, not the quantity. She advised to set aside even just an hour a week to think about what could be shared, and plan it out carefully to generate ideas for the content. "A good post," Teresa said, "needs to educate, entertain and offer a call to action. You should ask yourself whenever you post anything, who cares about this?"
Simply try to sell via your posts doesn't work Teresa told the delegates. "When talking on social media we're talking to other humans - which we tend to forget sometimes," she explained. "When you discuss issues that affect your customers but are not directly connected to what you sell, you are showing an appealing human side and you're saying to your followers, 'I get you.'".
The other breakout session was called 'New Technology Will Empower You, Not Replace You' and was hosted by Ben Scott-Robinson of the Small Robot Company. This session and indeed a talk later in the day were actually supposed to be hosted by Ben's colleague Sam Watson-Jones, but he'd unfortunately had to pull out due to a positive Covid test earlier in the week. Ben however, gamely stepped in and did a cracking job at relatively short notice.
Ben Scott-Robinson
Ben's breakout session was unusual in that he turned the tables on the dealers in the room somewhat. He asked them to think how his business of autonomous robots that can map, weed kill and plant out in the field, might work as part of a dealership's setup. Through getting the dealers in the room to talk to each other in small groups, he was encouraging them to think through how, or indeed if, a business proposition such as this could work in a dealership in the future.
It was fascinating to hear the dealers work through whether a technology so different to what they sell and service today could fit in with how they run their companies. Most thought that the dealership certainly had the route to market that the Small Robot Company needed, but there were differing opinions as to whether it could actually be viable for themselves. Certainly most felt that their businesses would have to change somewhat to adapt to what was required, perhaps with the creation of a new specialist department. But as most of the conference attested to, change in the post-pandemic world is unavoidable.
Relate to your customers
After lunch, delegates received a shot of energetic enthusiasm, from Teresa Heath-Wearing with her keynote entitled 'How To Have Social Media Success And Use It To Find Your Next Customer'. An area of particular interest to all dealers considering just how vital digital has been to everyone's businesses these past two years, Teresa spoke about how social needs to be considered as the modern means of networking. "It's not just about likes and follows anymore," she said, "social is where we see the real people behind a company."
Teresa told the delegates that they need to have confidence to put their personalities out there. What is of most importance with what they post, is getting that back and forth, the engagement, with people. "Relate to your customers, " she encouraged. "Translate that banter you have in real life with them, to what you put out online."
The final main presentation of the day came from Ben Scott-Robinson of the Small Robot Company. In his talk entitled 'The Fourth Agricultural Revolution - Sooner Than You Think', Ben talked through the remarkable strides in precision agriculture that his company and others like them are making. His belief is that the world requires agriculture that is not based around large vehicles - the future must be shaped around robots and A.I. "Our vision," he said, "is that per-plant farming will be the dominate farming system in the next 20 years."
Again offering up ideas that allowed the delegates to consider how both their businesses and the sectors that they serve are undergoing seismic changes, Ben enlightened the conference to technologies and practices that will soon move ever more mainstream.
The changed workplace
The Conference wrapped up with the return of Ed Gillespie to the stage hosting a roundtable discussion called 'Riding the ‘hybrid’ work-horse – wrangling with the pros and cons of new ways of working'. Ed was joined by Duncan Murray-Clarke, Teresa Heath-Wearing, Ernest Doe's Graham Parker and Farol's Geoff Thompson for a fascinating conversation that considered how the pandemic has changed our working methods for good.
L-R: Duncan Murray-Clarke, Geoff Thompson, Teresa Heath-Wearing, Graham Parker and Ed Gillespie
The dealers on the panel confirmed that the notion of working away from the place of business, for those roles that are able, is something never really considered before - but is certainly here to stay. Graham Parker confirmed that meetings of their team online are now happening more frequently, but are shorter, faster and more productive. Geoff Thompson also agreed that greater efficiencies are now achieved by cutting much of the unnecessary driving between depots for meetings.
Ed offered up the theory of a crisis bring the future closer, which the panel felt was true. However, there was a feeling of caution that even though many are pleased with the new hybrid working options individuals and businesses enjoy right now, we should be mindful of things slipping back to how they were a few years ago. Duncan countered however, believing, "People have expectations now. We can't let ourselves go back."
Following the roundtable Duncan brought the conference to a conclusion thanking the speakers and all the delegates for their contributions to the day's theme of smart working. He said, "We find ourselves in a time when looking forward is more important than ever. Knowledge is indeed power."
I would like to personally thank the team at TAP for putting together such an engaging, thought-provoking and enjoyable day once again. I think it's safe to say the industry sorely missed the opportunity to congregate and learn from each other last year - so it was amazing to be back.
Isolation is not good for individuals or businesses. It seems to me that taking the opportunity to embrace an event like this, is more important than ever before.
A final massive thanks also must go to the day's sponsors, without whom the conference wouldn't be possible.
This year's sponsors were:
Principal Sponsor
Kramp
Platinum Sponsor
Ibcos & Catalyst
Gold Sponsors
Kubota
Husqvarna
Toro UK
AGCO
Networking Sponsors
BAGMA
PSD Groundscare
