UK & U.S DEALERS SHARE INSIGHTS

PICTURED ABOVE L-R: Tom Healy, NAEDA; Jason Huber, Central Equipment; Pete McArthur, Stathbogie Forest & Garden; Duncan Murray-Clarke, Service Dealer

Service Dealer editor, Steve Gibbs, writes . . .

A significant development for Service Dealer this week at Equip was an exciting collaboration with the North American Equipment Dealers Association (NAEDA). Roughly the equivalent of the UK's BAGMA, the Association represents specialist dealers from across most of the USA and parts of Canada. 

Service Dealer owner Duncan Murray-Clarke and Pete McArthur, director of Strathbogie Forest & Garden, were joined on stage in the massive, main keynote room at the Kentucky International Exhibition Centre by NAEDA's Tom Healy director of dealer development for a live panel debate. Also joining them to give the perspective of a US dealer was Jason Huber, owner of Central Equipment based in Lexington, Kentucky and NAEDA's vice chairman on their OPE dealer council.

Discussing issues impacting independent dealers on both sides of the Atlantic, Duncan chaired a fascinating discussion.  

First up on the agenda was the impact of battery tools on the dealer sector. Interestingly, both Pete and Jason were in agreement that the tech's popularity was most certainly ramping up amongst residential users - but for professionals to fully convert, is taking some time. "Commercially, many of these professional customers just aren't ready for it," said Jason.

Asked about the aftercare situation for dealerships considering a proliferation of battery in the market, Pete confirmed, "It's a situation now where we are looking for a new type of technician."

Also related to this new technology was the worry for dealers that some manufacturers might be looking increasingly to sell directly to the end-user. "Certainly we are concerned about this on the residential side in the U.S market," confirmed Jason.

The talk about battery products, led naturally into wider thoughts about developing technologies in the industry. On the subject of robotic mowers, Pete said, "The biggest problem I see with robots, is that there's too many options at the lower end of the market." He went on to explain how top level golf courses in the UK want to offer that immaculate presentation to their members 24/7, so the quality commercial units are becoming an increasingly popular choice.

From robots, drones were touched upon. Tom from NAEDA explained how their promotion in the commercial turfcare sector is somewhat behind that of agriculture - but there's no doubt it's coming. He said progressive ag dealers in the States started down this drone route for their customers maybe 10 or even 15 years ago - and those that failed to embrace the technology "were left for dust." Dealers in the OPE sector, need to get on board was his advice.

Perhaps unsurprisingly an area that sounded remarkably similar for dealers on both sides of the Atlantic was the difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff. Tom confirmed that their Association sees that every specialist dealer sector in the US (groundscare, ag, construction etc) is short of staff. Jason said that his payroll bill had gone up by about 40% in the past 3 years - without increasing his staff numbers. To keep good people these days, other industries' pay scales must be matched, he said.

Pete completely agreed with Jason and said that in order to keep staff happy, they really must feel included as part of the dealership's family.

Speaking of family, the thorny issue of succession in the dealership was touched upon. Again both Pete and Jason were in agreement that this is a hard subject for any family business to address - but it's one that cannot be ignored. With the average age of dealer principals on the increase in both the UK and US, it's a situation that individuals must take ownership of.

Finally, Duncan raised the question of what will dealerships look like in five years' time? Tom predicted a drastic shift, saying "We shall see mergers and acquisitions ramp up." Jason also felt there would be fewer individual dealerships in the U.S and that "technicians will be the most important staff members that we have."

Pete agreed with these assessments for the UK too, adding "Technological developments will be the most crucial element that we must come to grips with in this industry - that, and more grey hair!"

You will be able to watch the whole discussion when the Equip Digital Special Report is published soon.