DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TOOLS TO STAY COMPETITIVE?

“From recent dealer visits, the outlook for Compact, Outdoor Power Equipment and select Ag Equipment markets sales in 2015 should continue to improve along with the domestic economy. However, current prices and uninspiring forecasts for commodities into 2015 and beyond will definitely be challenges for sales of large ag equipment over $100,000. That means that managing equipment inventories, both new and used, will demand increased attention, planning, and thought in 2015, and require sophisticated business management tools such as those in the ASPEN system.” 

Tim Wentz, Field Director for the Northeast Equipment Dealers’ Association

Based on Tim’s forecast, this is the time to look at your dealership management system to make sure that you have the right tools to manage your unit inventory. For example, do you know how each unit is configured, how much it costs, and when it begins to bear interest?

Having real-time, up-to-the minute inventory reporting at your fingertips such as that available in ASPEN is critical to know what you have to sell. The ability to use the system to track all service work and ownership history on each piece of equipment provides a solid record to know the value of the unit for trade-ins, etc. Knowing when units become interest bearing is a key piece of information that can be used to help push sales. The ASPEN dealership system enables dealers to track dates and set reminders on unit records indicating when interest begins to accrue. Sales managers can then create lists of these high-priority units for their sales teams to work on getting sold and cleared out of inventory.

January is also great time to both review last year’s performance and plan for the year ahead. How did each of your departments perform and what was their contribution to the dealership’s overal profits? Did the dealership meet last year’s goals? Communicating the dealership’s accomplishments, as well as any challenges and identifying what worked and what didn’t to your staff are all vitally important pieces of successfully figuring out “why.” Understanding “why” will better enable you and your staff to adapt to the ever-changing realities of retailing equipment. (See last month’s Smart Equipment Dealer article on benchmarking with ASPEN for ways to measure dealership performance by department)

Take this time also to evaluate your marketing plans. An effective marketing plan is far more than a budget number and a list of media outlets, it’s your dealership’s blueprint for success! Finding out if your customers are using smart phones and if they are they using social media can give you an idea of where to focus your marketing messages Recent reports indicate that over 50% of internet searches are performed from mobile devices. These reports indicate that customers are most interested in two things: the dealership’s phone number and its street address (GPS). If a prospect finds your dealership’s website on their smart phone, are your dealership’s address, phone, e-mail and hours of operation visible front and center? Can you ensure that all incoming calls and e-mails are handled appropriately? Can you track how many are converted into sales? Using a CRM, ideally one that is part of your business system, like in ASPEN, can help every dealership employee to maximize every customer contact and ensure consistent follow-up. For more information on using ASPEN’s CRM tools, see the CRM section of this website.