Proudly serving the industry for which it was named for more than 50 years, Outdoor Power Equipment provides dealers who sell and service outdoor power equipment with valuable information to succeed in a competitive market.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/108758
FEATURE STORY GC: An industry-specific business management software system will have a major impact on a dealership's overall operational efficiencies. Integrating the functions of the business (sales department, service department, parts department, customer relations, accounting, etc.) increases the dealership's workflow and decreases traditional time-consuming (nonrevenue-generating) activities.These benefits translate to reduced costs, better-managed resources and time for employees, at every level, to focus on revenue-generating activities, which significantly improve the dealership's bottom line. A business management software system improves a dealer's access to accurate and timely information. It increases a dealer's capacity to manipulate this data through fast analytical reports that provide essential insight about customers, operational costs and other key aspects of business. Businesses which manipulate this data by analyzing it quickly and comprehensively are able to make more informed decisions faster and build competitive advantages.The better the information, the greater the operational efficiency. Dealers with the capacity to capitalize on their data are dealers that will thrive in this competitive future. 4) When shopping for a business management system, what are the key factors that OPE dealers need to consider? GC: The level of support provided from the software vendor. The software vendor's track record of performance in the OPE industry. The software's ease of use. The software's ability to fit your OPE business and business processes. The software vendor's long-term product strategy for OPE. GLENN HANCOCK PRESIDENT nizeX, INC. 1) What is the latest news about your company? Glenn Hancock (GH): nizeX has gone to live YouTube videos for training and updates that we communicate with our customers through. We have added a distributor module that handles specific tasks a distributor would need with respect to shipping and tracking wholegoods, and we've enhanced our rental system to allow renting part items instead of only wholegoods. We've also enhanced our consignment parts module to enable Lizzy to track and return consignment parts though a much simpler interface. We've enhanced our inventory analysis features that aid in sales trends and min/max adjustments as well as ordering, so that it runs much faster than earlier versions and provides for more accurate trending analysis. 2) What are the latest business 18 management system technology trends in the OPE industry? GH: I'm not sure if I'd classify much as a trend, but we are seeing more and more customers interested in accessing their business system from iPads and other portable electronic devices to allow them to eliminate more and more of the manual processes. 3) What impact can a business management system make on an OPE dealer's bottom line? GH: The world. I can't tell you how many OPE dealers we talk to that are only using their business system to keep track of inventory and service and miss out on the entire accounting angle.They leave the check writing and paying bills to their wives and let the accountant try to put it all together at the end of the year for paying taxes. If you learn how to use a business system properly and just a little about why accounting is important to your bottom line, you'll discover that you can make much more informed decisions. I've walked into dealerships to help them do inventory and found that they have 10 of a part that they'll never sell; they have no idea what it costs or even why they have so many in stock.The entire situation could have been eliminated had they known their business system can handle min/max and special orders for them automatically, if they'd just let it. My advice is that even if you think you might not use every single thing in your business system, you should at least learn "what" it can do for you. It's not necessary to learn the "how" right off the bat, but the "what" is very, very important to being able to take advantage of everything you can. It's like buying a dump truck and climbing into the bed and shoveling all the dirt out one scoop at a time just because you never knew the handle behind the cab would do all the work for you. 4) When shopping for a business management system, what are the key factors that OPE dealers need to consider? GH: How often do updates go out? How much does it cost when a company comes out with a major release (like going from DOS to Windows)? What types of training aids are available? What platforms will the software operate on? Can you access the system from your smart phone? How involved are the dealers in creating and enhancing the system? Can it do accounting, or do you have to export to another program for that? TONYA QUICK PRESIDENT PATHFINDER COMPUTER SYSTEMS INC. 1) What is the latest news about your company? OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT Tonya Quick (TQ): We have recently developed and released the Stihl Product Registration interface.This allows the dealers at time of sale to register the Stihl product for the customer.We are currently working on other projects that we will be testing in the fall and looking to release in late fall. 2) What are the latest business management system technology trends in the OPE industry? TQ: With the industry constantly changing, especially now with the current economics, dealers are looking for ways to reduce their cost and increase their income. One of the ways to do this is in lower cost of yearly maintenance fees, especially with their POS. As many dealers are being forced to downsize, so must their POS. 3) What impact can a business management system make on an OPE dealer's bottom line? TQ: A business management system allows the dealer to see what parts are fast moving, what their inventory status is at a glance, having their manufacturer pricing current and up-to-date so as to stay competitive. 4) When shopping for a business management system, what are the key factors that OPE dealers need to consider? TQ: When talking to dealers who are looking to switch systems, the two biggest factors are price and ease of use of the system.They want the system to be affordable and fit within their changing budget and still be able to have a good flow and easy to use. JON M. LINTVET CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER & VICE PRESIDENT OF PRODUCT ARI 1) What is the latest news about your company? Jon M. Lintvet (JML): • Great content is even more important: A team, led by Campion Jaques, has been dedicated to pursue new/additional manufacturer content — both domestically and internationally. To support this effort, we have increased our investment in acquiring great new content, as well as enriching the content we have today in order to help our customers sell more stuff. In 2012, we added approximately 15 new brands. Today, we publish content that includes 469,000 equipment models, 10,500,000 active part numbers and SKUs that has a retail product value of $1.76 billion. • Acquisition of 50 Below: At the end of November 2012, we acquired the retail assets of 50 Below. The acquisition marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter. One where we are a stronger organization, focused on delivering innovative new products, extending core capabilities, and providing exceptional customer service that will help our customers www.outdoorpowerequipment.com