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Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/559325
You are looking for doing better than last year — each and every year — and reviewing what happened is an important step in that process. Here are a few motivational reasons to do what you need to do and review your business now versus later. #1 GIE+EXPO IS NEXT MONTH I am not a paid spokesperson for the Green Industry & Equip- ment Expo (GIE+EXPO), but I want to encourage you to attend this trade show Oct. 21-23 in Louisville, Ky. It is a great oppor- tunity to see how to make your business better and is well worth your time and money. There are seminars that are worth their weight in gold in motivating you to do what you need to do and give you hope for the future. The product displays are awesome, and the manufacturers put their best foot forward to show you new products and help you in any way they can. If you are look- ing at buying or upgrading software, you get the chance to meet face to face with the representatives of many software companies. If you are looking at doing almost anything new in your business, there will be someone there to help you address that need. You also should attempt to meet other dealership owners while you are there and develop new contacts. It is a great networking op- portunity! Sometimes being able to call or email another owner when you need advice is a great thing to be able to do. You may even find this humble OPE contributing writer at booth #568 to help answer any questions that you might have. If you've never attended GIE+EXPO, you need to go, and if you have attended the show, there is always something new that you need to go and see! If you have not already done so, I would highly encourage you to read the "GIE+EXPO Show Preview" on pages 16-20 in this issue, as well as go to the show's website at www.gie-expo.com, in advance of leaving for Louisville to develop a game plan of which events that you should attend to address your needs for next year. #2 BUYING DECISIONS ON 2016 EQUIPMENT I used to be a sales representative in a previous life in what was an extremely seasonal business. Every year, I would go over or- ders for the season with my accounts in April when the sea- son was in November and December. What I found was that about 80 percent of the people had no clue what they should order and really did not have much information on individual items sold. They usually only had anecdotal stories to tell me about how the year went. They relied on me to do their order- ing for them. Although I feel most salespeople do a great job of handling a responsibility like this, sometimes they don't have enough data to know the needs of their business. You need to review your sales, speak with your salespeople, and have them (or you) talk to their large accounts to really look to the future of what your needs will be. Is there a trend that you can be on top of now? Has a competitor either gone out of business or a new competitor entered the market? Is there new construc- tion of homes in your area that will mean more business for certain lines of equipment? Was last year a great year because of external forces like weather that pushed you to sell more? The questions are endless, but making sure you gather the facts before making future moves is important. If you never really review your past, then how can you make good decisions for the future? One question you always need to be asking yourself is: Am I carrying the right lines of equipment? I favor carrying only three to four equipment lines, including one handheld line. If you have more than that, I bet there is one line that you sell very little of, and in fact, steer buyers away from it, because it is not your favorite. You want your lines to complement each other and not compete head to head as much as possible. #3 LARGE PARTS RESTOCKING ORDERS The discounts make it worth ordering parts in large quantities from manufacturers, but you really need to conduct a good physical in- ventory before you place this type of order. I favor rolling physical inventories, where you schedule certain manufacturers in specific months and spread it out throughout the year. If you wait until the end of the year, it becomes a much larger issue and sometimes more arduous than it needs to be. By the end of September, I would hope that at least 75 percent of your parts inventory would be completed. Obviously, if you have software that tracks your sales dollars and numbers of each individual part's sales, it can make a big difference. But, making sure that the numbers in the system match what is on the shelves is important. Discrepancies can occur, and you need to FEATURE STORY www.outdoorpowerequipment.com OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT SEPTEMBER 2015 23