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/726432
26 OCTOBER 2016 OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT www.outdoorpowerequipment.com FEATURE STORY | Best Practices you advertising correctly? Is your location inconvenient? How does this affect your ordering for next year? My goal here is to challenge you to make sure that you're not just going through the motions like a zombie, trying to do the same things as the past year. Your business and potential customers deserve more. Here are three things I want you to "chew on" like candy corn during this Halloween season. #1 What should you say "boo" to and "scare away" from your business next year? Whether you had a good year or bad year, changes need to happen. It may be an incremental change, but there is always something that can be done to improve your business from year to year. It may be old processes that you need to update or add a new product or service to take you into a new direction. "Out with the old and in with the new" for next year should be a motto that you are always looking to incorporate. Sometimes, you need to make an effort to move your business forward. For example, I've been working with a business that is highly successful, but still does everything on paper with no industry- based business management software system to aid its efforts. Needless to say, the business has a lot of communication issues. ■ BY JEFF SHEETS With three quarters of 2016 now in the books and Halloween creeping up (no pun intended), it is important to stop and evaluate the year to date. Why? Very big decisions need to be made for your business soon. I want you to evaluate the results of your sales, parts and service departments for the first three quarters of 2016. If you enjoyed a spectacular (a.k.a. "spooktakular") season, why was that the case? Was it because of a new equipment line? Was it because of ideal weather? The answers to these and other such questions can help you make good decisions when buying new equipment or hiring employees for the coming year. On the flip side, if the season was scary for you, how are you are going to change your business? Do you have the right product mix? Are Scary or Spooktacular Season? IMAGE ©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/JAG_CZ