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/78196
Which forms of social media do you use for your business to communicate with end users, and how often do you use them? Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Pinterest Instagram Daily Weekly Monthly Never 7.1% 22.6% 20.2% 50% 3.2% 4.8% 1.6% 90.5% 0% 6.5% 4.8% 88.7% 0% 1.7% 15% 88.3% 0% 0% 0% 100% 0% 0% 0% 100% Service In 2001, more than half of all dealers charged a shop labor rate of $40-$50. Most starting service technicians were making $7- $8.99 per hour, and the best service techs were being paid nearly double that amount at $15-$16.99. From 2001 to 2010, due to several factors — not the least of which was the Fair Mini- mum Wage Act of 2007, which increased the federal minimum wage by $2.10 over a two- year period to $7.25 per hour — the shop labor rate of most dealers rose to a minimum of $60. Most starting techs saw their hourly pay increase from $7-8.99 to $11-12.99, while the best service technicians remained at their 2001 hourly pay levels of $15-$16.99. Since 2010, not much has changed in hourly shop labor and technician pay rates on a national level, but I highly en- courage you to take a closer look at the charts that break down these numbers re- gionally. Dealers are taking a slightly tougher stance on which brands they service as 13.6 percent said they would only service brands they sold, which is about a 3-percent in- crease over 2010. However, more than half of all dealers (53.4 percent) are still willing to service brands sold and selected others, while servicing all brands fell 3 percent to 33 percent. More than 90 percent of all dealers rated warranty payment satisfaction "fair," "good" or "very good." Biggest concerns When asked about their biggest concern and presented seven choices, dealers' top three choices were nearly unanimous and nearly split equally between business operat- ing costs (29.1 percent), weather (26.2 per- cent) and the economy (25.2 percent). They were followed by the availability of quality employees (8.7 percent), profit margin from sales (6.8 percent), and competition and other (tied at 1.9 percent). In 2010, only 11 percent of respondents chose weather as their biggest concern, but the huge spike is understandable given the extremely hot and dry conditions that have swept much of the nation. Websites and social media There is no denying the power of the In- ternet and the role it has played in dealerships. In 2001, less than half of all dealers had web- sites, but more than 70 percent do now. In addition to having their own web- sites, dealers are also starting to rely on so- cial media to communicate with their customers with nearly half of all dealers using Facebook. I would like to thank all of those dealers who took time out of their busy schedules to complete the survey so that we could vali- date the results. I hope the results help you to make the necessary adjustments to how you conduct business so that you can increase your profitability. OPE OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT AUGUST 2012 13