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
Upfront Editor Steve Noe snoe@m2media360.com How to beat the heat A M2MEDIA360 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230, Park Ridge, IL 60068 Phone: (847) 720-5600 • Fax: (847) 720-5601 www.outdoorpowerequipment.com Executive Vice President, Group Publisher s you know all too well, Mother Nature sure can be cruel. As quickly as she gave us hope by blessing us with earlier-than-usual starts to the spring and your sales and service season, she took it away with record-setting heat and drought condi- tions for the spring and summer, drying up demand for outdoor power equipment sales and service. Seeking some insight on how much of an impact this extreme weather has made on the industry, especially in the hard-hit Midwest, I turned to a major Midwest-based man- ufacturer and Dan Ariens, who is president and CEO of Ariens Company in Brillion, Wis. And I'm glad that I did because he offered plenty of words of encouragement. "Many dealers are doing very well, and our business with the dealer channel was a record high in our fiscal year ended June 30," said Dan, who was recently elected chair- man of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute. "We are seeing continued good sales in the Southeast, Northeast and South. The Midwest is a challenge, but I am always amazed at how well independent dealers, independent business men and women, deal with the uncertainties of the weather. Having a dealer base, which is growing overall, tells me that dealers are very adept at dealing with their overhead and matching cost with revenues. But, as all business owners know, you have to be vigilant." For those dealers, who are struggling to beat the heat, I asked Dan for his top-five severe weather survival tips, and he responded with the following: 1) Take the time when customers are not coming to you, to make sales introduction visits to commercial, institutional, and municipal accounts. Build relationships for a new day. Promote service as a key value add. 2) Work closely with the manufacturing partners you have to manage inventories and keep the inventory risk low. 3) Develop a parts replenishment system with your customers to build a secure repeat- able business. Use the slow time to set up this system, and when the rain comes, this can be great repeat business. 4) If you haven't tried the lean management systems of eliminating waste and improv- ing work processes, start now with developing a value stream map of your work flow — use this 'free' time to make improvements in your cost systems, improving cash flow, and in better times improving profitability. 5) Manage the parts inventory well, including working with your manufacturing part- ners to clean up old parts for returns if possible. I hope that you found Dan's assessment and advice as encouraging I did. I would enjoy hearing how you're managing to beat the heat, as well as what are your top severe weather survival tips, so please let me know via e-mail at snoe@m2media360.com or Facebook@GreenMediaMags. Here's hoping for all of us that Mother Nature blesses us again with much better weather soon. OPE 626 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 500, Los Angeles, CA 90017 Ph: 213-596-7226 • bloria@m2media360.com Account Representatives: Bruce Loria 16267 W. 14 Mile Rd., Ste 202, Beverly Hills, MI 48025 Ph: 248-530-0300 • lpalmer@m2media360.com Leslie Palmer Phone: 213-596-7220 • Fax: 213-624-0997 gdatz@m2media360.com Classified Sales/Marketplace: Glenn Datz 6 OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT www.outdoorpowerequipment.com Production Manager OPE Staff Associate Publisher Editor Art Director Charles Forman John Kmitta Steve Noe Brian Snook Karen Kalinyak Direct Mail List Sales Cheryl Naughton, (678) 292-6054; e-mail cnaughton@m2media360.com Cheryl Naughton, (678) 292-6054; e-mail cnaughton@m2media360.com Reprint Service President/CEO Vice President, Finance and Operations Senior Vice President, Audience Development Vice President, Operations and Human Resources Executive Director, EETC Senior Advisor, Servantage Dixie Sales Pres., Plano Power Equipment and Whipper Clipper M2MEDIA360 Marion Minor Gerald Winkel Joanne Juda-Prainito Mary Jo Tomei Editorial Advisory Board Jim Roche Jim Starmer Glen Whitt For subscription inquiries and customer service questions, Circulation please call (845) 856-2229 or fax (845) 856-5822 business hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. EST Publisher's Notice: We assume no responsibility for the validity of adver- tising claims in connection with items appearing in Outdoor Power Equipment. Reader Service Numbers are given to facilitate further inquiry. Commercial product names are used for the convenience of the reader. Mention of a commercial product does not imply endorse- ment by Outdoor Power Equipment or M2MEDIA360, or preference over similar products not mentioned. 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230, Park Ridge, IL 60068 Phone: (847) 720-5600 • Fax: (847) 720-5601