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: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/44370
FEATURE STORY By Bob Clements DON'T CUT WITH A DULL CHAIN I t hardly seems possible that another year has rolled around with the 2011 Green Industry and Equipment Expo (GIE+EXPO) set to take place Thursday, Oct. 27, through Saturday, Oct. 29, at Louisville's Kentucky Exposition Center. During the past three years, I've had the honor of being a part of what this year will be known as the Dealer Re- source Pavilion. This year, I'm looking forward to meeting many new dealers, but also re- connecting with those dealers that I've been privileged to work with during the past 17 years. As the plans for the 2011 GIE+EXPO began to come together early this year, those involved with the organization of the Dealer Resource Pavilion met with several dealers in Louisville to discuss what the Pavilion would look like and what educational events should be offered. The dealers offered their insights on types of training they would like to see for themselves and their employ- ees, and based upon their feedback, we began the work of bring- ing all the elements together. Partnering with the North American Equipment Dealers Association (NAEDA), we began contacting key outdoor power equipment industry manufacturers and suppli- ers, which over the years have shown a true commitment to the growth of dealerships not only in North America but worldwide, and asked them to serve as sponsors. These are companies like Briggs and Stratton and Cub Cadet, Gravely, Husqvarna and Stihl that invest tens of thou- sands of dollars every year to help OPE dealers achieve suc- cess. We also have vendors like ARI, Ideal Computer Systems, Lista and Heftee that invest thousands of dollars and personnel to the Pavilion to help show- case the newest and best ideas for making dealerships efficient and profitable. We had a lot of requests last year to bring back the high- performance service department, which is what my team at Bob Clements International (BCI) — along with Ideal, Lista and Hef- tee — will be featuring throughout the entire event. Join my BCI team and I as we share with you our service processes and answer questions you have on how to turn your shop into a money ma- chine. I am also excited to bring together a series of workshops on Thursday, Friday and Saturday that will cover everything from legal issues facing OPE dealers today, leveraging social media, driv- ing more leads and sales through your website, building a highly profitable service department, and taking advantage of aftermarket selling opportunities to create more profit in your dealership. On Thursday morning from 10:30 to 11:30, you will have an opportunity to meet Gary Antoniewicz, an attorney that special- izes in dealership issues. Gary's workshop will be interactive as he shares his thoughts on current situations facing dealerships today. Whether you have specific questions you would like to ask Gary or want to sit back, listen, and learn, his session is sure to give you new insight on what to do and avoid doing as you work to build a profitable dealership. We kick off Thursday afternoon with Bob McCann, who is the director of education for ARI and a great presenter with a power- ful message. His workshops are fast paced, fun, and designed to give dealers the tools they need to harness the power and prof- itability of their website. If you are open to having some fun and learning about generating and converting your web leads into sales, then you are not going to want to miss Bob's workshop, which will take place from 2 to 3:30 p.m. On Friday morning, we start our workshop off with Sabrina Se- bastian with Fastline Publications. Sabrina is an industry expert in leveraging today's social media for dealership marketing. From Face- book to YouTube, the Internet gives dealers today access to an audi- ence that just a few years back was impossible to reach. During her workshop, which will take place from 10:30 to 11:30, Sabrina will show you simple and effective ways to develop a positive dynamic 20 OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT www.outdoorpowerequipment.com