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/714159
30 SEPTEMBER 2016 OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT www.outdoorpowerequipment.com FEATURE STORY | Best Practices #1 What is it that I see as the greatest accomplishment in my business? Generally, if you are excited about a certain part of your business, it probably highlights a successful area that you have already identified as your "niche" but haven't really noted it as such. For example, you might have been an owner of a landscaping business before becoming the owner of an OPE dealership (a very common story) and know how hard that business is. You may have a number of commercial customers just because of that expertise. It may have developed organically, but you know it is where you have been able to help others in a tremendous way. This is a niche, and you should be thinking about how you can reach more commercial customers who need your help. You may need to construct your business so that these customers can drop their equipment off easier and train your technicians to be more responsive as well. Other dealers may not even be interested in this business, but you have found a way to make it profitable and it falls into your area of expertise easily. If this has already happened, then make sure that you're finding ways to reinforce what you're doing. Sell add-on items that commercial landscapers are in need of and keep finding new ways to serve these customers. Make this part of your business ■ BY JEFF SHEETS We live in a competitive world with many people in any given profession doing essentially the same thing. In the OPE business, you have different colors of equipment which identify different vendors, but the equipment that each manufacturer creates does essentially the same thing. The question is: Why would someone choose your business over every other business that sells or services the same equipment? The answer is: Finding your "niche" in the marketplace. A good definition of a niche in business is: "A small but profitable segment of a market suitable for attention for a given business." That definition is a very broad one that can be applied in hundreds of different ways, but it is very important for any business to stand out in some way from all of the competition. Finding your niche could be the one thing that makes your business so much more successful than others and allows you to continue to survive and thrive while others fail. I italicized the word "profitable" in the definition of "niche" because that is a key factor in considering it as beneficial for your business. If it is not "profitable," then you need to look for a new strategy to find a niche that is profitable. Here are four questions that you need to ask yourself to help you discover your niche. Carving out your own niche IMAGE ©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/CACAROOT