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/726432
2016 DEALER SURVEY 20 OCTOBER 2016 OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT www.outdoorpowerequipment.com COVER STORY they sold, which is about a 5-percent increase over 2014. Perhaps that has to do with a drop in warranty payment satisfaction during the past two years with half saying it was "good" or "very good" in 2014 but about 7 percent less indicating that this time around. BIGGEST CONCERNS In 2014 and again this year, we asked dealers which one of the following concerns was their biggest: economy, weather, competition, cost of operating your business, profi t margin from sales, availability of quality employees, or other. The results? In 2014, nearly one out of every four dealers said it was "cost of operating your business." This year, about 30 percent indicated it was the "availability of quality employees." On a related note to a separate question, more than 96 percent of dealers indicated that they believe there is a shortage of qualifi ed service technicians for the OPE industry, which would justify the increases in shop labor and service technician pay rates. WEBSITES AND SOCIAL MEDIA More than three out of every four dealers (77 percent) have a website for their business, nearly two out of every three (64 percent) have a Facebook page and approximately 82 percent use Facebook, which just goes to show you the increasing popularity and widespread use of social media. For a breakdown of other forms of social media used by dealers and how often they use them, please refer to the charts on page 23. FUTURE PLANS Since many of you are nearing retirement, most of the new questions in this year's survey addressed the future, especially the next one to fi ve years. In the next year, 20 percent of dealers said they plan to add or switch lines and 16.7 percent of dealers said they plan to expand their current location or open a new location, which are both encouraging signs. However, a staggering 35 percent of dealers said they plan to sell their dealership within the next fi ve years, which I guess should come as no surprise with 45 percent of all dealers being 60 and over. In addition, nearly half of dealers indicated they do have a succession plan for ownership of their business. Once again, I would like to thank the more than 100 dealers who participated in the survey so that we could validate the results. I hope you are able to take this knowledge, apply it to your own dealership, and become more profi table.