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/74170
Upfront Editor Steve Noe snoe@m2media360.com M2MEDIA360 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230, Park Ridge, IL 60068 Phone: (847) 720-5600 • Fax: (847) 720-5601 www.outdoorpowerequipment.com Challenging first half A Executive Vice President, Group Publisher s you may recall, last month I devoted much of this space to inform you of the record-setting second-quarter results for two of the industry's top manufactur- ers, Toro and Deere. I concluded my column by asking you to drop me an e-mail to let me know how your dealership fared in the first half of 2012 and what your expectations are for the second half of this year. I followed up that request by formally surveying many of you on your 2012 expectations, first-half results and second-half outlook. First, I would like thank all of you who graciously took the time out of your busy schedules to respond to either request for feedback. And, after reading all of the excel- lent responses and compiling them for the cover story on page 10, I want to thank those of you who replied for your courage and candidness in what has been a challeng- ing first half. Yes, as you may have suspected, many of you have not shared the same degree of success as Toro and Deere. However, it has very little, if anything, to do with you, and much to do with Mother Nature. Many of you entered 2012 with high hopes and expectations that were further heightened by the early arrival of spring weather, leading to a much-earlier-than- expected start to your selling season. However, the selling season cruelly came to an end almost as soon as it got started with the arrival of record-setting heat that has continued to grip most of the nation, leading to drought-like conditions and the evap- oration of your sales. The spring of 2012 was the culmination of the warmest March, third-warmest April and second-warmest May for the contiguous United States since records were first kept in 1895, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This marked the first time that all three months during the spring season ranked among the 10 warmest. The NOAA also reported that June's average temperature for the con- tiguous United States of 71.2 degrees Fahrenheit contributed to a record-warm first half of the year and the warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since 1895. To make matters worse, the nation experienced its 10th-driest June on record, with a nationally averaged precipitation of 2.27 inches, which is 0.62-inch below average. Personally, we've had so little rain here in the Chicago area that I've mowed my lawn only once or twice during the entire summer. I've also scrapped my annual tradi- tion of planting a garden, as well as postponed any plans of edging, tilling, and mulching the landscape beds until next spring, due to the excessive heat making yard work un- bearable. However, watering my trees, shrubs and other plants has become nearly a daily routine with the hope of keeping everything alive. Well, I hope that reading our cover story to see what your fellow dealers had to say gives you some solace. By the time you read this, I also hope that Mother Nature will have been much kinder to us all. Best of luck the rest of 2012! Hang in there! OPE 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 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