DESKING MORE BUSINESS

Not sure how the expression “desking” business came into being, but the process of using the F&I desk as the central component to every deal certainly makes sense. The powersports industry has been desking business as an effective means of dealing with slimmer front-end margins and shorter customer attention spans. However there is also a physical component as well as philosophical approach to the concept of the desk as the heart of a dealership.

My first action upon taking the reins at A.D. Farrow Co. Harley-Davidson was to find a furniture restorer. Hours later a gentleman stopped into the shop and said he could make the old desk look as “good as new.” As an upsell he offered to find some matching wooden balls that he could attach under the desk to allow my long legs to actually fit under the desk. Done. And done!

Said desk was bought by my predecessor Lilly Farrow from the Globe Desk Co, Boston, MA, in 1916, a few short years after she and husband A. D. opened up shop. Turns out more than a few motorcycle deals were done over that desk during the next 100 years. But that wasn’t all…

That piece of furniture has been at the heart of the dealership for a century… through two world wars, two global pandemics, multiple recessions, countless customers, and thousands of planning sessions for races, hill climbs, dances and road rallies to keep those customers coming back. I will admit that I sat at that desk on many occasions and looked to it for a little inspiration.

Apparently I am not the only dealer with an affinity for my desk. Fellow National Powersports Dealer Association Board Member Bob Henig’s desk has been a mini-museum for decades. Even if Bob isn’t around, new customers are given an orientation that specifically includes a stop at the shrine at the heart of the dealership.

Look carefully at the coffee cup on the desk… not the urn containing the ashes of problem customers. The cup cautions: “MANAGEMENT: KNOWING THE FINE LINE BETWEEN THE FUN YOU’RE HAVING AND THE DANGER YOU’RE IN.”

As a brother or sister Dealer I’m sure you have experienced a few similar moments behind that desk of yours.

Sitting at that old desk and asking myself “What Would Lilly Do?” has been a business compass and source of inspiration every day in the dealership. It always reassured me that if she could persevere over seven decades at my new desk, well, so could I…

And so can you!

Look to those treasured mementoes, that coffee cup and collection of oddities that have found a home in the heart of your inner sanctum for inspiration and reassurance… and then go desk some more business!

Bob

INTRODUCING THE SEIEMMEZZO STR 61/2

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Editor’s Note

By Robin Hartfiel