Bottom Line Gary Bartecki

Everyone needs a guy

Or a Gal. Or a Person. Take your pick. All of them if you have enough problems to solve.

This concept is one of the conclusions reached that the independent equipment dealer convention I attended a couple of weeks ago. What was interesting is how all the speakers wound up drawing the same conclusions about the construction industry and the dealers that serve that industry. If I did not know better, I would have concluded that the speakers got together before hand to arrive at the “Guy” conclusion noted above.

At the end of the day the audience was presented with these facts:

• Inflation is real and here to stay • Supply chain issues are also here to stay • Interest rates will increase the cost of business • Productivity increases are necessary to offset inflation and supply issues • Your dealerships need to become the “# 1” source for what customers need. • Growing your business with existing customers is the way to go. • A cap-x spend on technology is a must once you decide what needs to be corrected. • CRM systems must connect with, Boomers,

Gen X, and Millennials.

Whether you are a car dealer, lift truck dealer, construction equipment dealer, or rental company, this list applies to you.

These changes or adjustments to the way you run your business are going to result from customer requests and expectations for the balance of 2022 and beyond, for they to find themselves dealing with the same issues of finding ways to improve or maintain profitability without generating a cash or liquidity problem. And they will be looking for answers from you, which in turn will solidify your relationship with that customer, which is the goal you are striving for in any event.

So, after going through these sessions and spending time with the vendors at the show I started asking them what technology they had to offer to address dealer issues. Most had stateof-the-art products and services available which, to me, appeared worthy of further review and a demo to see if the results could solve any of the recognized problems listed above.

Vendors mentioned they have competitive solutions available but found a lack of technical expertise or time devoted to the product or system to fully generate the available results.

Further discussion with attendees seemed to indicate that the vendors were correct.

And this is where the discussions started to focus on what can be done to correct for this lack of expertise. The problem is a lack of ability to work with technology, thus creating a spend without an adequate return.

The solution to this problem as you can guess is you need a GUY, a GAL, or a PERSON to learn the system, install the system and use the data the system provides to make better decisions regarding profits and costs. Does this person have to be an employee? Not necessarily, because today companies are hiring off-site folks or independent contractors to assist with these types of endeavors. I am absolutely amazed how many companies are using this approach.

I do not know about you folks, but I use outsiders all the time because I am not comfortable working with current levels of technology. Now look in the mirror and tell me you do not feel this way as well. Me, I am looking for data to tell me what I can do better internally to better serve customers, knowing I do not have the time nor patience to learn how to process data and work with it to find the answers I am looking for. But, on the other hand, once your staff spends some time on a new system with a Guy to guide and learn from, most will become proficient with the process to produce the returns you hoped for in the first place.

In the end, your goal, in this timeframe, should be to better manage costs, better understand your costs on a real-time basis while finding ways to better serve customers, keeping in mind the need to effectively manage the balance sheet.

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One thing we all agreed on at the meeting and that was ……you are going to have to do more with less. Plan to work with fewer sales, lower margins, and increased costs. And on top of that find the money to spend to improve productivity and at the same time interact at new levels with current customers.

Garry Bartecki is a CPA MBA with GB Financial Services LLC and a Wholesaler columnist since August 1993. E-mail editorial@MHWmag. com to contact Garry.

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