Back in April BTA announced the launch of a new office technology industry dealer peer collaboration group focused on bringing non-competing dealers together to share best practices and strengthen the revenue performance of each member dealership. PRO Dealer Group currently has 15 founding member dealerships and is opening the group to additional members.
In addition to the backing of BTA, the new organization has a relationship with Strategic Business Associates (SBA) who will help members identify ways to enhance the profitability of their companies.
The group’s first meeting took place in early June in Las Vegas. A second meeting is September 10 in Minneapolis.
Last week we spoke with PRO Dealer Group President Matt Jackson, president of Copynet Office Systems Inc. in Plano Texas to get a better understanding of what this new organization is all about.
Why do you feel there’s a need for another dealer peer collaboration group?
Jackson: The problem with the other peer collaboration groups is they’re usually landlocked and one dealer in a territory usually blocks everybody else. Currently, there’s only two other dealer groups, maybe three, and it doesn’t take too much to block everybody else out. There’s definitely a need for additional groups. Just in the Dallas Fort Worth area there’s like 20 different dealers so you’ve got two other dealers tying up the entire geographic area.
Do you differentiate yourself from the other dealer peer group organizations in any way?
Jackson: We’re all very similar and all work with Strategic Business Associates and participate in their surveys. The difference is our group is small and a lot of those other groups have grown to a size that is uncontrollable and some have turned into social events; that’s what I hear from some of the dealers in those groups. Ours is a grassroots organization concentrated on growing our businesses and getting ideas from others in the group to do that.
You now have 16 members what’s the maximum number of members that you’d like to have?
Jackson: Minimally I want 20 and somewhere between 20 and 30.
What are the qualifications for membership?
Jackson: Obviously it’s geographic and we’re looking for dealers with more than $4 million [in revenues] but will certainly consider everybody. Right now we have dealers from $4 million to excess of $10 million. We have mandatory attendance. Owners have to attend. You can bring other people in your company, but the owner has to be in attendance for other people to come.
What are some of the best practices you’re currently focusing on?
Jackson: All 16 members have completed their surveys and we’re going to have the results presented to us by John Hey and John Hanson of SBA. Based on that we’re going to determine where we’re going to concentrate our best practice efforts.
What are some of the other issues you hope to address going forward?
Jackson: One topic is sales compensation. Everybody brought their sales comp plans to our first meeting and based on those we generalized best practices as a group. That’s what the group’s intention is and the strength of peer collaboration. Everybody is on their own island and you can’t call up the competition across town and ask him what he’s doing. We want to make sure we’re all headed in the right direction.
How important is the relationship with SBA to your success?
Jackson: They have a benchmarking tool which surveys our group as well as CDA and SDG to create an industry average. So you’re able to compare against people in your group and the other industry groups. You’re able to judge your company and its health on those factors. Based on my prior experience with another group it keeps you focused on what’s important. The thing about SBA is they really have that survey down.
How will you gauge success of PRO Dealer Group?
Jackson: Growth. We want to be 20 and are hoping to grow by 10 members during the next year. There’s a lot of people out there searching [for a peer collaboration group] and when you break up the country geographically and see only two groups out there, there’s a lot of dealers who would be interested in becoming members.
For more information on the group or to receive a membership application, contact BTA Executive Director Brent Hoskins at brent@bta.org.
