It’s not uncommon for dealers who are new to a peer group to be a bit bashful initially. You look around the room and see dozens of grizzled veterans representing big-name dealerships, and the tendency is to sit quietly and let the heavy hitters do all the talking. But don’t sell yourself short.
Dean Swenson remembers the feeling all too well when he first joined the Select Dealer Group (SDG). “When I was new, walking into the dealer world as a startup, sitting in a room with Jim Loffler, I’m thinking to myself, ‘What in the hell could I possibly bring to Loffler?’” said Swenson, president and CEO of The Swenson Group (TSG) in Livermore, California. “It’s a fair assumption that when you are new, you’re a little hesitant to speak your mind or share your thoughts. Maybe even intimidated. I was back in the day.”
Dean Swenson,
The Swenson Group
Still, Swenson knew there was strength in TSG, particularly given its 10-year run as a Xerox agent. And his background in sales certainly enabled him to add perspective to the group. Trading viewpoints and sharing different approaches to business isn’t limited to the upper echelon of dealerships; a $5 million dealer might offer a perspective never considered by a $25 million annual performer.
“Each organization does bring something to the table that’s going to be more relevant to certain members,” Swenson added. “As we bring on new dealers to SDG, we make a concerted effort to get them involved early. We don’t want them sitting on their hands and afraid to speak up because they’re new. We put them in a position to present, a position to get involved, and it really reduces that hesitancy.”
Outside Perspectives
The office technology industry doesn’t exist in a vacuum, so it is often helpful to pull in outside perspectives on areas that are of common concerns to businesses. Bob Doucette, president of Smart Technologies in Daytona Beach, Florida, and the president-elect of the PRO Dealer Group (PDG), works with a local university that offers a sales degree. Doucette invited the college dean to speak with PDG members about what the school is experiencing in developing the next generation of sales professionals.
“Conversations like this give everybody an idea of what’s coming our way and what the future looks like from a recruiting standpoint,” Doucette said.
Ray Belanger, Bay Copy
Ray Belanger, president and CEO of Bay Copy in Rockland, Massachusetts, notes that the strength of the SDG is based on its strong mixture of small, medium and large dealerships, as well as the vibrancy of its membership. He feels the group is pretty progressive, and as it has become more successful, SDG has added more destination-type meetings.
“We don’t intend to make it a travel club,” he added. “A lot of members enjoy rolling up their sleeves and diving right in. We have action-packed meetings that cover a wealth of areas. Even as we’ve gotten bigger, there are still many tight relationships. That was one of the things we wanted to accomplish.”
New Blood
Belanger notes that SDG is seeing second and third generation dealer leadership entering the group who have their own ideas and input. The key for the group is to find different formats and being experimental in developing different ways of getting dealers to speak with one another.
“It could be a more structured manner, or it could be as informal as dinner and drinks,” he said. “Some learning might involve developing relationships with dealers who are more in line with what you (as a dealer) want to do. There are a lot of ways for information sharing to be mixed and matched.”
