There are many sound reasons to join an industry peer group. It’s not without commitment; if you show up at a meeting either hosted by a dealer or at a resort location, you should bring more than your swimming trunks and a tube of sunscreen. Your input is what makes these gatherings so special and productive.
That said, it’s also important that you bring home something more material from this trip than a savage tan. Many groups offer breakout sessions where participants share random ideas that have produced bona fide results, including product diversification, sales and marketing strategies, process improvements and HR tips.
It’s also helpful when they note why an idea or strategy has worked for them, because variables such as geography, customer verticals and OEM lines can definitely skew results. But there are also tactics that can transcend all these factors and yield benefits across the board. As we wrap up September’s State of the Industry report on industry peer groups, our dealer panel was gracious enough to share some of the strategies that they incorporated into their own businesses that provided a salutary impact.
Code Talker
QR code stickers have been a popular addition for many dealers, including Donnellon McCarthy Enterprises of Cincinnati. By having the code on the devices, notes President Jim George, the customer can just scan the code on their unit and it takes them directly to the dealer’s service request submission page.
“The nice part about it is that it will also allow clients to see our ecommerce site, if they want to buy printers or other accessories,” he said. “That was one of the ideas we were able to implement pretty quickly.”
A few years back, Carter Hertzberg, president of Nauticon Office Solutions in Gaithersburg, Maryland, was involved in a conversation that assessed business development tools to reach decision-makers faster and target prospects with its ideal client profile. Hertzberg moved forward with a software tool that enables his teams to be more efficient in their prospecting efforts.
Another idea was the UNICOR federal prison work program, which serves as an outbound call center for prospecting. Hertzberg signed on and was elated with the performance of the federal prisoners…giving new meaning to the term captive audience.
“The program had significantly positive ROI up until COVID hit and everybody in the greater DC metro area went home for a few years,” he noted.
Group presenters also represent a golden opportunity for dealers to learn about a software or solution that dovetails with what attendees are trying to accomplish, notes Joe Blatchford, the CEO of Image 2000 in Valencia, California. Thus, if a CEO Juice or ConnectWise presents and sponsors a dinner, it generally yields opportunities that provide an ROI for the presenter and new solutions for dealers.
“We’ve brought back ideas related to marketing through these presenters,” Blatchford said. “I’d say at least three or four dealers will move forward with an idea based off the presentations. That’s what keeps these presenters coming back.”
The PRO Dealer Group does an annual best practice contest that has proven to be a boon for Dan Strull, CEO of GoodSuite in Woodland Hills, California, who notes he routinely implements two to three viable strategies per year. These include applying QR code stickers on every machine, overseas outsourcing of admin support, wrapping service vehicles (including the roofs of cars and trucks) and several marketing campaigns/sales contests.
The outsourcing ploy has certainly paid dividends, according to Strull. “One dealer had been hiring admin help from Pakistan,” he said. “He was paying $8 to $11 an hour for some pretty sophisticated help. We looked into that immediately.”
