During these tough economic times, motorcycle dealers aren’t selling the amount of product they once did. The author of a column in a motorcycle business journal recently stated that all the information and statistics we have at hand to help explain bad times doesn’t really help a dealer stay focused on a small business owner’s real challenge: “staying focused on the front door.”
He went on to say “the only real analysis a dealer needs to make is did you do everything you could to give that last customer a good experience, and did you make it easy for him/her to buy?”
What we can change in tough economic times is our attitude and our focus. Those are two attributes we can control in ourselves and in our employees that will provide us with the best chance to be successful, even when times are tough. A positive attitude and a focus “on the front door” can only help make a tough time better.
Cub Cadet Commercial just announced that they will introduce a new line of turf application equipment at the Golf Industry Show.
I don’t know much about the turf equipment industry, but I do know that Toro and John Deere have a huge market share in that business arena.
All three manufacturers produce high quality equipment, so it will be interesting to watch and see if Cub Commercial Turf Equipment can take market share away from Toro and Deere by providing golf course superintendents features and innovations that differentiate their products and overcome a superintendent’s current brand loyalty. Just another day in the OPE business.
I was just thinking about the Snapper brand being sold at Sears and what Snapper dealers’ reactions would be. Then it dawned on me “Does it really matter to a dealer any more where a product is sold?” Does it matter to you as much as it once did?
Sears is having their own problems and is just beginning to revamp the way they go to market, planning to rely more on “brand” stores for the future. Even with their strong brands like Diehard® and Craftsman® and Kenmore®, many wonder about the future of Sears. Things keep changing.
There was an article recently in a Florida newspaper with the title “Mowing Helmets Hot Items at Elder Fair.” Well, I thought I’d been around long enough to have heard of every product relating to lawn mowing, but this was a new one for me.
What they turned out to be were giveaways of bike-style helmets for elderly wheelchair, scooter and lawnmower users, plus bikers.
81 year old Ray Sears said he took a free helmet for lawn mowing because “…I fell off my riding mower once, and I’m always bumping my head on tree branches.” His wife Ruth Sears was thankful he accepted the gift. “The way the wind blows the palm fronds, it’s a smart thing to have,” said Ruth. “Now that he’s got the helmet, I’m going to next send him out to clean the back yard.”
See what happened to Ray when he accepted his safety helmet? More work! I think that in Ray’s case a seat belt would have been more useful. And its use would not have resulted in additional yard work for him.
John Shiely, chairman, president and CEO of Briggs & Stratton, recently wrote an op-ed column in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online on “Somehow, We Have to Put an End to Milwaukee’s Zero-Sum Culture.”
Specifically he was talking about Milwaukee’s (and Wisconsin’s) business environment and how that impacted Brigg’s decision-making about where to put their new plants. He mentioned that Briggs & Stratton has no plants in Mexico and that China accounts for less than 10% of Brigg’s total output. In addition, he stated that “90% of our production occurs in the United States.”
As Shiely discussed the positive economic business climate in Kentucky, he mentioned this interesting fact: “Our Kentucky plant is so productive it turns out a completed engine with only one half -hour of labor (at essentially the same cost as shipping an engine from China to the U.S.).”
Read all of Shiely’s interesting column elsewhere in this Blog.
He went on to say “the only real analysis a dealer needs to make is did you do everything you could to give that last customer a good experience, and did you make it easy for him/her to buy?”
What we can change in tough economic times is our attitude and our focus. Those are two attributes we can control in ourselves and in our employees that will provide us with the best chance to be successful, even when times are tough. A positive attitude and a focus “on the front door” can only help make a tough time better.
Cub Cadet Commercial just announced that they will introduce a new line of turf application equipment at the Golf Industry Show.
I don’t know much about the turf equipment industry, but I do know that Toro and John Deere have a huge market share in that business arena.
All three manufacturers produce high quality equipment, so it will be interesting to watch and see if Cub Commercial Turf Equipment can take market share away from Toro and Deere by providing golf course superintendents features and innovations that differentiate their products and overcome a superintendent’s current brand loyalty. Just another day in the OPE business.
I was just thinking about the Snapper brand being sold at Sears and what Snapper dealers’ reactions would be. Then it dawned on me “Does it really matter to a dealer any more where a product is sold?” Does it matter to you as much as it once did?
Sears is having their own problems and is just beginning to revamp the way they go to market, planning to rely more on “brand” stores for the future. Even with their strong brands like Diehard® and Craftsman® and Kenmore®, many wonder about the future of Sears. Things keep changing.
There was an article recently in a Florida newspaper with the title “Mowing Helmets Hot Items at Elder Fair.” Well, I thought I’d been around long enough to have heard of every product relating to lawn mowing, but this was a new one for me.
What they turned out to be were giveaways of bike-style helmets for elderly wheelchair, scooter and lawnmower users, plus bikers.
81 year old Ray Sears said he took a free helmet for lawn mowing because “…I fell off my riding mower once, and I’m always bumping my head on tree branches.” His wife Ruth Sears was thankful he accepted the gift. “The way the wind blows the palm fronds, it’s a smart thing to have,” said Ruth. “Now that he’s got the helmet, I’m going to next send him out to clean the back yard.”
See what happened to Ray when he accepted his safety helmet? More work! I think that in Ray’s case a seat belt would have been more useful. And its use would not have resulted in additional yard work for him.
John Shiely, chairman, president and CEO of Briggs & Stratton, recently wrote an op-ed column in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online on “Somehow, We Have to Put an End to Milwaukee’s Zero-Sum Culture.”
Specifically he was talking about Milwaukee’s (and Wisconsin’s) business environment and how that impacted Brigg’s decision-making about where to put their new plants. He mentioned that Briggs & Stratton has no plants in Mexico and that China accounts for less than 10% of Brigg’s total output. In addition, he stated that “90% of our production occurs in the United States.”
As Shiely discussed the positive economic business climate in Kentucky, he mentioned this interesting fact: “Our Kentucky plant is so productive it turns out a completed engine with only one half -hour of labor (at essentially the same cost as shipping an engine from China to the U.S.).”
Read all of Shiely’s interesting column elsewhere in this Blog.
