Garry Bartecki Overwhelming it is
I have been working my butt off. Closing out 2021. Planning for 2022. Working on M&A deals. Explaining how 2022 is expected to turn out in terms of current bank covenants in place. Not fun, like it used to be.
My biggest pain, however, is planning for a presentation to a group of construction equipment dealers. Having limited time on the program I am having a challenging time deciding what is important and in what order, based on the level of importance, topics should be discussed to cover the points required to provide benefit to the audience.
So, to make my life easier I started working on a list of topics for my presentation. Again, to reduce the madness I started out with general topics and added to them over the last couple of months. The general topic list is as follows:
- Accounting and Tax
- Financing
- Pandemic issues
- Operations
- Economic issues
- The future
Not a bad list, right? I have 30 minutes to remind these dealers that they will have to (if they have not already) work through these issues for 22 and 23. But there is another big issue I have to take into consideration and that is the fact that their CONTRACTOR CUSTOMERS are going through turbulent times forcing changes in how to do business which includes increasing productivity and reducing costs. It is no secret that the construction industry is not as efficient as it should be. Two substantial studies by Deloitte and Equipment Watch spell out what needs to change and how contractors are adopting changes to make this happen.
Do not have enough people? Can you do more with fewer people? Use drones. Use robots. Update planning software. Adopt prefab and modular construction, and so on. In other words, contractors will do more with less using fewer hours than in the past. So, how do these construction equipment dealers fit into this process? And fit into the process they must and will or stand the chance of losing business.
Contractors are shooting for cost reduction and efficiency improvements to reduce cost and time by 30-40%. THAT IS A BIG NUMBER! Therefore, I expect going forward that as far as construction equipment is concerned:
- The right machine will need to arrive on time and be ready to go.
- Uptime at 95% or better.
- Service quotes are to be provided within a day.
- Service work completed on an accelerated schedule.
- Not meeting these goals will definitely be a cause to go shopping.
Can you now appreciate the quandary I find myself in? 2020 and 2021 have changed the way we do business. The bottom line is every type of industry will be doing things differently compared to 2019 including construction equipment dealers. How to explain what these changes may be for the dealers is going to be tough because of all variables involved.
So, I went back to my initial list and started adding topics in each column as I conducted my research for the program. As of today, I am still adding topics and after reviewing my work decided that 30 minutes is not going to cover what I need to discuss. I could spend 10 hours without much trouble and still miss topics that need discussing that will assist with adopting to the programs being pursued by contractors to work more efficiently. I am concluding that I will find myself talking out of both sides of my mouth. “Be more efficient, cut costs, but at the same time develop a technology budget to help meet customer demands.”
Unbelievably I wound up with 80 items on my list of potential topics. Items to cover how to manage dealer issues in this crazy covid economy we are in. But also, how to change your business to keep the business relationships you have. Houston, we have a problem.
I thought this would be a helpful review for you to think about because the lift truck industry must be going through similar changes in business practices. Manufacturing and warehousing operations must be feeling pain dealing with required changes they need to make and will look to their dealers to partner with them to help adopt changes and reduce costs. And where will you fit into this picture? Do you know? Do you have solutions, or know of people with solutions that will help your customers? You may want to find some. Many companies are partnering with organizations that also serve their customers to bring value-added to your relationship. I believe the future will further develop these types of partnerships.
As I mentioned in a previous column, look at what Ford is doing with Salesforce. Buy an F150 and they will fund a program provided by Salesforce to improve your marketing and sales efforts along with improving our presence in the marketplace. Nice touch. Will help pay for the truck.
You may want to take my list of general topics and make up your own list of changes required to determine how you will do business in the future. As I have said previously, if you are doing business like you were five years ago….you are in trouble.
About the Columnist:
Garry Bartecki is a CPA MBA with GB Financial Services LLC and a Wholesaler columnist since August 1993. E-mail [email protected] to contact Garry.
