September 2011

As I write this, Hurricane Irene is taking direct aim at the East Coast, expected to come ashore near Morehead City, NC, packing more than 100 MPH winds and projected to affect as many as 50 million people on the heavily-populated Atlantic seaboard from North Carolina up.

Includes: Gold Eagle, Walker, Starbrite, Billy Goat, Rotary, America Honda, Husqvarna, Worldlawn, Ybravo, Seago, VP Racing Fuels, Briggs & Stratton, B3C Fuel Solutions

Many commercial lawn and landscape contractors have adopted propane-fueled commercial lawn mowers because they offer high performance, cost savings, and increased sustainability. As more contractors learn about propane-fueled mower technology, many will turn to their equipment dealers for assistance.

The building that houses Southwest Lawn Equipment has been selling power equipment in that location under different names and two previous owners for six years. The current owners, partners John Hill and Robert Simmons, bought Southwest less than two years ago. In their tenure, it has sold more Stihl products in those two years than under the previous two owners in four years combined. The reason, Simmons and Hill believe, is a focused commitment to high-quality, mom-and-pop style customer service that has produced strong relationships and customer loyalty within the local community.

Years ago an associate and friend gave me some good advice when he told me: “Anything you give away in a sales situation carries that amount of value to the receiver . . . nothing!” Months ago I read an extremely interesting article by a John Hirth entitled: “Stop Saying ‘No Problem!’”

The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) will announce a new demonstration program at the Green Industry & Equipment Expo (GIE+EXPO) 2011 that will give equipment dealers access to propane-fueled commercial lawn mowers. The use of propane-fueled mowers is growing, and more than 30 models are available from industry-leading brands that can help contractors reduce costs and operate a streamlined, environmentally friendly business. This new demonstration program will help dealers better understand the technology and its advantages for lawn and landscape contractors.

Rotary offers more than 8,500 quality replacement parts, tools and accessories, including mower and edger blades, commercial mulching blades, belts, heavy duty air filters, oil filters, pre filters, tires, wheels and tubes. Also offered are piston assemblies, carburetors, electric starters, throttle controls, idler pulleys, spark plugs, and throttle, brake and clutch cables.

Internet merchants should be just as aware of the risks of fraud as traditional merchants, and should consider ways to prevent fraud. If you are creating or operating an online store, be sure to learn about security risks by assessing your shopping cart procedures, securing your online transactions, and letting your customers know that your website transactions are safe.

During the past six months, I’ve said the phrase “We are in a time of transition” a few hundred times since we became aware that our dealership would be “transitioning” away from being a Case-IH Equipment dealer. The word “transition” simply means you are moving from one phase to another. Our transition has been proceeding very well. As I had explained in a previous article, you can either allow the time of transition to simply happen, or you can be pro-active and attempt to be in some level of control of the things that lay ahead. We are now a half-year into re-positioning ourselves in the marketplace as a leader in five different categories. Those are as follows: Under 140 HP tractors, zero-turn mowers, consumer power equipment, landscaping specialty equipment, and light industrial equipment (skid /track loaders and mini-excavators). In each of these markets, our goal is to be either the market leader or a strong #2. We are #1 in a couple of our product categories, #2 in at least one of them and then probably 3rd or 4th in two others. We have established that our goal is to be #1 or #2.