Dealership Management Groups

What it is

In this performance group, Friend Management Inc. brings together groups of like-minded equipment dealership owners. These individuals operate like a Board of Directors providing policy direction and guidance to each other. Specific focus is directed toward dialogue and goal-setting among the group members. The result of this approach is a consistent outcome of increased profitability of dealership operations.

The first Dealer Management Group was brought together in 1989. Since that time, this program has developed and grown to involve owner-groups that represent over 150 locations throughout North America. The data base drawn on from these groups is huge as the total combined sales of all dealerships involved in the program exceeded $2.0 Billion in 2008.

Benefits

• Dealers develop a mind set that is both goal and action-oriented
• Group size is limited to a maximum of 7 dealerships with each dealership having 1 to 4 owners/managers participate. This size makes it possible for in-depth dialogue and idea exchange on a broad number of issues as opposed to the limits on topics required with larger groups
• Group members are accountable to their peers. This consistently results in improved financial performance from one year to the next.
• Group members broaden their knowledge and increase their likelihood of success as they are able to draw on the experience of their peers
• Friend Management provides data, comparisons and key indicators that allows participating dealers to strive for and achieve greater results

Successes

• Dealers who have participated in the Dealer Management Group enjoy a higher than average return on sales than the rest of the industry.
• Dealers who participated in the Dealer Management Group program also experienced significant and consistent improvements in the strategic areas of:
  • expense reduction
  • inventory reduction
  • market share
  • absorption
  • succession
  • ROA
  • WIP
  • parts turn
  • increased sales (parts/service/sales)
  • customer allegiance
  • service recovery rate
  • warranty sales ratios
  • used turns
  • health/fitness