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Dealer Roundtables Roundtable/Training Conference
Schedule
Dealer roundtables are a concept that has gained
considerable momentum in recent years. The
roundtable rules are simple: the dealers must be
non-competing, willing to share everything, and
attendance at every meeting is mandatory.
Repeated non-attendees are blackballed. All
members are required to sign a confidentiality
agreement, new member candidates must be
approved unanimously, and any and all roundtable
materials must be surrendered should a member
leave the group.
The concept of the roundtables is dealers
helping dealers. The meetings are dealer planned
and driven with an outside coordinator who
moderates the discussions. The meetings are
planned in member communities to accommodate
yard and store visits. Your group may also
decide to schedule a meeting at a resort with an
optional day of recreation preceding the meeting
to promote the camaraderie of the group.
Typically, our round table groups meet twice per
year (Spring and Fall) for 1-1/2 to 2 days,
although some groups have opted for an
additional one day meeting in conjunction with
buying shoes and summer conferences.
The Spring meeting is devoted predominately to
financial comparisons. After obtaining their
year-end financial results, each dealer
completes a detailed financial survey. From the
completed surveys, ratios are developed and
reported in spreadsheet and bar chart form
itemizing two years of history for each member
compared to the history of all other
participants, industry norms, and averages of
the roundtable. Members are coded for external
confidentiality. An individual member analysis
and a strategic profit model are also included
for each member. The first day of the Spring
meeting is devoted to analyzing each member's
numbers as compared to other participants. Of
course, there is considerable dialogue,
constructive criticism, and some kidding that
takes place during this review. The Value is
enormous!
The second day of the Spring meeting and all of
the Fall meeting is devoted to dealers sharing
ideas on various topics. Some topics from
previous years include pricing strategies,
incentive programs, the most and least
profitable idea and correcting serious
deficiencies. Members have compared results from
surveys based on wage and salary, insurance
programs, theft, installed sales and lien laws.
While the drawbacks to being a roundtable member
include preparation time and travel expenses,
the minor disadvantages are far outweighed by
the benefits and results that are obtained.
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