The Dealer's Performance Comes Back to One Thing: People Performance
16 Construction Equipment Distribution www.cedmag.com January 2010 Professional Development Where did 2009 go? It was an eventful year, however, in all honesty, not one that I am going to miss. We are living in interesting times and my New Year's Toast to the AED membership is: May you find success and fortune in your future. Chairing The AED Foundation the last two years has been an interesting experience. In the spring of 2008 we introduced Vision 2012, a workforce development endeavor of the Founda-tion structured around the framework of our four strategic pillars: Industry Image, School Partnership, Recruitment, and Professional Education. However, today I see our industry in a conundrum, where we must plan for a tomorrow that projects a shortfall in the number of available workers, or workers with insufficient knowledge and skills; meanwhile, today most of us are just dealing with ways to be here tomorrow. The AED Foundation's purpose is to support the construction equip-ment industry. Our products are designed to help dealers not only be here tomorrow, but to help them grow and be profitable. The Founda-tion's success is measured by dealers that take advantage of its offerings. However, like all 501(C)(3) nonprofits, in order to improve what we can provide, the Foundation relies on the philanthropy of individuals and companies that have dug into their pockets and supported it during these trying times. To each, I personally want to thank you for that support. The economic climate we are dealing with today is very challenging, and it is not difficult to garner opin-ions on the effects of administrative policy, governmental involvement, or even what tomorrow may look like. That topic is best left to the arduous work our Government Affair Commit-tee. I will say, however, it seems that every ounce of oxygen is being siphoned out of Washington, D.C., on the health care debate instead of putting America back to work. As an industry, we have gone from growth, to sustainment, to survival almost overnight. Some markets have been at it longer than others to the point that just covering the overhead of brick and mortar is a challenge. In the past, many dealer business plans consisted of doing the same thing as last year, only better. However, going forward, developing a meaningful business plan has never been more important. I used to coach my daughter's basketball and softball teams. Our teams were like most youth teams, put together mostly with kids who went to school together or had no other options. While there were a few select teams that were recruited and hand picked, we never knew the talents we had until we started practice. Teaching fundamentals was imperative in order to be competitive. More important, teaching that defense wins championships and offense sells tickets, was a lesson that gave kids with less ability the chance to contribute. While scoring is important, it is the little things using proper technique, playing your position and having a team chemistry that make the difference between having fun and being competitive versus just showing up and getting a team drink after the game. Applying this sports analogy to our businesses, the principle is no different. Offensively, it's analogous with sales and market share. Scoring is a great mental boost, only a little more difficult to come by these days. Therefore, relying heavily on defense is imperative in order to be profitable. I equate playing defense with business fundamentals; like balancing personnel, operating expenses and inventory levels to business activity. Today, it is both a painful quantitative and qualitative exercise. It's quan-titative when measuring sales per employee requires scheduling hours with fewer people and getting the operation down to fighting weight. However, it's qualitative when you look at your people and are asking The Dealer's Performance Comes Back to One Thing: People Performance Cutting all professional education out of your 2010 plan could be a dangerous proposition. As AED Foundation Chairman Dale Vaughn concludes his term of service, he reflects on just how valuable our people are to our profitability. By r. Dale Vaughn, 2008-2009 AED FounDAtion ChAirmAn