Institute for Dealer Development

Many of the issues facing equipment dealers and distributors today are increased competition in a depressed economy, reduced retail margins, decreasing absorption rates, and tight skilled labor markets. Manufacturers are demanding even greater market share and we see surging customer demand for greater service.

The Institute for Dealer Development was established to offer a series of industry-specific management training programs, partnering in education with non-competing dealers and their manufacturers to meet challenges and maximize opportunities in this new economic reality.

Many manufacturers are now recognizing that the stronger and more prosperous their dealer network, the more willing and capable these dealers are to invest in market share growth.  Historically, some equipment manufacturers limited their view of dealer development to the process of dealer recruiting and contract termination.

Today, numerous equipment manufacturers consider dealer development vital to their own market development and market share success . These OEM’s know the stronger and more prosperous their dealer network, the more willing and capable these dealers are to make investments needed for market share growth and improved end user customer satisfaction.

Some recent McDonald Group manufacturers’ dealer development projects include :
  • Leading dealer management teams through the whole process of a dealer business performance reviews, quantitative and qualitative assessments, to the development of practical Action Plans to improve profitability, market share, cash flow, and customer retention in Walter McDonald’s The Master’s Program in Dealer Management.
  • Assisting dealers review and adopt Best Industry Practices from Walter’s recent 25 Problem-Solving Tools for Machinery Dealers, Strategies, Tactics, Operations for Achieving Dealer Excellence, Achieving Excellence in Dealer/Distributor Performance, Dealer Problem-Solving Handbook, Workbook, and Study Guide to the Master’s Program in Dealer Management.
  • Creating a model dealer excellence program, illustrating best industry practices, performance benchmark goals for each revenue center you might have including new and used equipment, parts and supplies, service and, rental/lease programs.
  • Training factory field personnel on how to work more effectively with dealer principals/executives and their small business management teams.
  • Providing editorial support for factory and trade group magazines and newsletters on a wide variety of dealer development and operations improvement topics. To date, Walter McDonald has published more than 60 articles in dealer publications such as Material Handling Business, the MHEDA Journal, and Construction Equipment Distribution as well as numerous in-company private publications such as Bobcat’s Pajamas.
  • Building the most comprehensive dealer/distributor training and development curriculum available in the construction equipment, material handling, fire apparatus, machine tool, GPS machine control, forestry equipment, and heavy-duty truck/trailer industries. We offer numerous McDonald Group workshop programs that can be customized for your organization. In addition, we have the skills and expertise to design, create and present workshops focusing on the specific set of performance deficiencies identified in your dealer organization.

Our goal is to keep fun, creativity, and effectiveness in every McDonald Group dealer development workshop.