How Ideal’s Detailed Data Reporting Helped 5 Dealerships Run More Profitable Operations

It’s well known that you can’t manage what you don’t measure.

This is especially true when it comes to controlling parts and equipment inventory. Did you know that $100 of misplaced or damaged parts due to outdated, inconsistent inventory management practices can require upwards of $1,000 in sales to offset the loss?

If you struggle with accurate tracking, reporting, and accessing orders or the time-consuming process of manually maintaining a historical record of inventory, you’re not alone. These problems can sabotage productivity.

But they are solvable with smart, streamlined inventory management solutions.

The following five dealerships share how they overcame antiquated, inefficient practices to regain control of their inventory oversight and run a more profitable business.

Mountainland Power Equipment

Challenge: System Limitations

The days of departments working independently have disappeared, and today, digital collaboration between parts, sales, and service drives the bottom line for OPE dealerships.

This includes having a dealership management system capable of progressively integrating and organizing inventory data – a realization the Utah-based operation came to realize.

“We used a system called Fishbowl, which wasn’t a really good system for reporting, pulling reports on mechanics, labor, or wholegoods that were sold,” explains Brian Nuttle.

“Inventory tracking wasn’t great and that’s the main reason we were looking for another system.”

Solution: Handy, Accurate History

Mountainland modernized its inventory management software, which simplified Nuttle’s ability to search for and find seasonal orders rather than wait for suppliers to provide them.

The dealership can also be more accurate with order tracking, a feature Nuttle regularly relies on to control inventory more efficiently.

“If I’m doing a spring order for a manufacturer, I can pull what my history was,” he says. “I don’t have to rely on them to send me the history. I can pull it from my system. With the wholegoods module we can find when a piece of equipment was sold, who we sold it to.”

G5 Feed & Outdoor

Challenge: Managing Inventory for Multiple Industries

Quality control of inventory for one industry is challenging enough. But the Florida-based dealership serves multiple customer segments, which requires methodical, efficient tracking and reporting of inventory.

“We’re probably different than most Ideal clients. We’re a larger operation in the sense we do multiple industries,” says William Glisson with G5.

“We have three different quadrants of our stores, as we like to say, from ag to outdoor lifestyle, anywhere from firearms to hunting and fishing items, then motorsports. Our motorsports consists of a full sales, full service department.”

Successful management of an increasingly diverse inventory proved challenging, and five years ago, the dealership invested in a more comprehensive dealership management solution.

Solution: Keeping Updated on the Outdated

Staying on top of aging or obsolete inventory across industries is just one of the bottom-line benefits the dealership has enjoyed since updating its digital infrastructure.

“Slow non-moving inventory reports is a great report that Ideal generates that we utilize daily,” Glisson says. “Just to have quick access to receiving reports, inventory adjustment, and inquiries, all those things.”

Farm & Home Hardware

 

Challenge: Erasing Pen and Paper Inefficiency

Since opening its doors in 1960, the Ohio-based dealership had largely controlled its inventory with manual methods. But once-acceptable practices eventually began to erode efficiency.

“Right now, our biggest challenge is that we’re very pen and paper,” says Farm & Home’s Crystal Burns. “It’s just getting everything to where everything’s easily accessible.”

Solution: Trustworthy Tracking

To reduce the risk of human error, the dealership transitioned into a more automated, accurate inventory management system that tracks previous purchases and work history on different units.

“It makes it nice. We’re using it daily – tracking and keeping a good work history going,” Burns says. “If a customer buys a lawnmower from us, we can track back to the day they purchased it and everything that’s been done to it since they’ve had it.

“Anybody not using Ideal right now, I would definitely tell them to look into it, it’s a great program.”

Howard Brothers Outdoor Power

Challenges: Laborious Logistics

Jeff Howard learned to appreciate the correlation between effort and efficiency at a young age. Having grown up in the family business, Howard recalls the tedious task of processing service orders and equipment sales by hand for the Georgia-based Howard Brothers Outdoor Power.

“We literally just wrote orders on paper and had carbon copies, running the credit cards through the black carbon copy paper,” recalls Howard, who today, co-runs the 6-location dealership with his brother.

Solution: Cutting their Losses  

The dealership frequently moves inventory between locations, and its upgrade to digital tracking dramatically reduced the risk of delays or loss.

“We’re constantly moving inventory,” Howard says. “Ideal is key for us to track it and know exactly where it is, where it came from and where it’s going, and to ensure that we’re not losing any inventory as well.

“It has absolutely allowed us to track all our inventory and have more peace of mind that things are truly occurring and being able to see past invoices and truly track all the data.”

Dicken’s Turf & Landscape Supply

Challenge: Inventory Inaccuracies

Overstocking the obsolete and understocking the essential can lead to economic headaches. Successful inventory management is a mix of art and science – a balance the Tennessee-based dealership struggled with for years.

“We had parts that we had way too many of certain things that we never sell, not enough of what we do sell,” says manager Justin Mynatt.

“Since we have Ideal, we’re able to actually keep real stats on what we need to have.”

Solution: Clean Record Keeping

            The move to more robust, reliable record keeping has taken the annual guesswork out of inventory management for Mynatt, and the dealership.          

“If another dealer is using something outdated, I would try to push them towards Ideal, and save them a ton of time. And honestly, they’ll make more money and save money and not have wasted expenses.”

Boost Your Bottom Line

Efficient, consistent inventory management is critical to maximizing margins of parts and service. We’ll leave you with these 3 questions to ponder:

• How reliable are your current inventory tracking reporting methods?
• Do you know if there’s too much outdated equipment occupying valuable shelf space?
• Can your dealership afford to spend $1,000 or more whenever $100 of parts are misplaced or damaged?

If you need a modern software solution that adds efficiency and reduces the risk of costly mismanagement of inventory, Ideal can bolster your bottom line with a suite of progressive, profitable tools.

Find out how Ideal can modernize your dealership’s management processes!