Upfront: No time like the present to begin planning for the future

By Steve Noe


During the past few years, I’ve enjoyed getting to know many of you through our question-of-the-month feature called “Dealers’ Domain.”


When I announce each month’s question, I can always count on the same dozen or so dealers to graciously take time out of their busy schedules to provide excellent responses. I’ve become so accustomed to hearing from the regulars that I have befriended many of them and worry when they don’t respond.


So, when I announced this month’s question and received just three responses, I became deeply concerned. Although I was troubled by the lack of responses, I was more concerned that only one was positive and the other two were extremely depressing.


The question: What’s your plan for transitioning your business to another owner or family member?


As you may have concluded, the two depressing responses essentially said the same thing — they didn’t have a succession plan, nor did they anticipate ever having one, and that the business would likely die when they die. In other words, these dealers couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel — no relative, no employee or no outsider ready, willing or able to take over their business so they could eventually retire, ride off into the sunset, and enjoy the rest of their lives.


Suddenly, I began to fear that many more dealers chose not to respond to this month’s question because they find themselves in a similar situation with no succession plan in place and no successor in sight.


Those fears were soon confirmed by Bob Clements, president of Bob Clements International, Inc., when I turned to him seeking answers. Alarmingly, he estimated that 25 percent of dealers assume the business will die when they retire or pass away; 70 percent have an idea of what they hope will happen, but no formal succession plan; and only 5 percent have a formalized succession plan in writing.


“For manufacturers, it is one of the biggest problems they face,” Clements added. “Without dealers who have a formalized plan, they wake up every morning not knowing for sure if their million-dollar dealers will be around from one day to the next.”


For the 95 percent of you who don’t have a formalized succession plan, please be sure to read this month’s cover story by Clements on “Secrets to Succession Success.” My hope is that it will start you down the road to a long, happy and healthy retirement, and keep your business alive and well for many more years to come.


And once you’ve succeeded in passing along your business to the next owner, please don’t forget to keep in touch!



OPE Editor Steve Noe
snoe@m2media360.com

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *