20 Groups & How Lizzy Supports Them
Are you in the know? 20 Groups are becoming more popular across the country & in multiple industries. If you’re not familiar with the concept, 20 Groups are gatherings of dealers who meet several times a year to discuss a variety of ways to improve their businesses’ profitability. Dealers analyze financial records from other members of the group, although the reports are anonymous–only financial data is viewed and not identifying information about the dealership. Members will evaluate this data and offer suggestions about where the dealership could recoup losses. Some groups will even visit their members’ dealerships, in order to give them ideas about where they can improve their business. These groups also receive professional training from the 20 Group staff in order to further improve their knowledge of business and industry opportunities that may exist. There are numerous businesses that operate 20 Groups, so depending upon your industry you have a number of options to choose from.
Here at nizeX we’ve seen many of our customers who joined 20 Groups become more profitable and intelligent about their businesses than those that don’t participate. There is a special 20 Group report within Lizzy that allows dealers to view their financial information necessary to submit as a member. You can view this report at Reports > Accounting General > 20 Group Reporting. Choose the department you wish to view: New Units, Preowned Units, Service, Parts and Accessories, Finance and Insurance, or Other.
From within this report you can see breakdowns for your sales versus inventory on hand, COGs, expenses, as well as gross and operating profit. These reports are broken down to match the 20 Group “Voyager” software program used by Gart Sutton & Associates, Inc. (a well-known business that runs many 20 Group meetings) to aid in inputting data. In the near future Lizzy and Voyager will also begin to speak directly to each other in order to provide this data in real time. This will further cut down on the time investment to participate in these groups and cut down on incorrectly entered information.
For those of you interested in the idea of a 20 Group but looking to get some feedback first, ask your fellow dealer friends what their experience has been. There’s also an interesting compilation of dealer feedback for the Agricultural industry regarding 20 Group membership: http://www.farm-equipment.com/pages/AprilMay-2013-Industry-Q&A-Benefits-of-Participating-in-a-20-Group.php. Not everyone is sold on the idea, but as always, we’re here to support the needs of every business, and adding 20 Group reporting is just one way we want to help make running your business easier and more profitable.
If you’d like more information on Gart Sutton or what it takes to become a 20 Group dealer, check out their site at http://www.gartsutton.com/default.asp