The success of the people leading the rental operations of the business need a strong strategy. Do they have a strategy? Do they know what the rest of the industry is doing? In this session, we’re not talking anecdotes, we’re are revealing hard research on common practices currently utilized by Dealers in their rental strategies, business models, and operation and their correlation to rental profitability.

This session addresses the findings of AED’s first rental study. It is a A broad review of strategic choices for rentals and business model elections for both rent-to-sell and rent-to-rent models that can be made. The emphasis of this session is on the common practices of operating a rental line of business and includes key operating roles, inbound and outbound processes, and management of utilization.

From this session, attendees can expect to gather information that will enable them to benchmark their rental business to common practices revealed through the array of one-on-one Dealer interviews that were conducted during this research so rental leaders can gain the confidence they need to know how the rest of the industry is navigating the growing world of rental.

Dick is a veteran of the professional services sector with his career spent at Grant Thornton LLP and SAP. As a partner at Grant Thornton, Dick interacted with dozens of enterprises including independent equipment dealers.  That experience feed his interest in why some companies do well and some do not, even though in the same industry.  As a SVP and General Manager at SAP Dick engaged in leading edge technology issues and the reasons why the promise of technology often did not live up to its promise. At both Grant Thornton and SAP Dick held management and leadership positions that allowed him to work on the businesses in addition to in them.

Although formally retired, Dick’s curiosity and interest in business took him to the University of Denver where he is a 2018 Master of Science candidate with a focus on strategy and innovation. He has been sanctioned by the University to complete primary research in the independent equipment dealer sector with the aim of identifying emerging trends in dealer strategies and business models. That research is being conducted in partnership with AED.

Dick is a graduate of Wichita State University, the Young Presidents Organization, and executive programs from both Harvard and Wharton. Dick and his wife live in Colorado as do their married children and their grandchildren.