Page 4 - OPE MARCH 2019

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INDUSTRY EVENTS
Dunedin conference the best yet?
STIHL’S 2019 DEALER
Conference took place in Dunedin
over 15-17 February and is being generally held to have been one of if not the best gatherings of New Zealand’s STIHL family to date.
Friday’s activities took the attendees out to Forsyth Barr Stadium for a team building day.
And, with the 2019 conference theme of “Family”, it was appropriate that one of the weekend’s highlights was a feelgood-do- good event involving local children.
Indeed, a pushbike build event where each team completed challenges to win bike parts to be able to build a bike they thought they’d have to race around the stadium, didn’t turn out as expected...
The completed bikes were in fact destined for local children in need, to the surprise and delight of both STIHL’s people and the kids in question!
In total 17 bikes were built and given to
children from the Dunedin Presbyterian Trust who, without these donations, would not have the chance to own a bike.
Attendees all clearly enjoyed being able to give something back.
“It was a real highlight of the conference for everybody,” says STIHL Marketing Manager, Stace Hall.
Saturday’s conference proper took place in the Glenroy Auditorium, in the centre of town.
Guest speaker was mental skills coach and key member of the All Blacks management team, Gilbert Enoka, whose session about building high performance teams left delegates feeling inspired!
Saturday also brought out some key
new products as well as the strategy and marketing for each of these, followed by a hands-on session at the Dunedin Market Reserve where delegates could try them out.
The two key new products this year were the MS500i chainsaw (the world’s first
electronic controlled fuel injected chainsaw – see page 11 for more on this) and the highly anticipated iMow robot mower.
The iMow was in fact previewed at last year’s conference but this time STIHL attendees heard about all the features & benefits and technical information and the strategy and plans for iMow’s launch which will be “later this year”.
“Everybody is chomping at the bit to be able to sell iMow,” says Stace Hall. “We’ve got heaps of interest already, so for the stores it’s just a case of ‘can we please get on with it’.”
The iMow however isn’t a typical DIY product, but instead will require somewhat elevated levels of support and installation help to be built around it.
“We’ll be working with our stores to get asmanyaswecanuptospeedtobeableto support it properly by the end of this year,” says Stace.
“We want the customers to have the best
possible experience with iMow.” Saturday’s Gala Dinner was held at
the amazing Dunedin Town Hall, whose impressive organ kicked the evening off!
The supreme award winner was STIHL SHOP Te Rapa, which took out Outstanding Retailer of the Year for the second year running.
Also highlighted was STIHL SHOP Albany which took the plaudits as Dealer of the Year.
As is usual STIHL took also time
to recognise long serving teams and individuals, among whom this year included Jim Bibby, who, along with wife Diana, was formally recognised for 20 years with STIHL in New Zealand.
At the end of this month, by the way, Jim hands over his STIHL GM role of the last two decades to Jochen Speer (already with 15 years in the New Zealand market under his belt) so see the next issue for more on this!
04 NZOUTDOORPOWEREQUIPMENT MARCH2019
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