Over the recent past, we're seeing the backdrop of a tightening U.S. economy that are magnifying the sense of urgency to optimize the relationship between manufacturers and their dealers.  Dealers of course are also feeling the tightening economy.  As they do, they're looking for ways to do more with less; to sell as much product and services they can WHILE lowering the costs required to do so.  Some manufacturers are using these tight economic conditions as an opportunity to strengthen relationships with dealers, particularly those dealers that sell competitive brands.  Others are merely buckling down and doing nothing, hoping the storm will pass and things will get back to normal.

Here's one real example.  This manufacturer is focusing on facilitating online forums to help dealers share best practices in a non-competitive environment.  There are "ask-the-expert" forums where the manufacturer monitors discussion forums that are monitored by an expert from the manufacturer.  All kinds of topics are covered, from sales approaches, tips and tricks to technical support from product experts.  Another type of forum is a "peer-to-peer best practices" forum where sales staffs across dealerships in non-competitive regions are sharing tips and tricks.  This almost real-time, semi-structured collaborative environment is helping dealerships be more successful and profitable at relatively low cost and effort.  By facilitating this capability, the manufacturer is strengthening its brand loyalty among the dealers while seeing an increase in sales as well.

Collaboration between dealers happens naturally in unstructured ways - it's inevitable.  By proactively providing an easy to use, semi-structured environment, manufacturers can strengthen their relationships with their dealer networks by helping them be more profitable in tight economic times.  Accomplishing this also allows manufacturers to gain more brand loyalty for when the economy strengthens as well as simply sell more through their dealers in today's challenging selling environment.