Nominations are open for our seventh annual Dealership of the Year. Here's why you deserve that honor and why you should seek it out.

Welcome to 2013 and the chance for a fresh start for your dealership. Why not make it official and use the New Year as a reason to re-introduce your dealership to your customers?

When 2012 was brand new, I don't think many would have predicted a year of such extremes.

Jim Mayfield, president of Rainbow Ag, says he has been able to achieve three consecutive years of record sales and profitability for his California-based dealership by following a formula familiar to business owners.

Trade shows, dealer meetings, and manufacturer training schools are excellent ways to network and share ideas. But, would you bring along your balance sheet to get feedback from fellow dealers?

Executive Coach Monte Wyatt describes a bad employee meeting this way: "When people just meet and never decide anything. Or, every time we meet, we listen to people complain." Sound familiar? We've all been to employee meetings that are all talk and no action. We may be guilty of leading a few of those meetings ourselves. Let's make a pact. Starting today, no more employee meetings that waste time and get nothing done. Here are five strategies from Wyatt to make that promise a reality.

The Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) is leading the path to develop an advisory task force to initiate a public relations campaign to warn consumers regarding fuel with 15% ethanol (E15). The committee will include OPEI member companies.

Five years ago, Bobcat described its decision to sell compact tractors as "a move intended to expand its No. 1 market position in compact equipment."? In an exclusive statement to Rural Lifestyle Dealer, Bobcat says it is now not renewing its OEM agreement with Daedong Industrial to market compact tractors under the Bobcat brand.

This year, Rural Lifestyle Dealer marks its fifth year of publishing. We are proud to have been chronicling the rural lifestyle market from its early stages. People have credited us for bringing the term "rural lifestyle"? into the vernacular of dealers and manufacturers. We knew then and we know now: Dealers have questions about how to serve rural lifestyle customers, and Rural Lifestyle Dealer provides strategies to succeed.