Why forklift dealers feel stuck and how to take back control
Want to know why so many dealer principals feel like they’re running hard but getting nowhere?
They’re following someone else’s strategy.
In this post:
Why defaulting to outside goals keeps you stuck
What it’s really costing you
Six clear moves that will help you get back in control
Most dealers don’t mean to give up control. It just happens over time.
The rep asks for a higher commission. You say yes.
The OEM wants to move more inventory. You agree to buy.
The recruiter says “Don’t worry about marketing.” So you don’t.
Each decision feels reasonable in the moment.
But over time, you’ve built a business that works for everyone except you.
When I owned a dive shop, our equipment supplier gave us financing to buy more inventory.
If we sold it, great. If not, we were stuck with debt.
The strategy was designed to help the supplier hit their numbers, not to help me build a stronger business.
Years later, I saw the same pattern in marketing.
As a HubSpot partner, I watched agencies chase HubSpot’s goals because they were clearly laid out and easy to measure. But those goals were created to grow HubSpot, not the agency.
That’s when it clicked.
If you don’t define success for your business, someone else will.
And they’ll probably define it in a way that benefits them more than you.
When you don’t take time to clarify what kind of business you want to build, you default to what others expect of you.
You hire to solve short-term problems instead of building the team you really need.
You take on bad-fit customers just to make payroll.
You let your business chase volume instead of focusing on profit.
Eventually, this starts to feel normal.
But it’s not.
It’s just what business feels like when you’re reacting instead of leading.
Here are six moves you can make to shift from reacting to leading. These aren’t magic bullets. They’re the foundation of a strategy that puts you back in charge.
Not all revenue is good revenue. Focus on the products and services that are profitable and repeatable. Don’t just sell what someone else is pushing.
The clearer your ideal customer is, the easier it is to attract the right people and filter out the wrong ones. Sales, marketing, pricing, and service all improve when you know who you’re here to serve.
Hustle can help you survive, but it won’t help you grow. Systems create consistency and scale what’s already working.
If your dealership’s goals are based on OEM sales targets or rep commission plans, you’re building someone else’s business. Choose goals that reflect where you want to be five years from now, not just next quarter.
Repeat customers and referrals cost less, close faster, and stay longer. You don’t need to keep finding new people when your existing customers already trust you.
Marketing, hiring, sales, and service all work better when they’re part of an intentional plan. Strategy gives every team and every dollar a job to do.
It doesn’t just bring clarity. It gives you power.
Power to say no.
Power to invest in the right areas.
Power to grow a business that serves you, not one that drains you.
At HighViz, we help forklift dealers stop reacting and start planning.
We help you clarify what you actually want your business to look like. Then we help you build the marketing and strategy to get there.
Not a generic plan. A focused one that aligns with your goals, your customers, and your profit.
Because if you don’t point the ship in the right direction, you’ll always be sailing wherever the wind takes you.
Let’s fix that.
The HighViz Marketing Strategy First Engagement Gets You Back in Control
At HighViz, we help forklift dealers, and the material handling vendors that serve them, stop reacting and start leading—with a strategy that serves your business, not someone else’s.
The Strategy First Engagement takes 4 to 6 weeks. Here’s what happens:
We audit your online presence
Analyze your competitors
Interview your customers
And use those insights to develop your core message, ideal customer profiles, and real-world buyer personas
Then we create an editorial plan mapped to your customer journey. It’s not just content for content’s sake, it’s a system designed to guide prospects all the way from “never heard of you” to repeat customer and referral source.
When we’re done, you’ll have a document you can use to lead your team. It defines your goals, your voice, and the plan to grow on purpose, not by accident.
Because the hardest part isn’t doing the work. It’s knowing what work is worth doing.
Without a clear strategy, you could spend the next 12 months executing the wrong plan.
Let’s not waste another year.
Let’s build a business that works—for you.