More than 400 attendees from the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe attended Volvo Rents’ sixth annual Volvo Rents Franchise Convention Jan. 17 through 20 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., at which the Franchise of the Year Award was given to Paul Bullock and the Vendor of the Year Award was given to Wacker Neuson.

This year’s convention, entitled “Performance-Driven Success” allowed Volvo Rents franchise owners to share best practices on increasing equipment uptime, strengthening their relationships with best customers and improving job satisfaction.

Franchise owners and their families attended the event as well as top executives from Volvo Construction Equipment including Denny Slagle, president and CEO North America; Scott Hall, executive vice president, sales and marketing; Marika Fredricksson, chief financial officer, and Scott Park, senior vice president and chief information officer.

Convention highlights included a slate of roundtable discussions, workshops and speaker presentations by Barry Natwick, president and CEO of Volvo Rents; Tom Reilly, president of Tom Reilly Training; Chris Wehrman, CEO of the American Rental Association; Tim Walters, president of Infotech Marketing; and SmartEquip, a technology company working with Volvo Rents to increase its asset productivity and reduce the cost of doing business.

Dennis Carroll, Volvo Rents systems manager, introduced V-Rents, the company’s new rental management system.

The Franchise of the Year Award is given to the franchise that demonstrates strong store growth, dollar utilization, DSO management, training attendance, “clean” financial status, marketing, branding and appearance. Bullock, owner of Volvo Rents stores in West Monroe, Alexandria and Bossier City, La., opened his first franchise in West Monroe in 2003, adding Alexandria in 2004 and Bossier City in 2007.

The award for New Franchise of the Year was given to Jackie, Duwayne and Aaron Eoff and Rob Barnica, owners of Volvo Rents stores in Springfield and Hollister, Mo.

Volvo Rents’ franchise owners named Wacker Neuson, Menomonee Falls, Wis., Vendor of the Year, based on quality of the company’s national account program, including financing options and overall program, as well as the quality and reliability of its products; availability and lead times; parts pricing; warranty/after-sales service; local sales and service support; and marketing support.

Volvo Rents also honored its top 10 performing franchises for 2007. The top 10 were:
· Stacy and Troy Peteron, Post Falls, Idaho;
· Todd Miceli and Matt Carretero, Haverhill, Mass.;
· Jeff Bleecker and Lance Evic, Tucson, Thatcher and Miami, Ariz.;
· Cathy and Geoff Shorten and Ehor and Sandy Babij, Calgary, Alberta;
· Sarah, Bruce, Brian Zender and Paula Martin-Zender, Ferndale, Wash.;
· Helder Garcia and Brian Silvera, Merced and Salida, Calif.;
· Merrill and Jared Robinson, Albuquerque and Peralta, N.M.;
· Doug and Deanna Baumann, Lance and Twyla Gardiner; Bob and Donna Dunn; Edmonton, Edson, Fort Saskatchewan and Rocky Mountain House, Alberta;
· Bill Ellis and Pat Lackey, Langhorne, Pa., and Somerset, N.J.;
· Chris Cole and Randy Hrabe, Riverside, Calif.