How to run a company remotly ?

[Huw]

Hi my father runs a garden machinery and ATV dealership that is a very lucrative company with a turnover of just under 1,000,000 a year. He is thinking of retiring this year and is looking for someone to take over, Now ive worked at my fathers garage all through my childhood and through my teens and know the ins and out of it. The only thing is i live away now over 200 miles away where ive bought a house and settled down with a partner but i still want to take over the company. My father is very old fashioned and still does everything with pen and paper so for me to tell him i will get a stock control system in place and everything working through a computer so i can keep track of it including CCTV cameras . I would be on top of everything and would be willing to go down at least for two days a week . how can i convince him i can do it and it would work? what stock control program should i go for? bar-code scanner i think is best to scan all parts to every job card ! please help !!

[Jo W]

A sparkling business plan would be a good start - but I wonder how realistic you are being? Small businesses like this succeed because the owners and their employees work darned hard to ensure they do - and just turning up a couple of days a week doesn't send the right message to anyone.

If the business has been run for years in a traditional fashion, the client base is likely to be pretty traditional - ditto the workforce. Neither is likely to take kindly to someone 'dabbling' (which is how they'll see it, however hard you work) from long distance. CCTV might identify a problem but it won't enable you to go hands on to solve it.

You will need an excellent manager on site to handle day to day operations. One possibility might be some sort of joint venture with a suitable individual, albeit you retain voting control or the business.