About

Businesses survive, stabilize, grow and maximize their potential with Spader Business Management. Our proven collection of timeless business principles addresses both the financial and human sides of business. Make Spader your primary resource for one-on-one coaching and consulting, access to your peers through 20 Groups, key management training programs, and performance tools for improved business efficiency.

About Spader

Duane Spader

Duane Spader1Before he even stepped foot in high school, Duane Spader was learning the art of sales by selling campers for his dad on the family farm in Oldham, South Dakota. The business, along with its lessons, followed Duane through high school into college at South Dakota State University where he gained mentors and investors. Instead of completing his formal education, he moved his fledgling dealership from Brookings to Sioux Falls.

As Duane built his business in Sioux Falls, he worked steadily to create a franchise-like model for dealerships by developing a top-to-bottom management system. He wanted to be able to take “an average person off the street and make them an above-average manager.” Eventually, Duane, along with his bookkeeper, Noel Lais, developed the financial tools and equations that serve as the cornerstone of Total Management 1 to this day.

Training

By 1976, Duane Spader’s growing reputation had him speaking in front of the entire RV industry at the Recreational Vehicle Dealers Association and led to him create Spader Business Management, a business that originally served peer 20 groups in the RV and marine industries. The foundation for Spader 20 Groups is an easy-to-use reporting standardization developed by Duane and Noel Lais that allows any dealership with an accounting system to participate. Today, Spader 20 Groups exist in not only in the RV and marine industries, but also in the farm equipment, lighting showroom, motorcoach, office furniture, powersports and pet industries.

Just as Duane and Noel were making good progress on the Spader Total Management system, the economic crisis of 1979 caused the RV dealership to lose 75% of its revenues in 90 days. From a high of 30+ employees, Spader Camper Center was run by just Duane and Noel during the winter of 1979-80.

Duane knew that dealers needed more than just 20 groups to learn the Total Management system. He never wanted to be a trainer, but in the interests of helping small business owners survive and thrive, he began teaching Total Management in 1980. That first workshop consisted of eight marine dealers sitting at school desks in the Spader Camper Center showroom. Duane’s wife Elaine brought home-cooked lunches in each day, and in just four and a half days, Duane taught those dealers how to manage the financial side of their business.

Duane continued to lead the programs at Spader Business Management until he retired in 2012.

Software

In the early ‘80s, ten members of the marine Spader 20 Group contributed $5,000 each to help Duane Spader develop accounting software for their indispensible reporting system. As luck would have it, Duane ran into Jeanette Wolcott, a New Jersey computer programming professor who was staying with her family in a camper at the KOA Kampground owned by Duane. She agreed to write the first set of software on an Apple Macintosh computer. Working closely with Noel Lais, Jeanette developed the Spader Grand Ledger system. Sales Analysis, the Big Ticket unit inventory and sales system, soon followed.

Duane and Noel grew the software business over the next several years by hiring a staff of programmers, installers and support specialists. Over the next fifteen years Spader Software grew to be the largest dealership software provider in the marine and RV industries, with a staff of nearly 50 employees.  In 1997, the company received an offer to sell future development rights on the software and Spader scaled down to a lower business plateau and concentrated on training, consulting and 20 groups in expanding industries.

John Spader

arms widerIn 1987 Duane’s son, John, joined the Spader RV dealership as a salesman and learned first-hand how the Spader Total Management system worked. John discovered a natural ability to see how numbers relate, and soon migrated over to Spader Business Management, first as a sales trainer, then working through several other positions in the company.

Eventually, John was added as the third person in top management, working closely with his father and Noel Lais to pilot the company through its evolution from software development to consulting and training. In 2003, Duane turned the company over to John as president, with Noel continuing his instrumental role as vice president of operations.

Dr. Michael O’Connor

Dr OIn the early years of Spader Business Management, while Duane Spader was refining the “financial equation,” he was equally interested in developing the “human equation” of businesses. Duane met Dr. Michael O’Connor, who later became vice president of development at Carlson Companies in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Duane and Dr. O’Connor began a friendship and a business relationship that has continued and expanded over the past thirty years. In 2008, they launched the first Total Management 2 workshop in Sioux Falls, with Noel Lais, David Spader and Dr. O’Connor as the pilot instructors.

Dr. O’Connor is an internationally-recognized thought leader who has contributed to several different types of breakthroughs for producing higher personal, team and organizational performance. Dr. O’Connor’s past thirty years of research has translated into many best-selling books, including “The Leader Within,” “People Smart,” and “Managing by Values.”

Our Vision Statement

Providing leadership and guidance that result in business and individual success in ways that create fulfillment and a better world.

Our Mission

We are a highly valued resource that helps business leaders, owners, and employees succeed professionally and personally through our training, consulting, and management services and products.

Our Core Company Values

Trust

Strong, healthy and respectful relationships

Excellence

Expectations anticipated and met or exceeded

Financial Success

Strong return on invested time, money, effort and other resources

Teamwork

Ambitious goals achieved as a team that we couldn’t accomplish as individuals

A World of Training | A Spader Enterprise Partner

In January, 2018, Spader Business Management announced a new partnership with A World of Training.

This partnership will ensure a level of consistency in the information shared with clients. It will help put some of the principles, systems and tools in place that align with how Spader training outlines them. The A World of Training staff will also be more effective with these same clients, bringing more resources to the front lines at the store level, having first-hand knowledge of those Spader concepts and processes. The Spader/A World of Training partnership gets them one step closer to fully implementing, and profiting from, what they’ve learned.

Click here to learn more about how A World of Training can help you integrate better management and operational practices into your dealership!

 

O’Connor Associates | A Spader Enterprise Partner

O’Connor Associates brings the “human equation” to Spader resources. Their products and services are based on the principles of Managing By Values®, Dr. Michael O’Connor’s unique philosophy and process for building and managing all-win, high-performing organizations. Dr. O’Connor works exclusively with Spader Business Management to provide the valuable services and products he has spent a lifetime developing.

Contact O’Connor Associates at 715.892.2876 to learn more!

Jenkins-Spader

Jenkins-Spader business forms help make RV and marine operations run more efficiently. Forms vary from repair orders and daily time tickets, to warranty claims and delivery request packets. To view a full list of forms, click here.

Statistical Surveys

Statistical Surveys is a premier provider of market intelligence to the marine and RV industries. Spader utilizes the Cube Analysis System to help RV and marine dealerships manage their inventory, identify strong market potential and understand marketplace changes before the competition. Dealer Profile is also used to help dealers measure and monitor market share, quickly identify hot-selling products in their market and offer analysis of price-point penetration.

Click here to learn more about how Stat Surveys data can help you make better decisions.

Home Office

Spader is located in the Queen City of South Dakota, Sioux Falls. Our training facilities are located in the Western Mall, just off 41st Street, one of Sioux Falls’ primary arteries. From there, you’re a short ride to your hotel and most of Sioux Falls’ entertainment districts, parks, and delicious dining options. If you’re making travel arrangements, please reach out to us if you have any questions or need assistance.

Travel

If you’re flying into the Sioux Falls Regional Airport (FSD), you can book a flight with Delta, American, United, Frontier, or Allegiant Air. From there, if you’re staying at the ClubHouse Hotel & Suites, our recommended hotel provider, you may take advantage of their complimentary shuttle service. If not, in addition to Lyft, you can simply rent a car or take a taxi, which are all great ways to get around town during your stay.

Accommodations

Spader has a special arrangement with the ClubHouse Hotel & Suites. Their superior service and relaxing atmosphere are make it a great home away from home while you’re in town. Please reach out to our team for rates and to help make accommodations for you and/or your group. Of course, you’re more than welcome to make your own arrangements.

Dining and Entertainment

Working hard on your business can build up quite the appetite. There are a few fantastic dining options near Spader like All Day Cafe and Taphouse 41 and close to the ClubHouse Hotel & Suites, like Morrie’s SteakhouseShahi Palace, and Granite City, to name a few. But if you’d like to venture further into the city, you can’t walk far in Downtown Sioux Falls without running into a delicious place to eat, just ask the New York Times. You can also take advantage of our booming brewery scene.

If you still have the energy to hit the town after a full day’s work, there’s always plenty to do around town. Whether you want to unwind at the movies*, take in a local event, or rent a bike to take on the 19-mile path that encircles the city (passing right behind the ClubHouse Hotel & Suites), Sioux Falls has something for everyone, including not one, but two axe-throwing establishments.

* Hot Tip: The West Mall 7 theater, located just down the hall from Spader, is a second-run movie theater featuring tickets for only $3.50.

City Map

Fast Facts

Spader Business Management got its start in the RV industry but soon recognized their business principles could help any industry or small business. They now work with many industries including bus dealers, farm equipment, marine, motorcoach,  powersports, RV and trailers.

  • Founded in 1976 by Duane Spader.
  • John Spader is currently president.
  • Employs approximately 40 employees.
  • More than 5,000 businesses have sought out Spader Business Management’s expertise.
  • More than 10,000 people from 3,000 businesses have successfully completed Spader’s Total Management 1 Workshop.
  • Located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Image Gallery & Media Usage

All images, unless specified otherwise, are copyright 2007-2024 Business Management Resources, Inc. dba Spader Business Management, all rights reserved. These images are available for use, unaltered, in support of editorial and business publications about Spader Business Management. They may not be used for any other purposes, commercial or otherwise.

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