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Articles by Dept. Management
Follow the Numbers Using ROI to Sell More than Iron
With each new product launch and update, farm equipment is becoming more sophisticated. As the equipment you’re selling becomes more complex, so does your approach to selling it. While there has been some positive news recently with crop prices and net farm income improving, a recent poll by Progressive Farmer shows that 53% of farmers say equipment and technology strain their financial resources.
Ask the Expert: The Purpose & Function of Centralized Wholegoods Management
In my last 3 articles, I laid out the expectations for a used equipment remarketing manager: check your emotions at the door, find data and their subsequent level of importance, and understand your area of responsibility. Used equipment remarketing is one of, if not the, most important segment of any farm equipment dealer, and I have laid out a very compelling case for centralizing the department but, there are two parts to wholegoods — new and used.
Leadership Lessons: Good to Great Dealership Flywheel – Leveraging Technology Assessing Technology as a Force Multiplier, Part 2
How your entire dealership hears and serves the customer is at the core of the 4th spoke of the flywheel. Dealerships that are built with balance and whose people are trusted to deliver and serve consistently will retain those customers and attract more new customers. The new and repeat customers give a huge boost in momentum to a dealership. A dealership is balanced when: All departments are considered to be “sales” departments not just the wholegoods sales department.
Growing the Business Through Financial Literacy
Pictured Above: For the third consecutive year, Jenner Ag has been named a finalist for the Great Game of Business All-Star award. The company, which operates an application equipment division along with a Case IH dealership and precision farming division, won the award in 2014. Jenner Ag has always practiced open book management — sharing the company financials with the management team.
Using Metrics & Incentive Programs to Optimize Aftermarket Revenue
With the importance of parts and service increasing as the ag economy continues to decline, making sure aftermarket operations are running at peak performance is key. That’s what Director of Aftermarket, Reed Allen, focuses on at AgriVision Equipment, a 17-store John Deere dealer with locations in Iowa, Indiana, Missouri and South Dakota.
Are You Inspired Change?
Are you inspired by change or are you just reacting to Change? The world has been shut down. Did you let that stop your business? Probably not! Great! But are you taking this time as a good indicator of some changes that you should be making? Are you reassessing your business and adjusting to come out of this profitable and growing? You can do it one department at a time. Make Progress This year might be different in adjusting to the crisis and what changes need to be done.
Leadership Lessons: Good to Great Dealership Flywheel - Leveraging Technology Assessing Technology as a Force Multiplier
Technology is a “Force Multiplier” for your dealership. The force multiplier concept comes from the military but to explain it simply, think of a hammer. A hammer amplifies your effort to produce more output. This idea fits exactly with the flywheel analogy for building a good to great (G2G) dealership as the leveraging of technology tools exert forces, speed and connection to increase a dealership’s momentum.
Generating Cash Part 4: Selling Aged Equipment in the Wholegoods Department
In a recent webinar, Trent Hummel, consultant and trainer with the Western Equipment Dealers Assn.’s Dealer Institute, outlines key areas where dealerships can find room to generate extra cash in their wholegoods department. Hummel explains how dealers should treat their attachments, move their trade-ins and change their wholegoods mentality to be about speed. This is the fourth in a series of articles based on Hummel’s webinar.
Generating Cash Part 3: Billing Efficiency & Warranty Losses in the Service Department
Making sure technicians’ billing efficiencies and recovery rates are in good shape can be a great way for dealerships to create as much cashflow as possible. Trent Hummel, a consultant and trainer with the Western Equipment Dealers Assn.’s Dealer Institute recently gave a webinar for Farm Equipment where he explained how dealers should be taking down credit card numbers ahead of time, when to get OEMs to help pay for warranty losses and how to increase billing efficiency.
Generating Cash Part 2: Optimizing the Parts Department
One important place that dealers can look to generate cash is in their parts department. In a recent webinar, Trent Hummel, consultant and trainer for the Western Equipment Dealers Assn.’s Dealer Institute, explained how dealers can maximize the benefit of their OEM return program, sell obsolete parts to the wholegoods department at a discount and have their technicians assist by upselling parts while on service jobs. This is the second in a series of articles based on Hummel’s webinar.
Generating Cash Part 1: Tracking Expenses in Accounting
Generating cash is an important part of operating a dealership but not always an easy task. Trent Hummel, consultant and trainer for the Western Equipment Dealers Assn.’s Dealer Institute, explained in a recent Farm Equipment webinar how simple actions like examining expense reports and arranging for payment as services are rendered can improve cashflow. This is the first in a series of articles based on Hummel’s webinar.
Today’s Recap: Marguerite Kleinedler, VP Marketing at Koenig Equipment
Dealership marketing managers at farm equipment dealerships have been pushing digital tools for sales and lead management for years, but the adoption of such tools has been slow. The current coronavirus crisis forced the adoption of such tools for Koenig Equipment, a 15 store John Deere dealership group in Indiana and Ohio and Indiana, says vice president of marketing Marguerite Kleinedler.
Helping How We Can - Providing Content You Can Use
These are strange times we’re operating in, but the entire Farm Equipment team is dedicated to getting you the important content you want and need. In times of crisis, there’s often an urge to help however you can. Social distancing and safer at home orders make that a little bit more challenging. This is a great time to catch up on training and best practices.
Today’s Recap: Craig Murray, Senior Director of Aftermarket, Heritage Tractor, Baldwin, Kan.
Heritage Tractor was among the first John Deere dealerships in the country to invest in Sedona Technologies’ online customer portal in January 2018, in what became the dealership’s “Virtual Parts Counter.” “Today, we have more than 2,700 customers signed up and sales for the first 3 months of 2020 from the portal are nearly 10-fold from a year ago,” says Craig Murray, Senior Director of Aftermarket for Heritage Tractor, Baldwin, Kan.
Coping with COVID-19 - Be Scared & Be Calm
The COVID-19 pandemic has been called a “black swan,” a metaphor for an extremely rare event that is unforeseen, but which can have enormous impacts. Examples of black swans were the 9/11 attacks which had bad impacts, and the development of the internet which has had a generally good impact. The animal analogy is wrong here, says Michele Wuker.
Leadership Lessons: Good to Great Dealership Flywheel Spoke #3 Build a Strong Culture & Leverage Vital Processes
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast” — a quote attributed to management guru Peter Drucker defines the core idea of this spoke. The best plans fail without a strong culture to support them. On the flip side a strong culture means your dealership is more likely to overcome setbacks and changes even without a strong strategy. To grow from good to great requires more than a strong culture — being great requires a culture of performance.
Eis Implement Makes Strides as Single-Store Operation
The single-store John Deere dealership can be hard to find these days, but in Two Rivers, Wis., Eis Implement is a thriving business that has found ways to make its smaller footprint work in its favor. The dealership has found ways to adapt and grow with its customer base. Jon Eis, chief operating officer, says 25 years ago about 80% of Eis Implement’s customer base was large agriculture and 20% was residential, and 10 years ago that split was around 75-25.
Measuring Sales Success Through Customer Satisfaction
“This is the only job I’ve ever had.” Jeff Morgan is no stranger to the agriculture industry. As the third generation at H&R Agri-Power, Morgan’s position in the business feels like destiny to him. “My grandfather started the business and mother and father, of course, were involved in the business. Dad is still involved in the business,” he says. As H&R Agri-Power grew, so did Morgan. As the market evolved, he helped facilitate the evolution of the business.
Leadership Lessons: Good to Great Dealership Flywheel Spoke #2 Invest to Grow: High Absorption
Absorption is simple to calculate, but to understand its “Good to Great” power in a dealership is complicated. Absorption is both a defensive and offensive strategy, and, although it is a financial metric that contributes to a high return on assets (one of two goals of a dealership), better absorption also contributes to creating repeat customers (the second main goal).
Dealership Minds: Following the Data & Managing Relationships to Order Equipment Properly
Jon Darby, New Inventory Manager Years with Organization: 5 Role: “A lot of people think you just order the equipment and sell it. No. They don’t realize the significance of my role with the manufacturers and keeping them all happy. There are a lot of relationships to balance with multi-branded locations.” It might seem unusual to equate the titles “New Inventory Manager” and “Relationship Manager,” but in many ways they’re interchangeable in Jon Darby’s day-to-day work for H&R Agri-Power.
Dealership Minds: Leading by Example in the Parts Department
Cindy Gough, Corporate Parts Coordinator Years with Organization: 13 Role: “My title is corporate parts coordinator, but I also function as the parts manager of the Morganfield, Ky., location. I am a facilitator and a coach.
Dealership Minds: Maintaining High Standards of Service
Kyle Putty, Service Coordinator Years with Organization: 8.5 Role: “It’s about customer satisfaction for me and H&R. I will do everything I can to help, and I want the stores to try to handle things so that there’s no promises made to a customer that can’t be kept.” High standards are the key to success in any industry.
Preparing for Sales Success: Hiring & Onboarding - Part 1
Dear farm equipment professional, The editors of Farm Equipment identified two presentations from the 2019 Dealership Minds Summit that were easily the highest rated dealer presentation of the entire Summit. These two speakers, both Dealership of the Year Alumni and Advisory Board Members to Farm Equipment, are considered “world class” in their talent development, with programs to groom talent in the specific ways that they want business done.
2 Industries, 1 Problem: Recruiting Technicians
Pictured Above: Richard Dugan (r), the ag technician recruiter and trainer for KanEquip, a 14-store Case IH dealer in Kansas and Nebraska, and Ryan Goertzen (l), vice president of maintenance workforce development for AAR Corp. who oversees 5 maintenance repair and overall facilities in the U.S., both have backgrounds in education and agree that how industries approach schools needs to change.
Commercial Vehicle Business vs. Ag Equipment
Pictured Above: Marty Iten, director of commercial sales for Ewald Automotive Group (l), which is one of the few dealerships that have been granted the Ram Truck Agriculture Program contract, met with Dan Scheuers, dealer-principal for Waupun Equipment (r) at Ewald Chevrolet in Oconomowoc, Wis. to compare and contrast the two industries.
Preparing for Sales Success: Hiring & Onboarding - Part 1
Dear farm equipment professional, A solid on-boarding plan for new salespeople helps thwart bad habits well before they have an opportunity to form. Farm Equipment turned to two of our Dealership of the Year Alumni, both with homegrown leadership and development programs, to share their strategies for successful on-boarding and continued training for their sales teams.
Preparing for Sales Success: Hiring & Onboarding - Part 1
Dear farm equipment professional, A solid on-boarding plan for new salespeople helps thwart bad habits well before they have an opportunity to form. Farm Equipment turned to two of our Dealership of the Year Alumni, both with homegrown leadership and development programs, to share their strategies for successful on-boarding and continued training for their sales teams.
Avoiding Hefty Fines When Doing Business Out of State
Pictured Above: Rex Collins, principal at HBK CPAs & Consultants, and Tim Berman, former dealership owner and now the innovation manager for Constellation Software, sat down following Collins presentation at the GIE+Expo in Louisville, Ky., to dissect what the Wayfair ruling and economic nexus are and how they impact dealers who sell and service equipment across stateliness.
Preparing for Sales Success: Hiring & Onboarding - Part 1
Dear farm equipment professional, A solid on-boarding plan for new salespeople helps thwart bad habits well before they have an opportunity to form. Farm Equipment turned to two of our Dealership of the Year Alumni, both with homegrown leadership and development programs, to share their strategies for successful on-boarding and continued training for their sales teams.
Ryan Polete: Post-Presentation Q&A from Dealership Minds Summit
Question: I am curious about how your salespeople own inventory. Do they have their own set of books? I did not quite understand that. Answer: They do. They are responsible for their trade. They have a certain level of authority to come up with their trade value. We have a system in the background that is a completely different topic. But they set most of their bookings. There is an approval process that we have. Then that particular piece of equipment stays in their inventory.
Fred Titensor: Post-Presentation Q&A from Dealership Minds Summit
Question: I am very fascinated by your presentation, but I am quite confused. Are you saying that you show no profit in new sales? Is that what is going on here? Also, if you do not mind my asking, what are you using for a starting point for that salesman? What is he using for a list price or a price that he is showing the customer? Lastly, are you publishing that or no? Answer: Yeah, there is no margin on the new piece at all.
Van Wall Equipment’s Formula for Clear Sales Strategy
The following article is based on Don Van Houweling's presentation at the 2019 Dealership Minds Summit. To watch the presentation, click here. Editor’s Note: Don Van Houweling, Owner of Van Wall Equipment was part of 3-dealer panel on sales strategy at the 2019 Dealership Minds Summit. Here’s an excerpt of what Van Houweling shared with dealership executives and corporate directors about his company (Farm Equipment Dealership of the Year Alumni Group), in his own words.
H&R Agri-Power’s Sales Comp Plan
The following article is based on Ryan Polete's presentation at the 2019 Dealership Minds Summit. To watch the presentation, click here. Ryan Polete, sales manager at H&R Agri-Power made a profound opening statement about sales compensation and motivations. “What I’m showing is really not a compensation plan that motivates people, but it will push their direction in the right way. That’s about all we can hope for on that.
Valley Implement’s Sales Comp Plan
The following article is based on Fred Titensor's presentation at the 2019 Dealership Minds Summit. To watch the presentation, click here. Fred Titensor, COO, has 8 salespeople among his 4 stores, with average service of 15 years.
Compensation Plans: A Tale of Two Dealerships
The following article is based on Fred Titensor and Ryan Polete's presentation at the 2019 Dealership Minds Summit. To watch the presentation, click here. “It was the best of plans; it was the worst of plans.” To borrow from the words of Charles Dickens’, what may seem a no-brainer for the company’s well-being may feel like a penalty for the greenback-motivated salesman.
To the Point: Sales Onboarding ... & Recalibrating, Too
The highest rated panel of the annual Farm Equipment Dealership Minds Summit featured two Dealership of the Year Alumni. It was no surprise that dealers learned so much from RDO Equipment and Stotz Equipment. We’ve visited them on numerous occasions and continue to be amazed by their home-grown systems that cultivate the exact results they want.
To the Point: Sales Onboarding ... & Recalibrating, Too
The highest rated panel of the annual Farm Equipment Dealership Minds Summit featured two Dealership of the Year Alumni. It was no surprise that dealers learned so much from RDO Equipment and Stotz Equipment. We’ve visited them on numerous occasions and continue to be amazed by their home-grown systems that cultivate the exact results they want.
Redefining Your Sales Mindset
Gone are the days of selling equipment purely on the basis of the capabilities of the product, says Scott Downey, a professor in the department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University. One hundred years ago, at the dawn of the Industrial Age, he explains that buying and selling decisions were made on having a product that simply worked for the given task. Downey refers to this as the “product era.” Today, that’s changed.
Is a Call Center Right for Your Dealership?
Customers don’t like to wait. At the same time, customers don’t necessarily enjoy being passed on to someone who is lacking the expertise to assist them properly. It’s because of this conundrum that when discussing call centers at the dealership, the jury is still out.
3 Ways to Get Your Aftermarket Team to Adopt a Sales Mentality
There’s no shortage of sales opportunities for a dealership’s aftermarket parts and service team to pursue. But often the challenge is getting those employees to know how to recognize and capitalize on those opportunities. From getting employees out from behind the parts counter, to implementing incentives and sales goals, here are 3 ways to motivate your aftermarket team to adopt a sales mentality. Get Out of the Comfort Zone.
To the Point: Find Your Champions of Change
Change isn’t always easy, but it also doesn’t have to be hard. How challenging change is on a team, to some extent, depends on how it is introduced and integrated. While there were numerous takeaways from this summer’s Dealership Minds Summit (look for extended coverage of the Summit in the October/November issue of Farm Equipment), one of my notes jumped off the page as I was reviewing them.
Why a No-Commission Approach Works for Hiawatha Implement
2019 Dealership of the Year: Hiawatha Implement Hiawatha Implement is Farm Equipment’s Dealership of the Year in the $75+ Million in Revenue category. Unlike what is standard for many dealerships, the sales team at Hiawatha Implement does not receive commissions. Here’s how they make this approach work.
Technology Boosts Customer Service
2019 Dealership of the Year: Hiawatha Implement Hiawatha Implement is Farm Equipment’s Dealership of the Year in the $75+ Million in Revenue category. The dealership team comments on their approach to customer service and how embracing technology has elevated the business.
Leadership Lessons: Is Servant Leadership the Right Style for Your Dealership?
Servant leadership is an approach that is quite different from some of today’s other popular styles, such as autocratic, participatory and democratic. Robert Greenleaf and the Greenleaf Foundation is credited with coining the term Servant-Leadership — that true leadership must be executed in the form of true service. His title says is all: The Power of Servant-Leadership. World-class companies like Marriott International and Starbucks embrace servant leadership principles.
Industry Q&A: Sales Compensation Plans
Already a subscriber? Login now. June 18, 2019 | Posted in Best Practices, Dept. Management “We pay salespeople 25% of net profit after the full deal is washed out. We do not book anything.
Be a Leader, Not a Boss: Top Tips for Motivating Employees to Boost Sales
Already a subscriber? Login now. By Betsy Barthelemy posted on June 18, 2019 | Posted in Best Practices, Dept. Management Trent Hummel, a trainer at the Western Equipment Dealers Assn. Dealer Institute, forgoes teaching sales strategies to instead drive staff-wide motivation and engagement to boost sales and improve the quality of work within businesses. Trent Hummel brings over 25 years of dealership management experience to the Dealer Institute at the Western Equipment Dealers Assn. (WEDA).
Increasing Productivity and Efficiency Boosts Dealership Profits in the Age of Amazon
Already a subscriber? Login now. By Betsy Barthelemy posted on June 18, 2019 | Posted in Best Practices, Dept. Management Kelly Mathison, a consultant and trainer at the Western Equipment Dealers Assn. Dealer Institute, discusses emphasizing interdepartmental teamwork and personalized, rather than automated online-based, service in ag equipment dealerships in order to maximize profits per hour. “What are the two critical factors that really drive the financial success of your business?”
6 Ways to Guarantee Customer Loyalty [Webinar]
Already a subscriber? Login now. March 23, 2017 | Posted in Best Practices, Dept. Management What kind of power does your dealership have over your customers? Is your dealership building loyalty that makes your business indispensable to customers, creates life-long relationships and makes price irrelevant? Presented by Jim Facente, a trainer for WEDA’s Dealer Institute, this webinar highlights 6 key factors that will make your dealership indispensable to your customers.
5 Compensation Considerations for Your Dealership’s Sales Team
Is Your Compensation Plan Attracting and Retaining Top-Level Sales Talent? Dear farm equipment professional, When it comes to recruiting, hiring and retaining top-level sales talent, the compensation plan can often times be the make or break part of the negotiation that will have people running to join your team or continuing their search elsewhere.
Leadership Lessons: Communicating in the Age of ‘Me Too’
Leaders and managers are finding themselves wondering what the heck is going on in the workplace with some women and minorities being “so sensitive.” Many male leaders now take inventory of past interactions with women and other minorities to determine if they will be the next to be judged and possibly tossed for something they did in jest many years ago. The past can’t be erased, but the future is a clean sheet of paper upon which you can imprint a new way to communicate.
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