The Leadership Lessons theme for 2023 is how to build stable and sustainable dealerships that adapt to accelerating change. The advisors at Machinery Advisors Consortium (MAC) think it vital for dealership leaders to prepare for times of turbulence.
You’ve probably seen the movie trilogy Back to the Future. There’s no point in telling you the story, but just like in the movie, if we had a time machine, we could influence the present through our actions from the past and change our future through our actions of the present.
I often see the lack or fear of delegation when working with dealers. Usually, it’s because the owner/leader is a “Doer” and feels it takes too long to get things done or doesn’t feel comfortable in managing or developing their people.
Your service department is one of your biggest profit centers. But your service department is also the most expensive to operate. So, it needs to run like a well-oiled machine.
Remember when your dealership was a stand-alone operation? The distance from your boardroom to the breakroom was measured in feet. Now with acquisitions and expansion into big multi-location dealers, some of which span states, that distance is measured in miles.
Sell tractors, fix them, collect the money and innovate.
Farm equipment dealerships are not considered the most innovative industry, although remarkable innovations occur there on nearly a daily basis.
“We sell tractors. We fix them. We collect the money.”
This was the insight I received from a seasoned iron peddler upon my first visit to an equipment dealership more than 20 years ago. Simple and action-oriented, his statement summed up the fundamentals of equipment distribution.
Rapid changes create both risk and opportunity. Your dealership is impacted by big changes in technology, the workforce and higher expectations of your customers, employees and suppliers.
It is vital to understand the changing generations of both your customers and — most importantly — your employees. Not appreciating the generational differences may lose you both customers and employees. Knowing the values, virtues and capabilities of each generation will help you retain both.
Built on 90 years of expertise, Yetter Farm Equipment leads the agriculture industry in designing effective and innovative equipment for residue management, seedbed preparation, precision fertilizer placement, harvest attachments, strip-tillage, and more.
Montag is the industry’s innovative leader for precise, accurate metering of fertilizer, seed and other nutrients. The Montag system has become the standard for deep banding of fertilizer. Montag is also pioneering the technology for cover crop seed application. The new Cover Crop+ is able to meter the smallest seed, and can be mounted to tillage implements, combines, plus Hagie sprayers and detasselers.
Finance Scope is able to provide the best financing opportunities for equipment dealers and customers through a diverse mix of lending companies under one single platform. Our large group of lenders, allows for competitive rates regardless of credit scores. Additionally, dealers and customers have access to the industry’s best expertise surrounding finance and lease structures, for all purposes, within the agricultural and construction industries. We provide all of this into one online platform to provide our customers with the best available tailored finance solution for their equipment.