In 2007, Jeff Hallen went into business as a used farm equipment wholesaler. Before venturing out on his own though, he spent 6 years with RDO Equipment, one of John Deere’s largest ag equipment dealers, working his way from salesperson to used equipment marketing coordinator. “That whole experience with RDO put me on the path to where I am today,” he says.

But Hallen had always dreamed of owning his own ag equipment dealership. He made that dream a reality when he opened up AgPro Equipment in 2013 in Hettinger, N.D., as a Versatile tractor dealer.

“In today’s world, the reality of starting a dealership from scratch and saying, ‘OK I want to be a John Deere or Case IH or AGCO dealer is impossible,’” Hallen says. “They’re not going to give you those contracts. Versatile provides a nice alternative if you want some sort of full line with shortlines.”

The dealership also carries McCormick, Cub Cadet, Summers Mfg., Demco, Farm King, HH Fabrication & Repair, J&M Mfg., Lankota, Mauer Mfg., MDS Mfg., Sheyenne Tooling and Sunmaster Harvest Header.

Choosing Shortline Machinery

Success in Shortline Machinery is a new regular feature in E-Watch, our bi-weekly e-newsletter. It is brought to you by Versatile.

Versatile, celebrating 50 years of 4WD production, is a full-line equipment manufacturer known for building products that are simple, reliable and easy to service and maintain. Versatile is seeking independent-minded dealers capable of selling and servicing equipment for large scale farming operations. If you want to add more horsepower to your bottom line, contact Alan Graff at agraff@versatile-ag.com or (920) 819-9039.

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When it comes to taking on new or additional shortline machinery brands, Hallen says the number one thing dealers need to consider is whether they have a place for it in the market. “You have to look at market data. You need to know your market and be aware of the requests you get from customers,” he says.

After looking at how a product fits in the market, Hallen takes a very close look at what kind of terms the shortline manufacturer offers. “What kind of floorplanning terms and discount structures they offer play a big part in my decision.”

Transitioning into a Dealership

Jeff Hallen, owner of AgPro Equipment opened the Hettinger, N.D., dealership in 2013.

Finding the equipment lines to carry may have been the easiest part of getting the dealership off the ground. The bigger challenges came from establishing the parts and service departments. “I knew what I wanted. I wanted a full line dealership. Well, that’s difficult. If you were just to take on a Versatile line that you never had and there really isn’t any Versatile product in your market, how do you have a full parts department? That’s a problem,” he says.

Hallen’s solution was to approach the owner of the local NAPA auto parts store about purchasing the business. That process took the better part of a year, he says, but it helped set the dealership up for success. “When I bought that NAPA store that NAPA book of business came automatically. That gave me the inventory and a parts staff, and now when people are looking for a Versatile part, I’ve got that full parts staff to take care of them.

“If you don’t have that you are going to be falling short. But it’s hard to  have that when you’re trying to get started from nothing. Buying the NAPA store and integrating it into my business was crucial to it working as well as it has worked.”

Finding a senior service technician/service manager proved to be even more challenging. “That was extremely difficult. A lot of people didn’t believe it was going to work and that I was going to fail,” Hallen says. “It took right up to until we opened the doors. I finally got the main guy hired about 2 weeks before we opened the new facility. It was extremely challenging to put that service piece to the puzzle. That’s even more critical than the parts.”

When compared to a dealership that carries one of the majors, the parts and service departments can be more challenging. For one, getting parts for the shortline machinery and equipment can take longer and Hallen doesn’t always keep a large stock of those parts. However, his bigger lines — Versatile and Cub Cadet — have good systems in place for ordering and stocking parts.

Hallen says, "When I bought that NAPA store that NAPA book of business came automatically. That gave me the inventory and a parts staff, and now when people are looking for a Versatile part, I’ve got that full parts staff to take care of them."

When it comes to service, AgPro Equipment has an employee dedicated to handling warranty issues. “When you work with so many different shortlines, you are doing a lot of warranty claims for a number of different manufacturers and you need to know all their individual ins and outs of how they operate. Whereas, at a John Deere store, probably 95% of your warranty claims are going to be John Deere related. We’re doing a lot of different things. It’s not hard, it just requires a dedicated person who is responsible for warranty and submitting those claims and tracking everything,” Hallen explains.  

Since starting the dealership, AgPro Equipment has grown from having one employee — Hallen — to now having 12 full-time employs. And, in 2015 the dealership was given the 2015 Versatile Top Starter award for North America.

Building Shortline Brand Awareness

Starting from scratch, Hallen had his work cut out for him when it came to getting the word out about AgPro Equipment. “I made a decision early on when I started — if I’m going to do this it’s all about the brand, it’s all about perception. And perception is reality. I built a brand new facility and geared it toward Versatile and toward a shortline dealership. I wanted Versatile to be my main line and put it out there in my market as a mainline to compete with John Deere and Case IH,” he says. “I branded everything Versatile. I got the best, fanciest Versatile sign that you could get that compares to the Case or Deere signs that you see in front of dealerships. I made a big branding push to put it out in my market as a viable option to producers. So far it’s worked.”

Not carrying one of the majors meant AgPro has to work a little harder at attracting customers, Hallen says. “That means I’ve got to be better at service, making the customer feel he can come right into my office and get his questions answered. I’ve got to be better at making that customer feel like he’s valuable and he is in fact a customer to me rather than a number like at some of the larger companies.

“Personal touch, that’s why I get a lot of the business I get. People are tired of not being taken care of at the level they expect. I try to provide that niche where I take care of them above and beyond what some of my competitors may do.”

AgPro Equipment has only had its doors open for 2 years now, but Hallen and his team’s dedication is paying off. The dealership has achieved over 6 times turns on its Versatile equipment. “That’s huge. We do really well and a lot of that comes from me being pretty aggressive and relentless with people. The other part that has helped us is the new facility. We’ve got a brand new facility and a new product line that’s never been in the area before. That’s all very exciting to people.

“The only way I was going to do it was the path I took here. I think anybody can do it, but it’s hard starting from scratch meaning zero employees, no service techs, no parts guys, no sales guys, no nobody. You’ve got to put that all together and make that all mesh because when you open your doors on day one, if you want to sell a $400,000 tractor they need to know you’ve got someone back in the shop who can fix it. If they don’t know that, you’re sunk before you do anything.”

Success in Shortline Machinery is a new regular feature in E-Watch, our bi-weekly e-newsletter. It is brought to you by Versatile.

Versatile, celebrating 50 years of 4WD production, is a full-line equipment manufacturer known for building products that are simple, reliable and easy to service and maintain. Versatile is seeking independent-minded dealers capable of selling and servicing equipment for large scale farming operations. If you want to add more horsepower to your bottom line, contact Alan Graff at agraff@versatile-ag.com or (920) 819-9039.