It doesn’t take much to get the jovial Mark Vanderloop to crack a smile. Just ask him about the family business.
“A lot of my favorite memories came from the time I got to spend with my grandpa at the dealership because he passed away when I was young,” Mark says. “He’d take me out to deliver a tractor, and then we’d always stop at the water park on the way back.”
In between trips down the water slide, Mark remembers cleaning shelves for $5 a day and developing a passion for the farm equipment business that he now shares with his 6-year-old son, Jack.
“Jack gets mad when we come into work on a Saturday and he doesn’t get to hop in a piece of equipment and ride around the block,” Mark laughs. “I definitely see the Vanderloop genetics coming through in him. Seeing his excitement for what we do for a living is really cool.”
Mark Vanderloop
Years with Organization: 23
Role: “It’s a hybrid product and sales management role and helping on the service side as needed. I also assist with a lot of the recruiting. My role is always evolving. Right now, at the level and size we’re at as a dealership, I have to wear multiple hats.”
Quotable: “Planting season is more like the Daytona 500 than the Super Bowl. We’re the team that builds the car and gets it ready in the shop, and then getting to see it perform is the fun part. I watched a customer planting with his brand-new planter the other night, which was really cool. That type of stuff is exciting because it shows we as a dealership did our job.”
Swiss Army Knife
It’s hard to define Mark’s title because he does a little bit of everything. Name any job at the dealership, and there’s a good chance Mark has done it at some point during his 20-plus-year career. He’s like a Swiss Army Knife, or for the baseball fans out there, a super utility guy who can play any position on the diamond at a high level.
“I started off doing a lot of washing and detailing before moving into the service department for 5 years,” Mark says. “I got to work with my uncle, Donald. He and my dad, Robb, taught me a lot of what I know mechanically. Then I transitioned into where I am today, which is a bit of a hybrid product and sales management role. I still help on the service side as needed, too. Robb had a vision for me to spend time in each department, understand the goals, learn how to talk to customers and deeply know what it takes to be profitable.”
No two days are alike for Mark, who continues to juggle many roles for the fourth-generation dealership. He usually arrives at the office around 7 a.m. if he’s not on the road visiting customers, demoing a new product or giving a presentation at a conference. Mark assesses technician workloads for the day and then meets with the sales crew for 30 minutes. After that, he roams the service department to make sure everything is firing on all cylinders.
“I carry a diverse role that ebbs and flows with the needs of the dealership,” Mark says. “I collaborate with Robb and Carey frequently on the overall direction of the dealership, and helping to execute our vision through our co-workers at all 3 locations.”
Changing Times
The local ag landscape has evolved just as much as Mark’s role at the dealership. A rapidly changing dairy industry in Wisconsin shapes a new approach to customer service.
“The number of farms has shrunk dramatically,” he says. “Instead of dealing with 1,000 customers, we might be dealing with 150 or so core customers now. Our business model had to change in how we’re selling to the customer and how we’re keeping the customer.”
“I always think about the generations before us at the dealership, and all the new equipment they brought to the market. What can I bring to the table that would change the way people farm…”
The sales process is longer than it used to be, Mark says, because customers are buying more expensive pieces of equipment and need time before pulling the trigger on large investments. That means more opportunities for 1-on-1 time with each customer before and after a major sale.
“We’ve been pushing for our team to spend more time with individual customers,” he says. “The ability to call a customer right after a technician’s been out there is an opportunity for our sales guys to have another touchpoint with them. Our service advisor often asks a salesperson to call a customer within a week of service. It helps maintain visibility and increase sales.”
Measuring Success
When Mark sees smiles on the faces of customers and co-workers after a long shift, he considers it a successful day. Keeping a positive attitude when the chips are down and minimizing burnout are big parts of the equation.
“They all understand there’ll be long weeks in this business,” Mark says. “To cut down on burnout, our after-hours service runs through a service manager, not the technician directly. The customer’s call goes to the service manager, which is our daily line, and then the service manager figures out the problem and location, and dispatches from there. The service technician isn’t necessarily making the decision on whether they need to see the customer, which takes a lot of weight off their shoulders.”
Mark estimates his technicians now average around 45-50 hours per week, significantly less from years past. That means more time with family and friends, less time on the clock and, ultimately, not as much stress.
“Stress management is an important part of my job,” he says. “There are always going to be finances and other important items to look at, but if you can manage that stress and portray a positive attitude with a customer or on the service side, you’ll have success.”
Finding the right person for the job is another key to success. Mark looks deeper than the resume when interviewing potential hires.
“When we’re thinking about bringing somebody into the group, it’s as much about fitting our culture as it is fitting a checklist on a piece of paper,” he says. “That’s something we’re always careful with. Who we’re bringing in. We want to ensure our culture stays true to its values and its core. That’s such an important thing for us.”
Next Generation
When Mark’s not interviewing a candidate, measuring efficiency in the service department or sifting through sales numbers, he’s busy trying to find the next big thing for customers. His predecessors were on the forefront of cutting-edge technology, dating back to the 1950s when the dealership sold Sheppard tractors — one of the first brands to build its own diesel engines. As a partner in the family business, Mark makes it his personal mission to continue the tradition of innovation.
“I always think about the generations before us at the dealership, and all the new equipment they brought to the market,” Mark says. “What can I bring to the table that would have a big impact on agriculture and change the way people farm?”
Mark believes autonomy could be the answer. Sabanto engineers paid a visit to the dealership in early 2023 to teach the team how to sell and service the company’s Steward autonomy kits. Later that year, Mark was personally demoing the kits for customers.
“As an industry, we’re dealing with labor shortages and financial challenges related to inflation,” he says. “We have a lot of good people around us, whether it’s on the farm, at the dealership or at the manufacturer level. Technology like this can allow them to be more efficient and, ultimately, magnify their skillsets.”
Another big step into the precision world came earlier this year when Vanderloop Equipment (VE) reached an agreement with Trimble to sell its products shortly after the company merged with AGCO to form the joint venture PTx Trimble.
“Claas has always been a strong proponent of Trimble for their mapping, so it fits the VE brand very well,” Mark says. “If we don’t continue to diversify and push forward with new technology, we’re going to become stagnant.
“We’re seeing diversification come back into the Massey product offerings. The continued growth of the Fendt product line is fantastic. The planter business has taken off for us in the last 2-3 years. Class continues to bring extremely reliable machines to the marketplace. And Horsch is just another manufacturer that’s growing. They remind us of what Claas and Fendt were in their infancies.”
While Mark is optimistic about the future and always thinking about what’s next, he never forgets the past, or loses sight of how lucky he is to be surrounded by family every day at work.
“One of the things that’s unique to VE and for me is the ability to work with my father and cousin,” Mark says. “That is pretty fantastic. It’s an awesome opportunity to learn from them, see the challenges they face and explore what we can do to solve them in the future. We like to view all our people at the dealership as family, and it truly comes from the generations before.”
Dealership Minds: Vanderloop Equipment Introduction
Dealership Minds: CFO & Co-Owner: Cashflow Rules The Day
Dealership Minds: Sales Manager & Co-Owner: Guiding Sales, Finding New Markets
Dealership Minds: Technology Sales & Co-Owner: Learning from the Past to Move Forward
Dealership Minds: Lena Store Lead: The Power of Personalization
Dealership Minds: Parts Department Lead: Customer Communication Key to Success in Parts
Dealership Minds: Beaver Dam Sales: Techs are ‘Game-Changer’ in New Wholegoods Sales
Dealership Minds: Service Department Manager: A True Passion for Customer Service
Dealership Minds: Service Department Lead: Service: Beyond Just Repairs
Dealership Minds: Parts Lead: Parts Department Brings New Challenges Every Day
Dealership Minds: Brillion Sales Reps: Building Relationships Beyond the Sale
