At Vanderloop Equipment (VE) in Lena, Wis., lead technician Mike Falash has built a career rooted in problem-solving and a love for agriculture.
Over the years, he’s navigated a variety of roles, beginning as a 15-year-old working at a wash bay then driving over-the-road trucks and eventually running a service shop. Yet, his passion for farming came full circle. “I always liked agriculture,” he says, and when Doug Neta, store lead at VE’s Lena location, asked him to join the team, it was an easy decision.
When it comes down to it, Falash says his role isn’t just about fixing machines. He values the greater impact he and his team have on helping both businesses and farmers on a daily basis, especially in times of stress.
“Three-fourths of our customers will come in the shop first before going up front to say hello,” he says. “They’ll give a wave, and see what you’re up to before they’ll go grab their parts,” he says, which sums up the camaraderie that develops between customers and VE employees.
Mike Falash
Years with Organization: 11
Role: “Being a service tech is more than fixing machines,” Mike Falash says. It’s about connecting with people. If Falash is on a farm, it likely means they are having a bad day, and he makes it a point to find more to talk about than the machine that is down. This personal touch helps move the interaction from a simple transaction to one that builds a trusted relationship,” he says.
Quotable: “I love what I do. I love the people that I do it for, they’re great people. They’ve always treated me with the utmost respect. They let us, as techs, police ourselves. If we need some vacation, they’re open. If you want to leave a half a day because you got something to do, they don’t have a problem with it. As long as our work is getting done and we’re efficient.”
A Day in the Life…
No two days are the same for Falash. His day typically begins with a planning session alongside Neta, where they review the previous day’s activities and determine the priorities for the day ahead. Together, they decide who in the team is best suited for each task and then take to scheduling with customers, a big task in itself and challenge to get all things done in a timely manner.
The goal is to make the day as efficient as possible, but as Falash points out, flexibility is key. “You can plan an entire day out, and by 8 a.m., it’s completely shot and we’re going in 10 different directions.”
In a small (but mighty) team such as the one at the Lena store, being adaptable is essential. “We have such a small crew up here that to have only one guy very versed in electrical, for example, is not a good thing,” Falash notes. This is why he pushes for all technicians to be well-rounded in their skills, able to handle anything from electrical issues to mechanical repairs.
Falash’s responsibilities are quite the variety pack. His role can take him from scheduling at the office in the morning to troubleshooting on a farm in the afternoon. Every day brings a new set of challenges.
“It could be a day of tractors, a day of forage harvesters — anything,” he says. But amidst the chaos, Falash finds fun in tackling the tough problems. “I enjoy the hard stuff,” he says. “I find a lot of the lighter-duty things monotonous, especially in the winter months.” It’s the rush of solving complex problems that keeps him on his toes, particularly during the busy preseason and in-season planting and harvesting days.
And where you’ll find him really depends on the time of year. In the winter, 99% of his time is in the shop. At the time of this interview in May, “we’ve had hay cuttings and grass cuttings and forage harvesters are running, so I’ve spent maybe 60 minutes total in the last 2 weeks in the shop,” adds Falash. “It will go from one extreme to the other.”
More than Just Repairs
For Falash, being a service technician isn’t only about fixing machines; it’s about personal connections. The personal part of his work is something he takes seriously. “When you show up to their farm, they just think you are a toolbox of knowledge,” Falash reflects. But to him, it’s crucial to go beyond that. Building rapport with customers, especially during stressful times, makes all the difference. It helps, he explains, when he can get someone to open up and connect on their backgrounds, which also helps him relate to the challenges his customers face.
His approach to coming alongside someone on a bad day is simple but effective. “If their machinery is broken, they need it fixed now. We can also talk about something else while that process is happening to ease the tension,” Falash explains. This personal touch transforms the interaction from a simple transaction into a trusted relationship.
The conversation continues, too, after a client’s machinery is fixed. Falash and Neta make it a point to follow up. “We do a lot of calling,” he says. “Doug and I take the time and call everybody shortly after to ask, ‘How’s it going? Did you get a chance to use it yet? Any more issues?’”
This post-service call reinforces the message that VE is there for the long haul, not just for a quick repair, he says.
The Technology Shift
A strong customer relationship is even more vital today, as technology continues to bring customers in search of a new level of support. Falash has witnessed this shift firsthand.
Technology in modern equipment has grown more sophisticated, with more complex problems.
Gone are the days when most issues were mechanical. Now, Falash spends more time troubleshooting electronic failures, dealing with sensors and interpreting fault codes. “It’s electronics, it’s sensors, it’s computers, it’s wiring,” Falash explains, noting how these systems dominate modern machinery. Mechanical failures have become less common, but electrical failures now require specialized knowledge and tools.
This major shift in technology also requires a different approach to service calls. “There’s not a lot of pre-learning that we can prepare for failure,” Falash says. “We can learn how to run the new machines and how they’re supposed to act when they’re working. But until we actually see it fail, we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“The technology is leaps and bounds better, more efficient, but way more frustrating…”
This uncertainty is a constant challenge, but Falash says he and his team are always ready to learn from each new issue that pops up.
Despite these frustrations, technology has brought its own level of benefits. Many machines now have sensors that prevent catastrophic failures by shutting down equipment before it breaks down entirely. While this means fewer large-scale breakdowns, it does result in more frequent, smaller repairs that technicians like Falash must address.
Teamwork: For the Greater Good
As the dynamics of technology change and new ideas evolve, Falash explains that establishing a positive dynamic between sales and services departments is key to overall success.
“There’s always going to be tension,” he acknowledges. “If there’s not tension, I believe we’re doing something wrong.” He says each department has different goals: the service department to charge for labor and time, while sales is there to keep costs down for customers.
“My job is to make as much money as I can for the service department. Their job is to make as much money as they can for the sales department,” Falash says. This balancing act sometimes leads to disagreements, particularly when quoting repair costs for used equipment.
But this tension, Falash believes, ultimately strengthens the relationship between departments. “You need that tension, like a checks and balances,” he explains. “You almost have to treat each other as customers ... You need that tension between all the different departments.”
Hire for the Right Things
When asked about advice he could give to someone starting a dealership, Falash is quick to focus on the personal qualities of the technicians. “Hire technicians who are genuine and have personalities,” he advises. While technical knowledge is important, Falash believes that the ability to communicate effectively with customers is just as critical. “The personality side of it has more to do with customer retention.”
Falash and his fellow technicians have built a reputation for being personable and relatable, which helps ease customer frustrations. “We are all very personal,” he explains. “We like to get involved with the customers and ask how they’re doing, how their day is going.”
This approach not only makes the job more enjoyable but also strengthens the customer-tech relationship.
In Falash’s view, the know-how to deescalate tense situations also is an important skill for any technician. “The ability to be honest and genuine, to show up and say, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong, but I’m going to figure it out,’” he says, is far more valuable than hiring someone “technically perfect” but lacks people skills.
It’s important to always see customers as human with families, businesses to run and employees to pay, he says. Calming a heated or stressful situation is part of the job and it’s important to hire accordingly.
And, in other cases, the service tech also has to walk away with bad news, and be able to handle not being able to solve a customer’s problem. “You may not get the handshake,” Falash notes. “You may not get the wave goodbye. Sometimes, they’ll turn their back to you and walk away. And you’re left to do your own thing. It is a terrible feeling.”
How does he measure success? For internal numbers, his team is looking at billable hours, warranties and the like. However, with customers, success looks more like: “the handshake at the end of the service call. You can measure a lot from the look in a person’s eyes when they say. ‘Thank you for coming out. You saved my day.’ Or ‘I thought the problem was this, and you told me it was a $2 part, when I was ready to put in thousands of dollars.” To watch a person’s tension leave their face, is worth it all, he says.
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
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