Sitting down with Brandon Lamers and Eric Johnson, two of Vanderloop Equipment’s (VE) salespeople working out of the Brillion, Wis., location, it’s hard to tell they’ve only been working together for a year.
While both are relative newcomers to the dealership — Lamers has 3 years and Johnson is in his first — they’ve formed a strong sales team that’s both data driven yet flexible enough to adjust their day as circumstance dictates.
Prior to joining the Vanderloop sales team, Lamers worked for DeLaval Dairy Service and sold chemicals for parlors. “It was a total shift when I went from selling chemicals to tractor sales,” he says. “It was different, but I had a lot of the same customers, so it made for an easy transition for me on that side of it.”
Brandon Lamers (left) & Eric Johnson (right)
Years with Organization: 3 (Lamers) and 1 (Johnson)
Role: Working out of the Brillion store, Lamers covers more of Central Wisconsin where there are more dairy customers. Johnson covers the area farther east toward Lake Michigan where the customers tend to be more row-crop farmers or customer harvesters.
Quotables: “I’m completing my first cycle, one year of getting to know people and coming up with sales strategies. A lot of it for me is researching a customer — anything from Facebook to talking to our sales manager — and really studying before I ever step foot on their farm.” — Eric Johnson
“It’s really about building our customer base for the future. One thing we see right now is the shrinking number of dairy farms in Wisconsin. So, we have to be on our A game. We have to be out there, earning their trust, taking care of them and doing everything we can to keep them.” — Brandon Lamers
Johnson, who grew up on a dairy farm, spent the last 25 years before coming to VE running a photography business and working part-time on the family farm. “I was ready for a change. Agriculture has always been a passion of mine, and so this opportunity has been great,” he says.
Farm Equipment’s May visit to Vanderloop was during planting and cutting season. While equipment sales are slower this time of year, Lamers and Johnson weren’t sitting on their laurels. Lamers kept busy running parts out to them and making sure they are having a good planting season.
“It could be pretty quiet this time of year for us, unless we’re doing things for our customers to meet their needs and keep them going, keep them planting and cutting, do everything we can to make that happen,” Lamers says.
“It’s a nice balance because, like Brandon said, you’re a little bit more unsuccessful knocking on doors this time of year,” Johnson adds. “You have more time to dedicate to the guys who have bought planters. You’re not only delivering parts, but you’re answering questions about equipment. You are sometimes riding along with them and getting their perspective on how they’re enjoying the equipment. And that’s important, too, because that helps you connect to the customer and learn about the equipment as well.”
The Day to Day
As any good salesperson knows, this is not a business of taking orders. At the heart of it Lamers and Johnson see the job as taking care of customers. Every day is different for the sales team, but they have a checklist to accomplish every week, which they cover in their daily meetings with Mark Vanderloop.
“Some days you find yourself making 2-3 stops and you’re taking care of past customers and you’re running parts here and there, and then the next day you’re knocking on doors all day.”
Lamers agrees and says his day can change drastically with one phone call. “We have our game plan set for the week. Does it mean it’s going to happen? No, but we stay focused, make a plan on Monday and then we try to stick to it,” he says. “We do the best we can to stick to our day-to-day routine, but it just doesn’t always happen.”
Data Driven Sales
Each day the sales team reviews its plans, inventory, upcoming orders and customer experiences. The team relies heavily on EDA data to supplement their knowledge of the current equipment in the field in their area, Lamers says.
“It’s valuable data that helps drive our direction in terms of sales,” Johnson says about EDA. “Instead of just driving to a random farm and asking if they want to buy a tractor, we understand what they’ve been buying, when they’ve been buying it, how often they buy it, what kind of equipment it is, what brand it is, how old it is, is it new, is it used, is it leased, is it purchased. This data gives direction for sales and saves a lot of time instead of just driving around and knocking on doors.”
“Seasonally, it gets to be long days, too. The days sort of fly by, which is a sign you’re in a job that you love and working for a company that you enjoy…”
Johnson says the ability to filter the data helps him prioritize and focus on certain types of equipment and customers. For example, if it’s forage harvester season or planter season, the app allows them to filter out who bought a certain type of equipment in the last 48 months and what model they bought.
“You can isolate and say, ‘I’m going to focus in the next 2 weeks on this type of equipment.’ You filter the data and there it is, and you hit the road,” he says.
Sales Metrics
All VE salespeople have quarterly sales dollars goals. But Lamers and Johnson are quick to say that those numbers aren’t what they measure success by.
“If I would measure my own success and my own performance, it’d be my customer relations,” Lamers says. “It’s not always about how many pieces I sell or how many pieces VE sells. Are we keeping them happy? Are we doing everything we can for them? That is how I measure my own success. Making sure that I have the customer relations that I need is a big part of how I measure myself.”
Johnson says another important metric is repeat customers.
“Have we done our job not only to sell the first time, but to earn their business the second and third time?” he asks.
The salespeople don’t cite a specific number of customers to call on each day. However, they do communicate with the team each day on which customers they intend to see that day, Lamers says. They then track their interactions in their call logs.
“We try, we start on Monday with a certain goal, a certain number of farms that we got to hit, but Mark is understanding when we don’t because they know we’re helping this customer in a different way,” Lamers says.
Johnson adds, “Ownership trusts us, and that’s a good feeling — we don’t feel watched over. You don’t feel like there’s a thumb on you at all times. As long as we have the discipline to do our job, which we both do, they let us have success doing it our way.
“And of course we look for guidance. We take our Monday morning meetings and use that as fuel throughout the week. But at the end of the day, we are self-guided, and we’re both motivated by making sales and building relationships, because we want to help the company grow.”
Sales is a long game, and Johnson and Lamers recognize that it can take several years before they can close a sale with a customer, especially one who is operating competitive brands.
They point to Deere as their biggest competitor. “You must understand that the sales cycle is going to take a long time,” Johnson says, “and that initial few visits may not be the most pleasant. They’re just human beings and they don’t dislike us because of the products we sell. They are just very loyal to the product they’re used to.”
With those customers, Lamers doesn’t pull into the driveway planning to make a sale. He’s there to build a relationship. “Someday they might have some issues with their products and will give us a call. Maybe we’ve got to demo this and try this. Never rule anyone out, because you just never know. Even though they have the Deere mailbox, we could change that to a Fendt mailbox,” he says.
At the end of the day, both Lamers and Johnson view their role at VE as being there to nurture customer relationships, through every stage in the customer journey.
“These are long-term relationships that we’re building and maintaining,” Johnson says. “With all the other dealers out there, the relationship part is what sets you apart. Yes, service is so important, but if Brandon and I are building these relationships, it’s going to lead to sales for us, and then success for the whole company.”
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
