Editor’s Note: United Ag & Turf’s South-Central Division is presenting on its keys to stellar parts and service performance at the 2025 Farm Equipment Dealership Minds Summit in Iowa City. See Summit program for details. 

To understand the story of the South-Central Division of United Ag & Turf (UAT), one needs to know about the John Deere dealer’s expansion history. During a recent visit and tour of the company’s new (2021) flagship store and support center in Van Alstyne, Texas, Chief Operating Officer Clint Tillison explains how it developed.

UAT was formed in 2017 through the merger of Coufal-Prater and Brazos Valley Equipment dealerships. One year later, Pettit Machinery (where Tillison worked since 2005 after first serving as a territory manager for John Deere) merged with UAT, and the collective group acquired Ag-Power of Texas, bringing the number of stores to 29 in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. At that time, UAT was the 8th-largest dealer group in North America, according to Ag Equipment Intelligence.

But UAT’s growth didn’t stop with the 2018 merger and acquisition. In 2022, it acquired 21 more locations among 4 ownership groups (Mustang Equipment, Fish & Still Equipment, Austin Turf & Tractor, and Quality Implement).

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“We must stay connected to our customers, understand our market, invest in our people — and be ready to adapt; that’s the key to staying ahead…” – Clint Tillison, United Ag & Turf, COO

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“2022 was a big year for us,” says Tillison. “Such enormous growth in such a short time created a lot of learning opportunities for our organization, but we stayed focused on our core principles — trust, image, passion and sense of urgency — and tried to do what was best for the customer and our employees. That line of thinking always led to the best solution for any obstacle we encountered.”

In 2023, UAT acquired Lawson Implement’s 2 locations to bring its total locations to 51. After selling 3 stores in central Texas, today’s number stands at 48.

UAT’s Customer Base, Small Tractor Niche

With an area of responsibility covering 250,000 square miles, UAT serves an array of customer segments, including large-scale row crop operations, cattle ranches, landscape companies, and small-acreage and residential property owners. Also rounding things out are golf and sports turf customers, and construction and governmental businesses. 

Whether it’s a combine or a consumer product like a lawn mower, Tillison says customers deserve specialized attention. This requires UAT’s entire team to be capable of switching between different customers, markets and products, and use and application needs span an enormous spectrum of product knowledge. “It’s a tall order,” says Tillison, “but one we expect ourselves to achieve daily.”

COO Clint Tillison (l) explains how the Support & Solution Center team functions. In addition to being the go-to for internal troubleshooting and serving as Technical Communicator to John Deere, it oversees all “connected machines,” with a detailed repository on all machines and their warranty, PIPs, software status as well as and open cases and solutions. Logan Fitch

While much of the nation’s farm equipment dealers can focus on just one or two segments, UAT must satisfy all segments while still committing to the retail experience that matters so much in purchasing process of non-ag equipment. 

“In today’s world, people can get much of their consumer needs met almost instantly and they expect no less from their local equipment dealer,” Tillison says. As a result, UAT has created ways to meet these needs through online sales, online parts and mobile service. It also has established and invested in a new Support and Solutions Center to support its dealership personnel in meeting key customer needs. 

The dealership also has UAT Pro Account Managers, a focused team to call on commercial and professional customers, including contractors, commercial landscapers, and governmental businesses. 

As in its other segments of their business, Tillison says “Our goal is to be the best small tractor dealer in the world. To do that, we need to offer an unrivaled customer experience by having the correct inventory, knowledgeable employees, online buying options and efficient delivery. Plus, it needs to be consistent throughout all 48 stores.”

Tillison has been in the small-tractor space for most of his career, starting as a territory manager in California and Washington and to Southern Oklahoma and North Texas, where small tractors were an important part of the landscape. In all cases, the small tractor business had to be maximized. 

“Small tractors are important to our business so we sell them — and we sell all we can. Our job is to meet the needs of all customers, no matter how big or small. If it happens to be a small tractor, then we must give them the best small-tractor experience possible. When that tractor needs parts or service, we need to be ready with support and solutions.”

Farm Equipment and Rural Lifestyle Dealer routinely covers how this type of highly transactional business — requiring high volumes yet low margins — is not for the faint of heart. Consider how it may take 20-some small tractor purchases to match the same revenue as one combine sale. It requires far more in parts and wholegoods inventories — plus the right decisions on both — and can add pressure to overhead and expenses.

A Different Approach to Integration 

UAT is different from many other consolidators that Farm Equipment has covered the past 2 decades. There are pros/cons of every approach, yet many dealer groups arrive at rule of a “quick” adherence to the acquirer’s way of systems and procedures to speed along what can be a very arduous and variable integration process.

UAT, has taken a more open-minded approach “Most of the dealers we acquired were successful in their own ways,” explains Tillison, noting that “different” doesn’t mean wrong. 

“We’d seen how each acquisition brings dealers of different opportunities, strengths and weaknesses. Whenever acquiring another group, we try to go in with an open mind, look at those strengths and what made them successful and then modify only as needed.”

The formula was simple: retain key staff, train them in advance and then pair them with experienced UAT staff and trainers. The logic makes sense — to get the key influencers comfortable with the processes, systems and procedures, and the rest will follow.

“Having UAT people on site to aid in the transition is key to overcoming unforeseen obstacles,” Tillison notes. He adds that overcommunicating before, during and after the acquisition is key to ensure all are on the same page and comfortable with their part on the team.

Standalone Support & Solutions Center

The Standalone Support & Solutions Center (top right) is located behind the newly constructed store in Van Alstyne, Texas. Drew Lessiter and Logan Fitch

What Tillison says one of its greatest differentiators is its Support & Solutions Operation Center. A standalone building was added during the construction of the store in Van Alstyne, Texas, in 2021. This venue serves as an important hub and continues to be developed as the equipment industry moves toward a fully connected world between customer, machine and dealer. It includes: 

• Central Field Service. Includes dispatching on-site service for the entire division.
• Precision Technology. Under the center’s oversight, staffing includes both in-office and in-the-field personnel. 
• Logistics & Transportation. Includes managing and dispatching all logistics and transportation for the entire division. 
• Technical Services. From one location, UAT monitors the connected machines and thus can alert the customer and local service team to a problem before it happens. The centralized structure also provides a timely “answer database” to its store locations. For instance, a store in Arkansas may have identified a problem — and fix — that turns up later in Texas, and vice versa. The group also ensures all testing procedures are done and followed. When additional technical assistance is needed, this group serves as the Technical Communicator to the manufacturer’s Technical Assistance Center.

As UAT continues to refine its operations, Tillison remains optimistic. “We’re focused on delivering value and meeting our customers’ needs,” he says. “If we can do that, we’ll be successful. We need to stay connected to our customers, understand our market, invest in our people, and be ready to adapt. That’s the key to staying ahead.”