Articles by Mike Lessiter

Flaman shortlines
Sponsored Content: Success in Shortline Machinery

Traditional Dealerships Setting Up Separate Entities to Sell Shortline Equipment

A mainline dealer whose shortline business is critical to success sets up a separate location to quiet the major about the competitive attention at the primary location. The idea has also been talked about as a hedge move to protect a dealership whose contract or future transition of that contract could be questionable.
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Precision Farming Dealer Summit

Internal Management Challenges Still to Solve for Sustainable Precision Farming Service Plans

Jason Pennycook, precision specialist at Johnson Tractor (4 stores in Wisconsin and Illinois), says Johnson is still working on the internal management issues, including how service plans are billed, who is responsible and how to get all locations on the same page, as many farmers will use one or more stores. “We’re working on ways to make sure every service manager at every store knows when a farmer is on a service plan so he doesn’t get billed incorrectly.”
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PFD Summit: Johnson Tractor’s Advice on Precision Service Plans

Jason Pennycook, precision specialist, Johnson Tractor, Janesville, Wis., has had 3 years of precision service plan experience. Johnson Tractor offers a basic (phone support and training class) and a premium (also including onsite visit). Other individual packages include precision training on-farm, spring planter checkups and yield monitor checkups.
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PFD Summit: Creating Precision Service Plans: Makes & Misses

With less equipment being rolled, precision service plan sales could see a shot in the arm. These dealers share their advice for getting them in place.
After years of “giving unapplied service labor away for free when it came to precision technologies” the dealer panel presentation on capturing revenue in service plans for precision was of keen interest for Summit attendees.
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Lessiter
To the Point

Blurred Lines: Iron Dealers Poised to Benefit in Precision

During last month’s National Farm Machinery show, I bumped into a precision ag manager for a large co-op. It didn’t take long to discover he was less than enthusiastic about hearing the major OEM dealers creeping into the agronomy territory, on top of the competition from the likes of the Monsantos of the world. He also wasn’t buying the “PR” that dealers’ on-staff agronomists would be stopping at casual support only.
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Lessiter
To The Point

To The Point: Blurred Lines: Iron Dealers Poised to Benefit in Precision

During last month’s National Farm Machinery show, I bumped into a precision ag manager for a large co-op. It didn’t take long to discover he was less than enthusiastic about hearing the major OEM dealers creeping into the agronomy territory, on top of the competition from the likes of the Monsantos of the world. He also wasn’t buying the “PR” that dealers’ on-staff agronomists would be stopping at casual support only.
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Dealership Minds

Product Development Ties Customers to Kern Machinery

Kern Machinery has not been satisfied to merely distribute farm machinery to its customer base. With the wide diversity of crops — from almonds and pistachios to table grapes and pomegranates — grown at the south end of California’s Central Valley, many of its customers’ challenges are unique to the region and not necessarily economically feasible for its major supplier to address.
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Dealership Minds

When to Know When the CFO Role Is Needed

Marty Buck, the CFO for Kern Machinery and the other Camp family entities (based in Bakersfield, Calif.), explained to Farm Equipment some of the differences in financial management responsibilities as dealerships grow in scale. He joined Kern 7 years ago, after previously leading financial departments at Unisys and Bolthouse Farms.
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