David J. Meyer is the Board Chair, Chief Executive Officer and one of the founders of Titan Machinery Inc. Prior to incorporating Titan in 1980, David was a partner in a JI Case/New Holland Dealership with locations in Lisbon and Wahpeton, North Dakota. David has served on both the Case Construction and Case IH Agriculture Dealer Advisory Boards.

Editor’s Note: Farm Equipment magazine asked its Alumni Group (comprised of recipients of the Dealership of the Year Award and Hall of Fame) a thought-provoking question that we call the “It’s a Wonderful Life Question.” In the famed Christmas movie, protagonist George Bailey gets to see – via a dramatic intervention by an angel named Clarence Odbody – what the world might have been like had he never been born. Similarly, we asked our award-winning executives to ponder that same challenging question, and to consider how their communities might have been altered had their businesses “failed to launch” or perhaps failed to survive trying times. Here’s what we learned. – Mike Lessiter, editor/publisher.

Successful Customer Farm Operations

Our Farmer Customers are continually dealing with what mother nature throws at them. Whether it be timely planting, seeding, spraying, haying, or combining ahead of an oncoming weather event, farmer abilities to deal with adversity and continue to maximize yields is key to their bottom line and long-term sustainability. It is very rare for a farm to run into financial problems or go out of business when they produce above average yields on a continual basis. Year in and year out, the farmers’ ability to get their crop in and out on time requires productive and reliable equipment. In my almost 50 years in the business, Titan Machinery has taken pride in providing an uptime off season maintenance program to keep machinery in top running and reliable condition, but in the event of a breakdown in a critical season, Titan’s capabilities and “all hands-on deck” commitment to get the customer up and going in a timely manner has been extremely important to the success of our customers. Over the years, there have been thousands of times customers have commented to someone on our Titan team that “you have been a life-saver” or “I don’t know what we would have done without you guys” related to getting through an equipment breakdown situation in a critical time or season due to having the right part in stock and/or the expertise and extra effort of one of our service technicians. 

Speaking of parts, Titan machinery stocks millions of dollars of parts at our local Stores. I have always been of the conviction that having a well-run parts department with plenty of parts is the number one value we bring our customers. With the expertise and experience of our parts people along with the direct messaging and support of our Titan Senior Leadership, we work hard every day with the goal of having the right part on hand at the right time to meet our customers needs. For decades, Farmers have appreciated the franchised Dealership model with local parts stocking. On hand parts, along with service departments with trained technicians have been a big contributor in helping farmers stay up and running through the important seasons making the American farmer the most productive in the world. Just imagine if Dealers no longer stocked parts, or worse yet, did not exist, with Farmers and Ranchers being broke down during critical spring work or harvest and ordering parts online with no idea if it would be 2 days, 5 days, 2 weeks or 5 weeks before the parts would arrive. And upon parts arriving, what would be the ultimate price, freight, handling charge, surcharges, and what would be the return process, if any? Phone calls or tracking would all be done with recordings or electronically and finding a live person to talk to would be almost impossible. And if you did find a live person, what could they do? 

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Titan Machinery was the 2006 Farm Equipment Dealership of the Year.

The huge investment Titan Machinery and other Dealer Groups in or Industry have invested in parts inventories, facilities, service tools, service vehicles, technician recruiting, training, staffing, extended hours, 7/24 support, and technological expertise have been invaluable to our farmer customers and our local communities. Our customers and communities would not be where they are today without Titan Machinery and other local OEM franchised Equipment Dealers.

Employees

Ever since my first Dealership experience in 1975, I have developed a full appreciation for our employees and the immense challenges they experience and embrace on a daily basis. Titan Machinery has been on the forefront of bringing high paying jobs, benefits, HR best practices and career paths for employees in our rural communities. Through the years, Titan Machinery along with other Dealer Groups have attracted thousands of technicians to our industry through generous scholarships, tech school sponsorships and tractors to the tech schools for students to work on. For the sustainability of our industry and the ability to maintain and repair our customers farm machinery for future generations, it is imperative we continue build and grow this critical technical people resource.

As I transitioned into retirement from my CEO position, the most common emails, letters and calls from employees and employee spouses I received were the sincere appreciation for what Titan Machinery has done for our employees and their families. While Titan Machinery employees have been the foundation of our company and instrumental to our growth, these employee opportunities have created a pathway for quality of life, work/family balance, financial and career successes for our employees through mutual respect and gratitude. 

Communities/ Dealership Succession/Giving Back

Farm Equipment Dealerships are a solid economic contributor to the communities in which they are located. Many times, equipment dealerships are one of the largest employers in a town bringing employees and their families to the community to support schools, churches, and local businesses. These employees add to the local tax base and contribute to the community through volunteer work, school boards and community leadership positions. Titan Machinery pays a lot of property taxes, brings in large sums of sales tax dollars, invests in facilities, tools and equipment, supports FFA, 4-H and other youth groups, sponsors special events and sports teams, and provides donations to large community projects. There is no better feeling than to see the smile on the faces of future farmers and ranchers as Titan Machinery bids on the premiums at the annual livestock premium sales in their local communities. Titan machinery supports benefits for those in need and those impacted by natural disasters through donations, volunteers, and use of equipment. Titan Machinery participates in community celebrations, and you will see Titan Machinery red and blue tractors in local parades and on display at County Fairs. Titan Machinery is a strong advocate of local volunteer fire departments, EMT's and first responders and pays employees to serve and volunteer in the communities we serve. 

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There are no guarantees that local communities will keep their Dealerships. With the increased size of equipment and the trend of fewer but larger farmers we will continue to see Dealership consolidation. The communities that support their Dealerships will be rewarded with larger Dealerships with the scale to support the needs of the future farmer and rancher. We lost a high percentage of Equipment Dealerships in the 80’s and many towns and communities never recovered. When Chuck Pollard, the owner/principal of the CaseIH Dealership in Watertown, SD died in a tragic traffic accident in November of 2000, the family was not able to find someone to take over the CaseIH Dealership. I remember a dozen or so Watertown employees driving two and a half hours to my original Dealership in Lisbon, ND asking me to buy the fledging Dealership as a last chance effort to save the business, their jobs and loyal customer relationships. In a leap of faith, we purchased the Dealership from the family, invested heavily over the years in people, facilities, and support resources and now the Titan Watertown Dealership is a vibrant and successful Dealership along with being one of Titan’s largest facilities and a beneficial contributor and resource to the City of Watertown and surrounding farmer/rancher customers.

Many times, Dealer Principals don’t have viable succession solutions for their Farm equipment businesses they have taken a lifetime to build. The future wellbeing of their employees and support of their customers weighs heavily on their plans and timelines to exit the business. Titan Machinery has gone to great lengths to insure the Principal and family (some which have been in business for multiple generations) of the Dealerships we acquire are treated with respect and dignity, preserving the heritages and cultures that have worked well while looking for opportunities to take the Dealership, customer, and employee experiences to the next level to insure long term sustainability of the acquired Dealership.

Dave--Peter-at-a-Parts-Counter

What is rewarding to see is Dealer Groups which looked to Titan as a succession solution, and five years later, the selling Dealer principal, the customers, and employees all comment that “This has worked out really well and beyond expectations. Wish it happened five years earlier”.

Dealer Associations, 20 Groups, OEM Advisory Boards

For much of my career I have been involved with Industry Associations, 20 groups and OEM sponsored Dealer Advisory Boards. This is now continuing with a number of Titan employees in leadership positions. Not only is this an opportunity to build lasting friendships with Dealer peers but an opportunity to learn from some of the best and give back to the industry which is so important to our farmer customers and local communities. Much of the technology, product designs and equipment offerings that benefit our customers through increased productivity, efficiencies and yields have come from Dealers listening to their farmer customers and providing input through the OEM Advisory Boards. 

Summary

For generations, Farm Equipment Dealers have been integral to the success of the farmer/rancher helping shape American agriculture into the envy of the world. Competition between Dealers and the OEM’s has resulted in fair pricing and continual focus on providing increased Dealership value to the farmer/rancher. OEM’s and Dealers have provided access to parts, service tools, diagnostic equipment and service information to farms and independent repair shops who elect to repair their own equipment, but the strong majority of farmer and ranchers look to their local franchised Dealers with the scale, experience, expertise, track record and huge investment in parts inventories, tools, equipment, vehicles, training and people resources, and like their fathers and grandfathers, to support the farmers and ranchers through the cycles, seasons, and challenges of agriculture. Farm Equipment Dealerships work on a tight margin structure despite a high-cost structure. The current OEM and Dealer Distribution model driven by competition, market dynamics and trusting customer relationships has worked extremely well for generations for the benefit of the farmer/rancher customer, dealer employee, and our rural America communities.

Titan Machinery continues to be committed to Investing in our Dealerships, investing in our parts and service resources, creating rewarding customer experiences, and creating great places to work benefitting our employees, customers, and the communities we do business in.

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