Written on tablets of corn, wheat, beans, rice and cotton, and delivered by a peripatetic sojourner dressed in jeans and wearing a cap with an indistinguishable equipment machinery logo and with dairy cows in tow, the following Commandments were unexpectedly received with gratitude.
Do you have the right people in place at your dealership to pick up the slack if you need to be out of the office for an extended period, whether expected or unexpected?
Last week, while visiting a large farming operation in Michigan, I had the opportunity to ask the brothers who own and operate the 14,000-acre enterprise, if given the choice, what would they prefer, high crop prices or high crop yields?
In addition to those metrics identified in previous articles, this column will address additional metrics that should be on the radar screen for any dealer/sales manager interested in getting the most out of their sales department.
If you were to only look at the unit sales numbers that the Assn. of Equipment Manufacturers makes available each month, you might that think that business for farm equipment dealers is looking pretty dismal at the moment. But as I've pointed out many times in the past, things almost always look bad when you compare them to the best years you've ever had.
The impetus for this month's column started with a comment from a dealer in one of our Currie Management Dealer Groups. At a recent meeting, he remarked, "Look around the room. Isn't it interesting that everyone who used a laptop computer a year ago now uses a tablet?"
The current CJ-4 oil category of oil for diesel engines that farmers and dealers are familiar with is living on borrowed time under new fuel economy demands and CO2 mandates.
Besides commodity prices and the weather, the topic of land values has probably garnered the most attention from the ag community in recent years (though in recent months "Big Data" seems to be catching up). Of course, anyone who was around in the early 1980s has an instant knee-jerk reaction to almost any news of a slowdown or dropoff in farmland values.
Built on 90 years of expertise, Yetter Farm Equipment leads the agriculture industry in designing effective and innovative equipment for residue management, seedbed preparation, precision fertilizer placement, harvest attachments, strip-tillage, and more.
Montag is the industry’s innovative leader for precise, accurate metering of fertilizer, seed and other nutrients. The Montag system has become the standard for deep banding of fertilizer. Montag is also pioneering the technology for cover crop seed application. The new Cover Crop+ is able to meter the smallest seed, and can be mounted to tillage implements, combines, plus Hagie sprayers and detasselers.
At Machinery Scope, we believe you deserve the best risk management solutions for your investments in heavy equipment. Since 2013, we have been proud to offer extended warranty, appraisals, and inspections. Machinery Scope is a family-owned business built on our experience in farming and equipment dealerships. We understand your business and provide a personalized and professional level of customer service. Machinery Scope has built a strong warranty product with our customers in mind, offering the same professional level of service from the time you get a quote, through the processing of a claim.