Willie Thievin first expressed interest in adding shortline machinery sales to his farm equipment repair shop in 2000, shortly after Buhler Industries acquired Versatile. At that time, Thievin, who owns Willie’s Farm Repair in Scobey, Mont., called up Buhler to inquire if they needed any dealers for the Versatile line. Back then, the answer was no. That wasn’t the end of it, though.

Willie’s Farm Repair

Founded: 1994
Location: Scobey, Mont.
Primary Line: Versatile
Secondary Lines: Cummins, Farm King, Sheyenne, ProGrain, Flexxifinger, SeedMaster and Grouser

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From left to right: Laurie Gaustad, bookkeeping; LJ Gaustad, mechanic; Mike Andersen, mechanic; Willie Thievin, owner; Kasey Olson, mechanic; Lisa Thievin, administrative assistant; Roger Wright, mechanic; and Pamela Dighans, parts/inventory.

Fast forward to 2013. Thievin was once again talking with Versatile about becoming a dealer, but this time the manufacturer came to him. “They actually came to my door and asked me if I wanted to become a dealership. I never did find out for sure who they got my name from, but they got it at a trade show in California,” Thievin says. “I had a lot of questions about franchise costs, minimum stocking and things like that before I made the decision to become a dealer. And they kept coming up with the right answers.”

Since taking on Versatile, Willie’s Farm Repair has added Farm King, Sheyenne, ProGrain, Flexxifinger, SeedMaster and Grouser. The dealership had been a Cummins dealer for about 10 years already.

Growing Customer Base

When Thievin was first making the transition from repair shop to shortline machinery dealer, he knew it was likely going to take time to convert his service customers to buying Versatile equipment. One thing he didn’t consider was the Versatile customer base already in his area.

“The biggest surprise that I didn’t really think about was all the people within a 100 mile radius who already had Versatile equipment and were not already our customers. So that side of the workload I really didn’t see coming.”

Transitioning to a Dealer

Thievin says he would encourage other repair shops to pursue becoming a dealer by adding shortline machinery sales to their services. But, he says he had the benefit of having a lot of the needed infrastructure in place that was required to become a dealer. “We had 3 service trucks, we had a semi and we had a machinery trailer to haul the equipment in. If we had to go out and buy all of that, it would be a pretty big hold,” he says.

Success in Shortline Machinery is a feature in E-Watch, our bi-weekly e-newsletter. It is brought to you by Versatile.

More from this series

Versatile, celebrating 50 years of 4WD production, is a full-line equipment manufacturer known for building products that are simple, reliable and easy to service and maintain. Versatile is seeking independent-minded dealers capable of selling and servicing equipment for large scale farming operations. If you want to add more horsepower to your bottom line, contact Alan Graff at agraff@versatile-ag.com or (920) 819-9039.

This is something Versatile took into consideration. “They’re not looking to bury someone in a bunch of debt, but they want somebody who can make it,” Thievin says. “And I think to make it you need to have a lot of that stuff either paid for or mostly paid for so you can put your money into parts and equipment.”

Thievin says he had the most to learn on the sales side of the business when he took on the dealership. “We were already doing the service and we sold parts before I became a dealer, so the sales end of it was harder to learn. I am still learning as far as what trade-ins are worth, how much to give for a trade-in, etc. And the paperwork. There’s a lot more paperwork than I anticipated,” he says. 

Growing Staff

Since adding wholegoods sales to the business, Willie’s Farm Repair has grown its staff by about 25%. Before there were 6 employees, including Thievin. Today there are 9, with 6 of them working in the shop, one in parts, one in the office and one salesperson. While he’s added employees, Thievin says he could still use more, particularly in the shop.

Willie’s Farm Repair is 15 miles from the Canadian border and rarely attracts many people who aren’t originally from the area. “Finding help is probably our biggest challenge,” he says. “Since we’re so isolated, it’s hard to get people to come up. The closest Wal-Mart is 120 miles away and the nearest Pizza Hut is 100 miles. Yeah we have local places to eat, but everything is limited on hours. It’s not like when you live in a city and you can find that stuff until 2 a.m. if you wanted to. Our best opportunity is to find someone who is from here to have a good chance of having them stay here.”

As Thievin looks ahead to the future and the unknowns of the ag economy, he says the dealership’s foundation as a service repair shop will be beneficial for them. “It helps because we have all those customers who were already coming to us for service. Even if they are not interested in buying equipment, they are seeing the product out here and then pretty soon they’ll start asking a few questions.

“A lot of our customers want to see us survive and they want to try and buy local. So when that time comes, I’m sure that will help us. And the repair part is what brought us to that point and will keep us there, too. If we can’t take care of what we’re selling, we’re not going to do very well.”

Success in Shortline Machinery is a regular feature in E-Watch, our bi-weekly e-newsletter. It is brought to you by Versatile.

Versatile, celebrating 50 years of 4WD production, is a full-line equipment manufacturer known for building products that are simple, reliable and easy to service and maintain. Versatile is seeking independent-minded dealers capable of selling and servicing equipment for large scale farming operations. If you want to add more horsepower to your bottom line, contact Alan Graff at agraff@versatile-ag.com or (920) 819-9039.