Editor's Note: On July 6, 2025, Bob Mazer passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family, following a brief but courageous battle with cancer. Read more here.

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At 18 stores, Mazergroup is the largest New Holland dealership group in North America. But its size alone isn’t what sets it apart or what caught the eyes of the Dealership of the Year judges. It’s the Brandon, Man.-based dealership’s focus on operational excellence, customer experience and employee development that earned the group Farm Equipment’s 2025 Dealership of the Year honors. 

1994 is when Mazer Implements’ expansion began — an expansion that owner Bob Mazer says was always initiated by the seller. 

From that point on, he says, Mazer Implements added about a store a year for the next decade. 

“It became clear that the future of the ag industry would be multiplexes to drive some economy of scale, to be able to distribute the used iron so you weren’t sitting in one location trying to distribute it all.”

With each of those additions, the merged dealerships shared resources but maintained their unique local identities. “Bob truly believes that model is how we grew with local owner/managers in partnerships,” says Wally Butler, CFO of Mazergroup.

Mazer says when it comes down to it, it’s the people in the business that were acquired that makes the difference. “We recognized early that buying a dealership, buying a building in a town with a name on the side of it wasn’t really anything,” he says. 

“You had to have the people. So, recognize and understand how to deal with those people in the dealership — and make no mistake there was loyalty to the original owner.”

Coming Together Under 1 Brand 

In 2009, all the locations officially rebranded under the Mazergroup name. And in 2010, the organization added a board of directors that has 4 outside advisors. 

Prior to the rebranding, Mazer says they faced the challenge of each store operating in a silo. For instance, if the store Neepawa, Man., took a unit in on trade he wasn’t going to think about sending the unit 90 miles south to the Hartney store. 

“That is absolutely deadly,” Mazer says. Then, when there is a difficult piece or something’s backed up in the marketplace, nobody wants to help.” Today, the dealership moves used equipment across all its stores — from its eastern most store in Steinbach, Man., to its western most store in Watrous, Sask. “That’s 9 hours of hard driving in a car,” he says. 

Along with a name change and sharing used inventory, the rebranding brought about a switch in management structure. 

While the opportunity for additional acquisition growth has presented itself, both Mazer and Butler say right now the focus is on ensuring they are running 18 performing stores. 

“Right now the focus is on improving the performance and growing the business of the 18 stores,” Mazer says. “Then, when we’re ready, we can grow again if we want to.” That said, he recognizes that some additional levels of management will need to be added in if the operation were to get much larger. “The question then is how much of the Mazergroup way or culture are you going to lose?”

In terms of management structure, Mazer has 4 vice presidents under him — Butler, CFO; Brad Tarr, VP of sales & marketing; Chris Finley, VP of parts, service & PLM; and Karen MacDonald, VP of people & culture. From there, there are directors and then department managers at the store level. 

Setting Targets 

When it comes to setting sales targets, Mazergroup starts with each salesperson. Each has specific sales targets by product, explains Tarr. “We go as deep as new and used for each product,” he says. “We have average selling prices that we set based on prior years and what we think the market’s going to be. We also do that with margins.”

From there, sales targets are set by location and region, and that ultimately rolls up into the complex, Tarr says. 

He has an idea of what each location should look like for volume. There can be instances after setting the salespeople targets that Tarr needs to go back to the regional sales managers to adjust the target. “Sometimes we have to go back a couple of times just saying, ‘You’re either overshooting the market or you’re not high enough,’” he says. 

In determining those targets, Tarr also looks at market data to help him and the team determine if they think the marketplace is going to be up, down or flat. 

To help increase shop efficiency and limit extra time and steps for the technicians, the Mazergroup service techs and parts employees are part of a Teams group for quick communication. Each technician has a laptop at their work bay with the group open. A parts employee will then walk the needed part out to them. The parts department will also conduct shop walk throughs to check in with the techs on any items they might be out of at their stations. Kim Schmidt

“We set goals by product categories because our manufacturers have expectations of us for cash crop, dairy, livestock, lite construction,” he says. “They have a goal that they need us to hit. And so again, we look at each product category, we say, ‘OK, this store based on their market, they need to be 20% or 10%, or to try to come up with a complex number.’”

It can get complicated, however, with market share being the toughest piece of the puzzle. Tarr says Mazergroup pre-sells almost 100% of its cash crop equipment 12 months in advance. “We make assumptions on the market, we sell a certain amount, and then we hope for the best, really. That’s all you can do, you don’t know what the competitors are going to do in the market.”

Expanding on that, Tarr says if Mazergroup sold 100 combines and assumes it will get 25% market share based on the assumption that the market will be at 400 combines, and then the market goes up to 500, the dealership can’t pivot on that. “There’s nothing we can do at that point because we’re 100% pre-sold. That’s probably the biggest challenge.”

For about 5 years now, Mazergroup has been strictly ordering cash crop equipment — like combines and 4WD tractors — based on pre-sales and not ordering any for stock. “Terms are too short, interest is too high to order stuff on speculation. That’s a $1 million invoice. It just doesn’t pass along,” Tarr says. 

Butler says in Mazergroup’s move to achieve store-level excellence, the sales team puts a lot of effort into not just achieving a number by store but drilling down into each customer segment (livestock, dairy, cash crop, light construction, etc.). “Now, we are comfortable as an organization where we’re at overall in cash crop, but where else can we become more diversified and grow our business,” he says. 

“Each of those targets Brad talks about are at that level and it’s line items. It’s that level of detail by the quarter.” 

From a financial reporting standpoint, Mazergroup structures its reports by product category not brand. Whereas some dealers are looking at how much was sold for New Holland or Bourgault and other shortlines and then how much new and used, Butler says Mazergroup looks at it in terms of product categories, regardless of brand. For instance, how many combine headers were sold, which could be New Holland or MacDon headers. 

When it comes to targets for the individual salespeople, Jon Mazer, sales director for the Saskatchewan territory, says while overall results are tracked in dollars, the sales targets are set by the number of units each individual needs to sell. The increasing dollar value of equipment necessitates continuous adjustments to budgets and targets, he explains. 

Used Equipment Management: 0-365

Mazergroup has a mantra — 0-365 days. That means 0 inventory that is over a year old. After years of closing the gap, the sales team achieved it March 31, 2024 (the end of Mazergroup’s fiscal year). 

“A combination of all those measures and targets have kept us in good stead for inventory management,” Butler says. 

Tough conditions made hitting 0 challenging this past year, but the sales team did come within spitting distance of the goal with about 35 units left, which averages out to about 2 pieces per store. 

Butler adds that while it may be painful to send used inventory to auction — which is how Mazergroup ultimately cleared out its remaining used inventory in March 2025 for its fiscal year — sometimes the situation isn’t going to get better. 

Tyler Roberts, sales director for the Manitoba stores, says when it comes to auctions, they focus on competitive units. “Sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking we bought them cheap enough and they’ll move,” he says. “Most of the time, if we took 6 combines on trade from a competitive owner, we typically move 1 or 2 and then get stuck with the other 4 or 5.” 

To combat that, Roberts says anything that comes in on trade that isn’t a Mazergroup brand he tries to price at a level that it can get sent to auction and flush it out of their system. “That’s going to help turn inventory more quickly than just crossing our fingers.” 

Mazergroup has a policy that any equipment that comes in for a multi-day repair gets a complementary cab clean. “We want it to go out in a better condition from a cleanliness standpoint than it came in,” explains Chris Finley, vice president of parts, service and precision technology. “That’s been a really good thing; people just really appreciate those little things that you’re doing to show that we appreciate their business.” Mazergroup

Roberts also works with dealers who sell other brands to move equipment around. When it comes to pricing equipment he sells to other dealers, Roberts says he relies on Iron Solutions’ guide book pricing to make it fair for each of them. 

Part of the regional sales managers compensation is inventory based, Tarr says. “At the start of each year, we give each regional manager their list, and even though we share used inventory, we say, ‘OK, we want this clean by year-end,’” he says. “Most of them, if you go into their office and swing their door open, you’ll see on the back of their door a list and every time they sell something, they’re striking it off.” 

To get a jump start on this year’s used inventory, Roberts says they put programming together earlier than usual. He says they’ve added some additional interest waivers. “We’ll cover the cost of buying that waiver as basically a discount to help push some inventory. We are seeing customers are looking for longer interest rate periods at the moment,” he says. “With interest rates where they are vs. where they were 3-4 years ago, it’s becoming pretty critical now.”

DOY Mazergroup photo gallery

Mazergroup recently put a larger, more targeted focus on marketing its used equipment inventory. Andrew Mazer recently transitioned into the role of wholegoods marketing manager. He manages Mazergroup’s used equipment inventory posting on its website and various social media platforms and then also manages the distribution of leads that result from those listings. 

The change in approach was spurred by the success of a new construction salesperson, Allan Levesque. “He came over from a car dealership and within his first month, he sold around 8 to 10 units in the construction portion of the business, which in our industry is not unheard of but it’s pretty rare that somebody could just jump into a heavy equipment sales role and just have like a footing like that instantly,” Andrew Mazer says. 

Levesque had taken it upon himself — on his own time — to market the units on Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji (similar to Craigslist in the U.S.) and Instagram. It didn’t take long for Tarr and Andrew Mazer to determine this was something they needed to be doing across the organization. 

Repeatable Processes Bolster Relationships

In the parts and service departments, Mazergroup is focused on creating and maintaining repeatable processes across all 18 locations in how they approach and look after customers, explains Finley. 

“From a parts standpoint, when someone comes in or calls on the phone, how they’re treated, and what questions we ask to make sure we’re looking after them to the best of our ability,” he says. 

Mazergroup has a mandatory carry out service. If a customer can’t hold everything in their hands and would need to make 2 trips, the parts person helps them carry out their purchase — regardless of how long the line may be at the counter, Finley explains. 

“These processes have to be repeatable regardless of how busy we are,” he says. “We can’t let busyness be a reason that we don’t do something. And so if there’s a lineup and the phone’s ringing and someone has, say, two boxes of parts they can’t carry out, no matter how busy it is, the parts person won’t even ask, they’ll just say to the next person, ‘Hey, I’ll be with you in a second,’ they’ll help them walk them out to the car and come back in and serve them.”

Moving into Saskatchewan & Different Customer Base

Jon Mazer, director of sales for Saskatchewan, commented about Mazergroup’s journey to Saskatchewan. 

Larger fleet farmers were quickly requiring and adopting newer technologies. “In order to grow customer satisfaction Mazergroup rapidly expanded our technology product offerings and staffing to embrace agriculture farming technologies,” he says.  

“Mazergroup has worked closely with CNH and other technology providers to create the best possible solutions for our customers. Mazergroup is focused on providing leading technology solution to improve farm operations, and he says, “Technology is really at the forefront of the present and future of Mazergroup’s success.”

Mazergroup also pays close attention to how much parts business is over the counter to a customer vs. to the service department or for internal reconditioning or warranty work. 

For the service department, it’s similar — how much work is being paid by the customer vs. warranty or internally reconditioning. 

Over the last year and a half, Finley says the parts managers have been focused on changing the mindset of how the parts department thinks about the shop. 

“What we’re trying to get at is the parts department thinking about technician efficiency and shop efficiency, which is a mindset change in a lot of dealerships where it’s not just fulfilling a parts request from the shop,” he says. 

Brandon is the first store with new systems between the two departments. Each service tech has a laptop at their workstation and has a Teams group with the parts department so they can communicate without taking unnecessary steps from the technician, Finley explains. The tech makes any parts request via the Teams group and then a parts person delivers it directly to the tech to reduce time waste. 

Learn More

For additional content on Mazergroup’s best practices, visit Farm-Equipment.com/0725

• Service Department Best Practices
• Embracing AI Tools
• How Secret Shoppers Improved Processes 

Parts employees will also do a parts walk through the shop, asking the techs if they are out of anything or need any parts. If the techs need anything, the parts person will then walk the item back out to the shop. 

As a result of these systems, there’s been a noticeable improvement in how quickly service orders get closed. Brandon is down to an average of 8 days to close an order. Previously, Finley says, it was around 18 days. 

“It’s a continual improvement goal for us to really have that well oiled everywhere because of a noticeable difference in technician efficiency,” he says, “and there’s subtle differences that we didn’t even think about, like the days to close, how much it really improved that.”

Development Focused 

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Mazergroup put training in place for its leaders focused on coaching and mental health first aid, says MacDonald. 

She says the training is fairly intense and takes place over about 4.5 days over about 4 months. It focuses on knowing how to identify mental health issues and coaching the team around them. MacDonald notes that in Canada, 1 in 5 people struggle with some type of mental health issues. 

“It’s not about diagnosing, but it’s about being able to recognize some signs, and just have a conversation,” she says. “And then we point them to some resources we either offer internally or externally.”

A Standout Among New Holland Dealers

Mark Lowery, New Holland director of network development, says Mazergroup has a leadership team in place that is taking the dealership to great heights. 

“Bob would regularly say that building the team at Mazergroup to enable them to not only be the largest New Holland dealer in North America, which they are, but to strive to be the best in everything that means,” Lowery says. “And so that starts with having the right leadership team supporting Mazergroup’s efforts. And Bob takes a lot of confidence in having that team in place and then allowing them to go and achieve, which obviously I think is recognized a bit by this award.”

In 2023, New Holland relaunched its dealer standards program. At its dealer meeting in January 2025, Mazergroup was recognized as a Blue Star dealer at all 18 of its locations. Blue Star dealer standards require performance in 7 categories including wholegoods sales, service, precision, parts and customer experience, Lowery explains. 

“Mazergroup worked very hard not only just to achieve it in one location, but all 18 here in 2025. It speaks to their leadership, Bob’s leadership team, as well as commitment to not only being the biggest but wanting to be the best in the New Holland space and obviously in the industry and the best in Manitoba,” he says. 

Lowery says Mazergroup watches the feedback from its customer experience and net promoter scores closely and makes adjustments in post-sale and after-sales support where needed. 

“When we started this journey as an OEM with customer experience surveys and working hard on managing net promoter score, Mazergroup latched onto that very quickly to understand customer experience and how to adjust and deliver that the best way,” he says. “Bob is very passionate about taking care of Mazergroup customers and working with us as a partner and the data that we have in order to make sure we’re both doing that effectively and well.”

In addition to that coaching for existing leaders, the dealership launched its Mazergroup Leadership Development Program in 2024 to build internal bench strength. The first cohort just wrapped up in April and included 8 employees. 

Having previously worked for colleges and universities in past roles, MacDonald is well versed in leadership development. The Mazergroup program combines theoretical learning with practical application. In addition to the formal components, she says there’s a front-end launch day with the executive team where they discuss the history of the dealership group. 

“We also talk about leadership in general and what that means and what it looks like,” she says. 

To qualify for the program, employees must have a minimum of 2 years of experience at Mazergroup.

The program also introduces the students to some basic operational metrics and wraps up with a class they call HR fundamentals. That includes Mazergroup’s A-Z recruitment process and what it looks like from a leadership perspective, as well as performance management and feedback. 

So far, MacDonald says, the feedback on the program has been quite good. Interest in the program drew 23 applications for the second round. 

“That came from every different position in the organization, across locations,” she says. “I think that’s a good bar. We’ll select the next group and we’ll start again in the fall.” 

Tarr adds, “We have leaders and managers who are currently leaders and managers keep applying to come into this.” The first cohort has already produced one manager and, MacDonald says, they have 2 other individuals on the parts side who are ready to fill a position when there are some anticipated retirements.

With repeatable processes in place and a focus on recruitment and development, Mazergroup is poised to continue growing the business with 18 performing stores.