In this conversation with Farm Equipment, Lowe & Young’s Jon Bauman reflects on his 25-year journey from the shop floor to sales manager, sharing how customer satisfaction, service support, and strategic brand growth continue to drive dealership momentum.

What’s your history with the dealership and your current role?

Jon Bauman: I grew up on a dairy farm north of here and never really got into the animal side of things, but the equipment has always been my thing. I attended Wayne County Schools’ Career Center, which is a tech school within the local high school that has an ag program. In order to fulfill the early placement I had to work half days in a related field which landed me here in 1999. While I didn’t intend to be here long term, it was a good fit. I worked in the shop for 25 years until I ended up fulfilling this role which became open last August. There are now 5 salesmen plus myself, and our Marketing Director also works with us.

What challenges do you foresee both from an equipment dealer standpoint and in the industry overall over the next 3-5 years?

Bauman: We've been very fortunate in the respect that our customer base is pretty diverse. We have a lot of dairy, some beef, and also grain. It's no secret the grain side is hurting right now, but the dairy side's had a couple good years and we've had good success there. I think the challenge is that it's really tough to plan inventory right now. Trying to balance having inventory when you need it, that's an age-old problem but that's one of my bigger challenges.

Another challenge is keeping up with the technology from a service standpoint. After 25 years back there, I can appreciate that challenge directly. We love to sell and I loved it when I was back there. We worked together well, our previous sales manager and myself, on demos and so forth…and that drives me — the market share, the competitiveness — always has. Yet we're trying to balance growing at a sustainable pace because if we get a lot of equipment out and we don't have the service department or parts up to speed, it's a disaster. So that's a challenge for us internally here.

Autonomy is kind of a buzzword right now, and it seems like we're still on a larger trend with larger machines and more done with less people. I suppose autonomy plays into that because it's all triggered, I think, by labor challenges, but it's a little slow to take off here.

In the last 10 to 15 years, we've seen a big take on trying to get more out of your machine. In other words, using a tractor with front lift and PTO to get more hours on a single machine. It can do more tasks than just plant corn and tear up a field with tillage. Versatility on machinery is definitely a big driver and probably a big reason why the Fendt brand has done so well. They've been doing it a lot longer in Europe with that mindset. Technology's clearly at the forefront … documentation, wireless data transfer, etc. Compared to some others, we're playing a catch-up a little bit, but AGCO has some nice platform work coming very soon, so that's encouraging.

How does the dealership continue to generate strong sales?

Bauman: I think we talk about momentum a lot and we have a lot of momentum in large ag. How to get that is always a good question. We know one key is that the neighbor's recommendation is worth more than any billboard we'd put up. We’re doing a lot of marketing with geofencing and other outreach, and have strong support from our suppliers sharing leads. Also, getting some key people in those machines and these social media influencers, like it or not, they matter, it appears, so that's another avenue.

What’s done to gauge customer satisfaction?

Bauman: With New Holland and AGCO, both have NPS scores and we look at those at least weekly, sometimes multiple times. I love them, love going over them…I love it because usually they're good and I love to forward on the good compliments, as well as the ones that aren't so good. We take a lot of pride in that. I guess that's maybe why I like coming to work —  that satisfaction of the customer, having the machine do exactly what he bought it for and having good follow-up support. At the end of the day, that's what gets me out of bed.

How do you foresee the growth of particular brands, the next level of expansion within your sales effort here at Lowe & Young?

Bauman: We ultimately aim to grow our market share in every segment that we sell, and we also are realistic enough to know that doesn't happen quickly in every segment. But I think what it does is it gives us an avenue to grow, even in our own PAR, our own area of responsibility, by adding those lines rather than maybe having 5 or 6 more stores.

We have plenty of head space to grow with just even doing a bit better with, for example, high-technology planters. I foresee that not just planters, but combines and large hay equipment, all those being able to grow…not easily, nothing's easy, but realistically, I think there's a lot of room there for growth.

It goes back to the guys in the back. We like to grow from the back forward and getting key guys in those spots, that's what we're really focusing on literally every day — trying to fill those spots and recruit good help there. That will open up to where we feel good about selling because we know when there's an issue, and it's when, that there's someone there ready to take the ball.

Read about Mazergroup, Brandon, Man.

Read about Lowe & Young, Wooster, Ohio

DEALERSHIP OF THE YEAR ALUMNI GROUP

Nominate a dealer for The 2026 Dealership of the Year

The 2025 Dealership of the Year program is sponsored by Associated Equipment Distributors (AED). 

AED is the leading association in North America for the equipment distribution industry — representing companies involved in the distribution, rental and support of equipment used in agriculture, construction, forestry, mining, power generation, rental, cranes, material handling, and other industrial applications.

Explore the AED Upcoming Events lineup, which includes conferences, such as the Leadership Conference, Women in Equipment Conference, and Policy Conference and the largest event strictly focused on the equipment distribution industry, AED Summit. Contact AED for more information about how you can register for these events.