Manufacturer & Dealer Issues

Kanicki
From the Desk of Dave Kanicki

Independent … but Not Too Independent

If you were to read through any of the major farm equipment manufacturers annual reports (also referred to as Form 10-K by the SEC), each of them refers to the businesses that sell their products as “independent dealers.” This would imply that those dealers are free to operate their businesses as they see fit. We all know this isn’t anywhere close to what’s actually taking place in the real world of the farm equipment business.
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Lessiter
From the Desk of Mike Lessiter

Day in the Life: What Does a Dealer Development Manager Do?

One of the fun things about our coverage of the farm equipment business is discovering and sharing how each of the various cogs perform together in the larger “machine.” On each of the Dealership Minds special issues, we’ve had subscribers laugh about how they learned something they didn’t know about the role of a person they’d worked 10 yards away from for a decade, sometimes more.
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2017 Equipment Dealers Assn. Dealer-Manufacturer Relations Survey

Few Surprises at the Top, But Changes Afoot Among the Challengers

For the 2nd time, Farm Equipment magazine analyzes EDA’s annual survey ranking ag equipment manufacturers on the criteria that equipment dealers say matters most.
In early June, the Equipment Dealers Assn. (EDA) released the results of its annual Dealer-Manufacturer Relations Survey. Through this study, equipment dealers rated the companies whose products they represent on 11 key categories of dealership operations and support.
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Lessiter

To The Point: Make Room for Creative Destruction

Reflecting on the Dealership of the Year Alumni Group, and the manufacturer rankings, it’s clear that best in industry achievements don’t happen by accident. Rather, they get into the conversation of “best” through a refusal to be mediocre, or “good enough to get by.” One can argue a company can’t get there unless it first engages in honest self-reflection, with a well-polished mirror.
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Farm Equipment

2026 Dealership of the Year, Messick’s Equipment, Mount Joy, Pa.

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