Home / Topics / Best Practices

Best Practices
Best Practices RSS Feed RSS

Improving Efficiency & Costs in the Parts & Service Departments

By Kim Schmidt posted on July 15, 2017 | Posted in Best Practices, Operations & Finance, Department Management

As Ellens Equipment — Farm Equipment’s 2017 Dealership of the Year in the under $75 million in revenues category — has grown in recent years, it became clear changes in the service and parts departments were needed to help improve efficiency, reduce costs and ultimately improve the dealership’s absorption rate.


Read More
George Russell -Eric Thompson.jpg
People & Profits

Formulate a Short & Simple ‘Tailgate Talk’

By George Russell and Erik Thompson posted on July 15, 2017 | Posted in Best Practices
Great leaders simplify their messages. As a dealership leader, are your messages the most powerful? Think of Ronald Reagan, often called the Great Communicator, and some of his famous messages. “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” at the Berlin Wall. Or after the Challenger disaster, “They touched the face of God.” The title of his biography by his speech writer Peggy Noonan says it best — Simply Speaking.
Read More
George Russell -Eric Thompson.jpg
People & Profits

Formulate a Short & Simple ‘Tailgate Talk’

By George Russell and Erik Thompson posted on July 15, 2017 | Posted in Best Practices

Great leaders simplify their messages. As a dealership leader, are your messages the most powerful? Think of Ronald Reagan, often called the Great Communicator, and some of his famous messages. “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” at the Berlin Wall. Or after the Challenger disaster, “They touched the face of God.” The title of his biography by his speech writer Peggy Noonan says it best — Simply Speaking.


Read More
VERMEER---TM1410_Action_1.png

Wide Swath Haying Revisited

Fifteen years of application show wide swath haying improves stored forage quality and can boost feeding efficiency. Equipment builders have responded with mowers to do the job.
By Dan Crummett posted on July 15, 2017 | Posted in Best Practices, Product Innovations & Introductions, Niche Equipment Markets
In June 2003, Tom Kilcer and his New York Extension Service colleagues tested their wide swath hay-in-a-day concept by putting it to a test in a soggy alfalfa field after an overnight shower dropped 0.033 inches of rain and left the meadow soaked with free-standing water.
Read More

Valley Truck & Tractor: Planning Service Operations for the Long Term

By Dave Kanicki posted on July 15, 2017 | Posted in Best Practices, Used Equipment Remarketing, Operations & Finance, Department Management
In 2016, Valley Truck & Tractor achieved a parts and service absorption rate of 106%. According to the Western Equipment Dealers Assn.’s (WEDA) 2016 Cost of Doing Business study, the farm equipment industry average absorption rate was 64%, with an industry benchmark target of 80%-plus.
Read More
069_DOY_Ellens-Equipment_LH_0617.png

Dealership of the Year 2017: Ellens Equipment, McBain, Mich.

By Kim Schmidt posted on July 15, 2017 | Posted in Best Practices, Operations & Finance, Department Management
What do you get when the son of the local New Holland dealer marries the daughter of the local Case IH dealer? While this sounds like the start to a bad joke, it’s actually the foundation of the Ellens Equipment ownership team, a couple who knows a thing or two about running a successful dealership and who treats the business like another one of their children (including knowing when it’s time to let them spread their wings).
Read More

13th Annual Awards Program Recognizes Industry’s Top Dealers

Valley Truck & Tractor & Ellens Equipment earned the industry’s top honors as Farm Equipment’s 2017 Dealership of the Year.
By Farm Equipment Staff Report posted on July 15, 2017 | Posted in Best Practices
Now in its fourth year, the downturn in the ag economy has presented farm equipment dealers with numerous challenges. But, the best of the best have risen to the occasion and found ways to face those challenges head on.
Read More
Lessiter

To The Point: Make Room for Creative Destruction

By Mike Lessiter posted on July 15, 2017 | Posted in Best Practices, Manufacturer & Dealer Issues, Manufacturer News
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.
Read More

Top Articles

Current Issue

FE_June_2026_BookWithPages_Curl_art.png

Farm Equipment

Farm Equipment's 100TM
100 North America's Largest Ag Equipment Dealers

View More

Must Read Free Eguides

Download these helpful knowledge building tools

View More

Farm Equipment Videos

View More
Top Directory Listings
A&I-Consumer-Large.png

A&I Products

Since 1980, A&I Products has become a leading manufacturer and wholesale distributor of aftermarket replacement parts for the agricultural, turf, and industrial equipment markets. A&I Products' experience and expertise has greatly contributed to the company's reputation as a top supplier of quality, reasonably priced parts. Founded with roots as a small machine shop and repair facility, the company made the transition by manufacturing new parts to replace those that were identified as commonly needing repair. Throughout the 1980s, the company quickly garnered a reputation for offering quality parts at a reasonable price.

Yetter farm equipment since1930 01

Yetter Farm Equipment

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.
Machinery Scope

Machinery Scope

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.
View More