It could be said that the service department is the lifeblood of the dealership. Yet, the service department often presents the most challenges for dealers.

“We sell tractors. We fix them. We collect the money.”
This was the insight I received from a seasoned iron peddler upon my first visit to an equipment dealership more than 20 years ago. Simple and action-oriented, his statement summed up the fundamentals of equipment distribution.

Chris Werner views how the BCP Equipment Dealership Network, which includes BCP Equipment, Sunset Kubota, Valley Kubota and Cache Equipment, operates as an upside-down triangle.

Rapid changes create both risk and opportunity. Your dealership is impacted by big changes in technology, the workforce and higher expectations of your customers, employees and suppliers.

If he could find them, Dave McCarthy, Titan Machinery’s southwest regional manager, could easily hire as many as 40 experienced service technicians for the 16 stores he oversees.

A key step to tackling the technician shortage starts with convincing high school kids that their post-secondary education does not need to be at a 4-year institution for them to be successful and make good money.  

The shortage of service technicians isn’t a new problem facing the farm equipment industry — but it is a growing concern and a challenge that is getting harder to overcome.

As most of you know, our company also publishes No-Till Farmer (NTF), now in its 50th year (my dad, Frank, has personally edited each edition since 1972). With NTF’s half-century milestone and the 60th anniversary of the first commercial no-till plots in Kentucky in 2022, we’ve been preparing a museum display to bring to Louisville for the 30th National No-Tillage Conference (NNTC) in January.