Interconnected tire sensors and on-board artificial intelligence processors promise on-the-fly changes to tire pressure and tread conformation depending upon soil and traction conditions.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast” — a quote attributed to management guru Peter Drucker defines the core idea of this spoke. The best plans fail without a strong culture to support them. On the flip side a strong culture means your dealership is more likely to overcome setbacks and changes even without a strong strategy.

To say we’re in the midst of a challenging time would be an understatement. Among all the news in the last week about closings, there was a spot of bright news.

There are things within our control in this business (effort, commitment and focus to name a few), and many things that are not. If we’ve needed any reminders, we’ve found them recently: trade wars, Covid-19 pandemic, and falling stock and commodity prices, including two trade halts. And then there’s the familiar yet always unpredictable face of Mother Nature.

The run-up to the 2014 auction season was one of disbelief and dismay. The amount of used equipment on the market was no joke, and it was getting worse every day.

Machine vision and artificial intelligence are developing hand-in-hand with efforts to reduce weed pressure by forcing weeds into patches of concentration where they are more likely to be controlled.

Used equipment is a regular topic of conversation among dealers, but as our team has been planning the program for the 2020 Dealership Minds Summit on Profit-Turning Trades, it’s taken a front seat as I talk with dealers about what their challenges are.

So, we’ve heard a lot from USDA about commodity prices and projected planted acres for 2020, but little or nothing about capital expenditure expectations. It exists but doesn’t capture much attention from much of the ag industry. I suppose this is because most farm spending is dependent on commodity prices.

Absorption is simple to calculate, but to understand its “Good to Great” power in a dealership is complicated.

Used equipment is a regular topic of conversation among dealers, but as our team has been planning the program for the 2020 Dealership Minds Summit on Profit-Turning Trades, it’s taken a front seat as I talk with dealers about what their challenges are.