When I’m looking at the behavior of consumers searching for new small ag or lawn & turf equipment, one thing is resounding: WIFM.

Nearly 30 years in business media have taught me that when you get stuck on a topic and/or don’t know the right questions to ask, just get it out there ... Subscribers will tell you the questions to ask (and of whom). You’ll also receive the occasional comment about whether the columnist has made a sudden change in medication (you know who you are).

It’s time to find those farmers who are ordering parts on Amazon and fixing their equipment themselves.

For 13 years, I have worked in the ag equipment business. Along the way, I have had many mentors and trustworthy people teach me everything I know. One reoccurring theme has been differing opinions between the auction market and the retail market.

We heard from an old friend, and now an ex-equipment dealer, last week. He said he’s thrown in the towel, sold his single-store John Deere dealership and is now looking at other possibilities for what to do with the rest of his working career.

To say this has been a challenging year would be a gross understatement. In areas of the Corn Belt, the growing season was cursed with too much rain and now not enough.

Change isn’t always easy, but it also doesn’t have to be hard. How challenging change is on a team, to some extent, depends on how it is introduced and integrated.

Most employees don’t trust their leaders – according to a recent article from Forbes, the number is 63%! Given that trust between leadership and employee is failing, is it safe to say that many are searching for the secret recipe to make a strong leader?

The year 2019 has been an interesting one. Research in the evaluation and consideration phases of the customer journey continues to grow for the small ag industry. We see that in our data we collect on these very niche people with Doppio.

We all know that marketing can only go so far. Marketing is a tool to bring you leads and foot traffic. But, marketing alone cannot close a sale. That is why you spend so much money on experienced sales staff with connections in the marketplace.