When looking back on the last half-century, here are a few moments that forever changed the way dealers like us do business. 

• Selling that first piece of equipment online. 
• Getting that big black plastic suitcase from John Deere with a sticker on it that said “Greenstar.” As a teenager, I remember seeing it up against the wall in the shop with dust all over it. Curious, I asked “what is that?” My uncle, Roy, the sales manager and part owner at the time, said “Don’t waste your time with that, we will never sell one of those around here.” I didn’t listen…
• The death of microfiche and card filing for parts inventory. Had the computer not provided parts lookup and inventory management, I never would have found an interest in parts. Today, parts are one of my biggest passions.

One of the most significant differences in today’s world is the access to capital. Would so many dealerships have failed in the 1980s had there been more banks willing to take the added risk? Look at access to private equity today vs. back then. Or further down the spectrum, crowdsourcing. 

Farm Equipment magazine has impacted our business and helped get buy-in from the staff. Sometimes hearing it from me doesn’t set in right away. Being able to reference an article or what I learned from a Dealer Summit has helped the staff better understand the what, why and how.