We launched the “Lessiter Media Depth Chart” at a quarterly employee meeting last year. Put simply, it’s a place to seed the names of individuals who our employees see as sharing our core values and could one day be candidates for job openings. The intent is to identify and document potential talent — and assign someone to get to know them — BEFORE we have the need.

My outlook for the 2018 used equipment market is going to be the same as 2017 to slightly better. I think good quality used equipment will sell and condition and hours will be the main seller of this equipment. The 1-5 year old stuff will be the sweet spot.

Have you ever noticed how employees, for better or worse, tend to take on the characteristics and habits of their bosses? If the boss treats them like idiots, they tend to do the same with the people that report to them. Or worse yet, that attitude carries over to the customer.

The risk of every dealership is in used equipment. So much of a dealership’s profitability is directly tied to its ability to generate cash by selling its used inventory.

NRCS studies show the number of producers using cover crops in several Corn Belt states has doubled over the past 5 years.

In January, we tend to look forward to the New Year and think of what we want to accomplish.

When it comes to the new technology that’s reshaping the farm equipment business, dealers can’t afford to ignore the changes. We can disagree, we can dislike and, maybe we can delay the impact of these changes. But we can’t deny that big changes are underway.

It was only a few months after I joined Farm Equipment magazine that Mike Lessiter gave me an assignment to visit a dealership that was doing some interesting things in Fargo, N.D. The article that resulted appeared in our Oct./Nov. 2005 issue. It was entitled, “Is Titan Machinery Reshaping the Future of Ag Dealerships?”

Looking back, 2017 will most likely be viewed as the turning point in agricultural equipment sales for this cycle. While there will probably remain some weakness in the larger tractors and combines in 2018, there are definite signs of a bottom developing.

Used equipment inventory management is a phrase that can make even seasoned veterans in the equipment industry cringe. Why is that? All we need is the right equipment, at the right price, at the right place, at the right time. Nevertheless, much of the time inventory management remains one part art, two parts science and three parts aggravation!