October/November 2018

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

To The Point

Boots & Spades Needed, Not Gigabytes

By Mike Lessiter posted on October 9, 2018 | Posted in Manufacturer & Dealer Issues, Precision Ag Sales & Service

This summer, my dad (Frank), Darren Foster and I tagged along with the first group of VIP dealers and customers that converged on Downs, Ill., for a look at Horsch’s brand new Ag Vision Farm, which was purchased earlier this year from Beck’s Hybrids.
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2019 Dealer Business Outlook & Trends for Farm Equipment

Improved 2018 Sales Sets the Tone for 2019 Outlook

As more ‘normal’ conditions settle in, dealers look for more of the same in the year ahead, which isn’t all bad.

By Dave Kanicki and Alex Zank posted on September 27, 2018 | Posted in Data & Forecasts

After several difficult years, it looks as if U.S. and Canadian farm equipment dealers are back on firm footing. With that said, probably the best thing the industry can do moving forward is to not compare current conditions to the boom years of 2008-14, which were not typical, and acknowledge that the ag equipment business is actually returning to a more normal state.
Read More

Is it Time to Grow Your Sales Team?

Consider these 10 factors when deciding if its time for your dealership to expand its salesforce.

By Dave Gross posted on September 13, 2018 | Posted in Best Practices, Department Management

Are you missing out on possible sales? It looks like the demand for farm equipment is growing again. It’s time to capitalize on this and grow your business with a solid sales plan in place.
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Special Report: The Marketing Issue

By Farm Equipment Staff posted on October 2, 2018

As farming, the farm equipment business and consumers in general have changed and become more sophisticated, the old ways of attracting customers don’t cut it anymore.
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Titan Machinery’s Jeff Bowman: 7 Key Changes to Transform Dealership Marketing

Marketing Executive Jeff Bowman of Titan Machinery explains his vision on the things that must change to drive dramatic improvement in dealership performance in the ag equipment industry.

By Jeff Bowman posted on September 21, 2018 | Posted in Department Management, Dealership Marketing

Marketing Executive Jeff Bowman of Titan Machinery explains his vision on the things that must change to get farm equipment dealerships where they need to be.
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The Importance of Improving Your Marketing ROI & How to Do It

Making a few small changes to your marketing strategy have big results for your dealership and the ROI of your marketing department.

By Tyler Musson posted on September 25, 2018 | Posted in Dealership Marketing

Proving your marketing ROI, why is it important? For me, I think we’re still fighting for relevance in the industry. Budgets are smaller than we’re used to in other industries. The ability to prove your return on investment on what your ownership is giving you to grow the business is key to growing your marketing department, growing relevance in the industry and growing your budget over time.
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Target Customer Interactions Using Content Marketing

Creating and repurposing content is the first step to moving leads through your dealership’s marketing funnel.

September 26, 2018 | Posted in Best Practices, Dealership Marketing

As the world around us has become more digital, the way your farm customers seek out information and even interact with each other has changed. They too have become more digital. Farmers aren’t necessarily making their daily trip to the coffee shop to visit with each other anymore.
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How YouTube Fits in the Marketing Mix & Making It More Effective

Follow these guidelines to ensure your video marketing strategy attracts viewers — and Google — and provides your customers with the information they need.

By Mike Wiles posted on September 15, 2018 | Posted in Best Practices, Dealership Marketing

Follow these guidelines to ensure your video marketing strategy attracts viewers — and Google — and provides your customers with the information they need.
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Getting Results with Do-It-Yourself Marketing

3 dealers share why they are bypassing marketing agencies and doing their own Facebook, Google ads and social media campaigns.

By Lynn Marcinkowski Woolf posted on September 14, 2018 | Posted in Best Practices, Dealership Marketing

Ditch the agency, do your own marketing campaigns, save money and get better results. You just need to get started. That’s the message from three dealers, Lee Parish, Ben Garton and Doug Vahrenberg, who shared do-it-yourself marketing strategies at Farm Equipment’s 2018 Dealership Minds Summit.
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Leveraging CRM for Farm Equipment Leads and Sales

Online lead generation centers on segmentation, but the key to closing those same inquiring customers comes through consolidation.

By James DeGraff posted on September 24, 2018 | Posted in Best Practices, Data & Forecasts, Dealership Marketing

In the instantaneous industry of equipment sales, the mindset of “I’ll just respond to that tractor inquiry after lunch” lies in the same outdated realm as phonebooks and Blockbuster video stores. Yet with so many online inventories, websites and campaigns to keep track of, dealers are often left chasing their tails on how to reel in — and retain — online leads.
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How to Effectively Use Digital Marketing for Ag Equipment Dealers

Eric Shanfelt, founder of the Local Marketing Institute, breaks down the basics of digital marketing and how — and why — farm equipment dealers should implement a digital marketing strategy.

By Sierra Wolff posted on September 24, 2018 | Posted in Best Practices, Dealership Marketing

Eric Shanfelt, founder of the Local Marketing Institute, breaks down the basics of digital marketing and how — and why — farm equipment dealers should implement a digital marketing strategy.
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Good Data Takes Digital Marketing Further for Farm Equipment Dealerships

Dealerships need to be strategic with their marketing plan – sending the right message to the right people at the right time – knowing your data drives that process

By Jen Bradley posted on September 14, 2018 | Posted in Dealership Marketing

“Data is the currency of the internet,” says Tim Whitley, CEO of Team SI, a full-service marketing firm headquartered in Little Rock, Ark. “The smartphone to the person right or left of you is being served different ads all the time. No person’s ads are identical to their neighbor’s and data is leading that charge.”
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Farm Equipment Editors Share ‘Biggest Newsmakers’ from Farm Progress Show

From the slow-release strategy of a new combine, to another competitor entering the vertical tillage market, Farm Equipment recaps the best from Boone, Iowa.

August 29, 2018 | Posted in Precision Ag Sales & Service, Dealer News, Manufacturer News

From the slow-release strategy of a new combine, to another competitor entering the vertical tillage market, Farm Equipment recaps the best from Boone, Iowa.
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Ahead of the Curve

Big Name Industries Helping Biomethane and RNG Become Mainstream

By Dan Crummett posted on September 12, 2018

Biomethane is methodically finding its way into mainstream fuel supplies as tech giants and others invest to claim “carbon neutrality” in their supply chain.
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People & Profits: Manage Your Employees Like a Successful Sports General Manager Leads His Team

By George Russell and Daniel Surprenant posted on September 12, 2018 | Posted in Best Practices, Department Management

I challenged readers of this column to “Make 2018 the Year of Human Capital Investment.” Training is likely a key part of your human capital investment. Below is a professional perspective on how to make training work and how to make it pay from one of my Machinery Advisors Consortium colleagues, Daniel Surprenant. — George Russell
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Ask the Expert: Can the Secondary Equipment Market Keep Up with the Rising Price of Equipment?

By Casey Seymour posted on September 13, 2018 | Posted in Used Equipment Remarketing

I was curious to see what the price increase has been for combines over the past 3 model changes. I looked through the business system, locating customers who have rolled combines every year, trying to see how pricing has evolved over the last decade. What I found was not all that shocking, but at the same time I have to wonder how long trading the volume of equipment with high used pricing can be sustained. This is not to say a 2018 combine and 2008 combine are the same. The amount of technology and overall improvements in the past 10 years are tremendously vast. So, this goes without saying, R&D cost will be recaptured but with this comes a challenge of its own. When a manufacturer has a price increase, it does affect the used market but not the entire price increase. In the the last 5 years, the rate of price increase recapture has been less than the previous 5 years.
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Featured Articles

Featured Articles

2019 Dealer Business Outlook & Trends for Farm Equipment

Improved 2018 Sales Sets the Tone for 2019 Outlook

As more ‘normal’ conditions settle in, dealers look for more of the same in the year ahead, which isn’t all bad.

By Dave Kanicki and Alex Zank posted on September 27, 2018 | Posted in Data & Forecasts

After several difficult years, it looks as if U.S. and Canadian farm equipment dealers are back on firm footing. With that said, probably the best thing the industry can do moving forward is to not compare current conditions to the boom years of 2008-14, which were not typical, and acknowledge that the ag equipment business is actually returning to a more normal state.
Read More

Is it Time to Grow Your Sales Team?

Consider these 10 factors when deciding if its time for your dealership to expand its salesforce.

By Dave Gross posted on September 13, 2018 | Posted in Best Practices, Department Management

Are you missing out on possible sales? It looks like the demand for farm equipment is growing again. It’s time to capitalize on this and grow your business with a solid sales plan in place.
Read More

Special Report: The Marketing Issue

By Farm Equipment Staff posted on October 2, 2018

As farming, the farm equipment business and consumers in general have changed and become more sophisticated, the old ways of attracting customers don’t cut it anymore.
Read More