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Reduce ‘Clicks’ to Make Online Shopping Easier


Heritage Tractor’s website had the elements of a good website: appeal- ing design, product listings and pho- tos, location and contact informa- tion, promotions and updated con- tent. There was one problem, though. Customers had to “click” too many times to get to the exact information they wanted — and many were giving up and leaving the site. In online mar- keting terms, that’s referred to as “bounce rate.” “We looked at how long customers


This will be the fi rst season for selling the new QuikTrak stand-on mower. Heritage Tractor expects it to help increase its commercial business.


continued from pg 38


little activity. We were aggressive in our ordering, so we have had to carry over a lot of equipment.”


Tracking Progress The strategic plan that Fraser devel- oped at year-end is now measuring how the teams are achieving set goals. The location managers presented goals to each store earlier this year and results are being measured monthly. “We are taking the


silos out of the busi- ness. We want every- body to understand what we are all try- ing to do and how it relates to our touch points with custom- ers,” Fraser says. “We want everyone to


Hallmark’s vice president of sales for 30 years. Now, Fraser is retiring and Heritage Tractor is searching for someone else to step in. He says it was never his plan to have a second career at the dealership, but to lead it in a new direction.


“The dealer of tomorrow will bring valued- added services to customers that are beyond steel …”


know how sales, parts and service are interconnected.


“When the plan is working in all the areas, we have an outstanding chance of making our goals come alive,” Fraser says.


Build Leaders From Within Fraser has led the company’s stra- tegic planning since he joined the company three years ago. He had been


“I accomplished what I wanted to do. I came on board to add expertise. We will continue to evolve like that.” Fraser says one thing the company won’t do is hire a replacement just to fi ll a void. He says his management duties will be assumed by others on the team until the dealership can fi nd the right per- son. Promoting from within the dealership is one possibility. That philosophy


has brought about another transition. Derick McGhee is moving on from his role as marketing manager to the new role of integrated solutions manager. “John Deere has identifi ed a need in the dealer channel to address the solu- tions side of the business,” McGhee says. “It’s part of the vision for the long term to address how are we solving customers’ problems and ensuring that continued on pg 46


42 RURAL LIFESTYLE DEALER  SPRING 2013


were staying on the site, where they were exiting and how many ‘clicks’ to get to where they wanted to be. When they wanted to shop for a lawn mower, it was taking 10 clicks to fi nd a used mower,” says David Stockwood, the new marketing manager.


“Our old site was visually good, but


we are always looking for new ways to improve ourselves. We wanted to make it easier for our customers to fi nd equip- ment and to make it a more enjoyable experience to be on our site.” Late last year, the Heritage team began working with Dealer Spike, a dig- ital advertising and web solutions com- pany. Dealer Spike works with dealers in the agricultural, auto, power sports and recreational vehicle industries. Stockwood says Heritage talked


through what they wanted its site to do and Dealer Spike offered ideas based on other sites it had designed. The two companies collaborated through phone calls, emails and through online screen sharing. Some of the work was more tedious, such as verifying every model listed. “We took a lot of ideas from the old site and combined them with new ways for customers to navigate” he says. A major change on the new site is tabs for “pre-owned inventory” and “new model showroom.”


“Whatever we did, we needed to


make sure those were front and cen- ter,” Stockwood says. They reorganized information


to reduce layers and added a tab for precision agriculture. They also adjusted how the front page displays. Now, all of the dealership’s equip- ment lines are visible on the front page. A scrolling slide show of imag- es helps the dealership showcase equipment and specials. Stockwood says they are now eval- uating how customers are using the site. “Every day our stats look bet- ter,” he says.


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