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From the Field


Sell to the Owner I


dentify the decision maker. That’s a basic sales principle. At your dealer- ship, the decision maker may or may not be the ones driving that tractor or zero- turn mower, but they are the ones that tip the scale from a shopping experience to a purchasing experience.


I wanted to offer another way to look at the decision maker, or the person who influences that decision maker. Recently, I was test driving a compact tractor. I was already impressed with the equipment’s versatil- ity. I had been bombard- ed with specifications and was a little wary of the price. During the demo, I scraped the loader bucket on the asphalt lot — and cringed because the


equipment was brand new. With these six words, “You’re not going to hurt anything,” the salesperson changed the dynamic of the demo experience.


At that moment, that salesperson made me feel like an owner, not a shop- per. It wasn’t about the specs, controls or options. It was about how I was going to make that equipment work on our prop- erty. I would be scraping the bucket. That shiny paint would be speckled with mud. His friendly, informal response helped me envision how that tractor would help us accomplish our improvement projects this spring.


I encourage you to try a similar sales strategy and treat your customers like they own the machines they’re walking around and see if it changes how they respond.


Go & Find Them


Dealers shared this statistic in our 2013 Dealer Business Trends & Outlook Survey: More than 56% of dealers say rural lifestyle customer numbers have increased in the last five years and 11% define that growth as 20% or more. If those numbers hold true in your area, are you seeing 20% more rural lifestylers in your dealership? If not, maybe


225 Regency Court, Suite 100 P.O. Box 624 Brookfield, WI 53008-0624


Phone: 262/782-4480 • Fax: 262/782-1252


it’s time to go out and find them. When your outside salespeople are making stops with production farmers or commercial users, have them also stop by when they see a rural lifestyler. They won’t be interested in a sales call if they’re working, but a friendly hello or a compliment on their property can start a relationship. Make it quick and be sure to share a promotion, even if it’s just a parts special. Plant the seed for new equipment purchases by offering a demo.


Investigate Adjacent Markets Manufacturers have been busy this year expanding their market reach, with the lat- est being Polaris and its new commercial vehicle, Brutus. This is the first commer- cial vehicle and the first side-by-side utility vehicle to deliver front-end power take-off capability for a variety of property and facility maintenance duties.


Take this cue and stretch beyond your current markets. Research opportuni- ties for selling to facility managers, for instance. It may not be feasible for you to add a new line, but you may already sell some equipment they need. Regardless of whether you’re selling to commercial users or rural lifestylers, take advantage of the optimism spring brings. Project lists are long and your equipment can get the job done. Let’s get to work.


New Digital Edition All of us at Rural Lifestyle Dealer are pleased to announce the new digital com- plement to our magazine. This digital ver- sion lets us share even more information and photos. It’s an interactive approach to providing you with the success strategies you need today and tomorrow. Go to www. rurallifestyledealer.com to check it out. And, as always, contact me any time with ideas and suggestions or comments about how we’re doing. We work for you. RLD


Lynn Marcinkowski Woolf, Managing Editor lwoolf@lesspub.com


6 RURAL LIFESTYLE DEALER  SPRING 2013


FOR CHANGE OF ADDRESS CALL: 262/432-0388 • Fax: 262/786-5564 PUBLISHER


Michael Ellis (ext. 432) mellis@lesspub.com


PRESIDENT


Mike Lessiter (ext. 403) mlessiter@lesspub.com


EXECUTIVE EDITOR Dave Kanicki (ext. 414) dkanicki@lesspub.com


MANAGING EDITOR Lynn Marcinkowski Woolf


(316/648-3717)) lwoolf@lesspub.com


ASSOCIATE EDITORS Kim Schmidt (ext. 431) kschmidt@lesspub.com


Darrell Bruggink (ext. 420) dbruggink@lesspub.com


John Dobberstein (ext. 425) jdobberstein@lesspub.com


WEB EDITOR


Cole Vandermause (ext. 440) cvandermause@lesspub.com


SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Alan Stenum (ext. 426) astenum@lesspub.com


SENIOR MANAGER OF DATA AND ADVERTISING SERVICES Bree Greenawalt (ext. 408) breeg@lesspub.com


MARKETING SPECIALIST Joanne Jones (ext. 442) jjones@lesspub.com


AD SERVICES MANAGER Lynn Boesen-Burnside (ext. 430) lburnside@lesspub.com


CONFERENCE MANAGER Alice Musser (ext. 413) mussera@lesspub.com


ART DIRECTOR


Christopher Nielsen (ext. 418) nielsen@lesspub.com


SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Jeff Lazewski (ext. 423) jlazewski@lesspub.com


Greg Miller (ext. 428) gmiller@lesspub.com


Trish Holzhauer (ext. 417) tholzhauer@lesspub.com


PRODUCTION MANAGER Amy Johnson (ext. 409) ajohnson@lesspub.com


VICE PRESIDENT OF


AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Patrick Sharpe (ext. 405) psharpe@lesspub.com


E-MEDIA DIRECTOR Jeremy McGovern (ext. 434) jmcgovern @lesspub.com


CIRCULATION MANAGER Sue Ramstack (ext. 407) sramstack@lesspub.com


CHAIRMAN &


EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Frank Lessiter (ext. 402) lessitef@lesspub.com


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