Compact Tractor Dealers Ignore Two-thirds of Their Potential Website Customers, Industry Survey Shows

[Rdrcr]

If all that was on their website they wouldn't have that problem If it works when selling custom configured $80,000 automobiles surely they can figure out how to do it for a tractor and a land plane.

Manufacturers can afford the software but, at the dealership level, live inventory software, is extremely expensive.

It would be great if all tractor dealers had live inventory, like automotive dealerships, but I can’t expect it from the tractor market.

Mike

 

[BigBlue1]

The other side of the coin is the shopper that emails or messages the dealer with this question. Can you send me the prices of all the tractors you have to offer in the 20 to 70 hp range with prices of all the options and also prices of all the implements available for the tractors. Thanks so much your future customer. You send a message back with your phone number and request they call you so you can discuss their needs and narrow the search down to something reasonable. No response from them except for the negative review they leave because no one responded to them.

And this scenario happens frequently?? Seems unlikely. Nobody I know operates that randomly. But maybe you have a different experience...

 

[airbiscuit]

Our Mom and Pop Kubota dealership had it's own web page software that was not flashy but decent. It gave pretty good info on new and used inventory. Then they went to Kubota Corporate software. Any guesses how it was different? Used inventory disappeared, and most of the links went directly to the corporate web page.

 

[Jstpssng]

The other side of the coin is the shopper that emails or messages the dealer with this question. Can you send me the prices of all the tractors you have to offer in the 20 to 70 hp range with prices of all the options and also prices of all the implements available for the tractors. Thanks so much your future customer. You send a message back with your phone number and request they call you so you can discuss their needs and narrow the search down to something reasonable. No response from them except for the negative review they leave because no one responded to them.

Most of my online shopping is at night. When I was tractor and truck shopping, I often would write specific questions about something I saw on my website. Yet it also wasn't uncommon to get a reply similar to what I highlighted in your comment above. Do they even read my email or is that a generic reply, like trying to get tech support from Dell?
By the time that I start talking to somebody about buying I'm relatively sure what I am looking for and don't need/want some salesman trying to tell me differently... all too often it's because he doesn't have what I want and is trying to push me into what is on the lot.
"I'm looking for a 3/4 ton, regular cab pickup with a standard shift" (Back when they really were available) He said "I have just what you're looking for", and took me out back to show me an extended cab Sierra 1500 with an automatic transmission.


Price is very important to me. I don't even like going into a convenience store and buying something if I don't know how much it's going to cost. When I was truck shopping back in 2015 I wrote a dealer asking about a Tacoma they had advertised. I got back the standard "Call and I can figure out what you are looking for", as well as several followup phone calls. I still occasionally get calls or emails from them... and am still waiting to hear the price of the truck I was asking about.

After I bought my used Kubota and got it home there were a few questions I should have asked. I wrote the salesman an email;

1) What if any service was done after it was taken in trade?
2)The block heater doesn't work. How easy is it to swap that out?

I had about 3 or 4 other questions which I probably should have asked before I bought it; but didn't think about them until after I started running the machine. I felt that na email was probably less intrusive than a phone call, and there was probably somebody more qualified than the sales man to answer some of them. In lieu of the answers I needed though, two weeks later I got a $50 gift card in the mail which I could redeem in person only. They are 200 miles away.

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

I have spent a year periodically going to a manufacturer's website and going through the "Build Your Own" process to see what features I could get and what it would cost me... and then actually pulled the trigger on the purchase. Not sure about all of you, but most of my machinery purchases are discretionary. If it is something I have to have right now, I rent it. That's much cheaper than making a quick purchase decision which I later regret. So, I don't have to have that new tractor or UTV or truck, I want it. So, for me, a major part of the process is getting the purchase exactly right for me. I'd rather have exactly what I want with all the options I want and none of the options I don't see any point paying for. Special ordering and paying retail up front is cheaper than settling for something and doing after market add-ons after being irritated long enough about something I wanted but didn't get.

It's been two years for me. A lot of people come on here everyday posting the same kind of threads over and over and over again asking the same kind of questions. "What is your opinion about X brand tractor versus X brand tractor" or "what do you think would work best for my property" or what's your opinion about such and such model tractor. They are all looking for a quick, easy way/short cut to figure out what to buy but there is none. They don't realize how much work and time it takes to learn about this stuff and you're not going to learn it overnight. I feel like telling them they need an education not someone's opinion.

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

Manufacturers can afford the software but, at the dealership level, live inventory software, is extremely expensive.

It would be great if all tractor dealers had live inventory, like automotive dealerships, but I can’t expect it from the tractor market.

Mike

Why can't they just use tractorhouse?

 

[dodge man]

People do come on here looking for opinions and yes they do tend to be the same thing repeating. I try and contribute and telling them to do a search isn’t always helpful. I think most people are smart enough to read the answers and learn from them.

As far as dealers getting what they perceive as stupid emails, isn’t it their job to answer stupid questions.

 

[houska]

An equipment dealer, especially for a newbie like me, is not a transactional sale. It is a relationship which will see me coming back for service, for advice, to buy attachments, etc.

If it is to be a relationship, we need to have a method of communication that works for us. I prefer email when possible, and that's not unreasonable in this day and age.

If the dealer isn't willing to acknowledge (within reason) how I prefer to communicate, why should I expect they will take the time to understand my needs? Now or later.

Of course, some people really aren't good with email and they may be great guys. If I have reason to believe that's the case, I'm happy to make an exception. But it is a bit of an imposition, so it needs to be something different than "we can't be bothered with email".

Finally, I expect the dealer's response to an unsolicited email probably reflects what they view as the chances of forming a relationship. So my emails when I was buying a tractor a few years ago gave a sentence of context, showing I was local and what type of land/needs I (thought I) had. Then questions which I think showed I was serious. I think there were 2 local dealers who never replied; I didn't follow up.

 

[IndyJay]

People do come on here looking for opinions and yes they do tend to be the same thing repeating. I try and contribute and telling them to do a search isn’t always helpful. I think most people are smart enough to read the answers and learn from them.

As far as dealers getting what they perceive as stupid emails, isn’t it their job to answer stupid questions.

I lurked for months before posting for the first time, successfully searching through threads to find answers. The threads here greatly influenced my approach for selecting my new tractor. When I couldn't find an answer regarding the injection pump on my MF1250, I posted and got the answers I needed almost immediately. This is a great forum. Some of the best answers to those repeat questions are those which someone already gave. Often multiple times.

 

[VoyagernOK]

Most of my online shopping is at night. When I was tractor and truck shopping, I often would write specific questions about something I saw on my website. Yet it also wasn't uncommon to get a reply similar to what I highlighted in your comment above. Do they even read my email or is that a generic reply, like trying to get tech support from Dell?
By the time that I start talking to somebody about buying I'm relatively sure what I am looking for and don't need/want some salesman trying to tell me differently... all too often it's because he doesn't have what I want and is trying to push me into what is on the lot.
"I'm looking for a 3/4 ton, regular cab pickup with a standard shift" (Back when they really were available) He said "I have just what you're looking for", and took me out back to show me an extended cab Sierra 1500 with an automatic transmission.


Price is very important to me. I don't even like going into a convenience store and buying something if I don't know how much it's going to cost. When I was truck shopping back in 2015 I wrote a dealer asking about a Tacoma they had advertised. I got back the standard "Call and I can figure out what you are looking for", as well as several followup phone calls. I still occasionally get calls or emails from them... and am still waiting to hear the price of the truck I was asking about.

After I bought my used Kubota and got it home there were a few questions I should have asked. I wrote the salesman an email;

1) What if any service was done after it was taken in trade?
2)The block heater doesn't work. How easy is it to swap that out?

I had about 3 or 4 other questions which I probably should have asked before I bought it; but didn't think about them until after I started running the machine. I felt that na email was probably less intrusive than a phone call, and there was probably somebody more qualified than the sales man to answer some of them. In lieu of the answers I needed though, two weeks later I got a $50 gift card in the mail which I could redeem in person only. They are 200 miles away.

Jstpssng, when I'm truck shopping in person, I won't even give them my name/number any longer. If they won't answer my questions directly, are invasive, or even ASSURE ME THEY WON'T BE CALLING, I know that won't be the dealer for me. When I was shopping for my current truck, I explained very carefully to a salesman at our Toyota Dealership what I wanted. When I had succumbed and given him my business card as he was going to call another dealer to see if they had it in stock, he did exactly what I specified I did NOT want done... put me in the database and his sales manager started calling me every day to try to get me to come back in to look at something different. I blocked their numbers and found a Ford that was exactly what I wanted.

My problem with tractor dealers has been different. Too many never call back. As Mahindra dealers have closed, it is now a 240 mile round trip to my dealer, but that dealer has been very responsive, ships stuff quickly, and receives large items (curved glass door that had been broken in a high wind) and lets me pick them up when freight is excessive. We have an excellent JD dealer, but one of his locations is 40 miles away and the other is 60 miles. I can't just take a half day off to drop in to ask a question that would take a few seconds via email. I do go over when I'm looking for odd items and they just let me poke around in their rows and piles of old stuff out back.

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

My problem with tractor dealers has been different. Too many never call back.

That's many peoples problem with this industry. Here is a video of a guy that used to work as a insider but retired and got out of the industry back in 2014. I know this guy personally and he is one of the best people you will ever meet or have the pleasure of doing business with but his empathy for the industry sales force and his expectation for consumers to accept this is absurd. And I don't think he is alone in this attitude. I think this industry as a whole holds the attitude that we are here to serve them not them here to serve us the consumers.

 

[ctgoldwing]

. . . I don't dissect insurance coverages as a rule. I just pay my premiums when due and as you are aware I'm sure. here in the rust belt state, no insurance means no driving a vehicle because you won't get your tags from the state.

Simply put, I'm not at all concerned about it.

Hello 5050,

I have had the same insurance company for more than 40 years. I knew the owner very well and always started any coverage questions with him. Nice guy. Very successful agency. I figured I knew my business and he knew his.
Then I had a car accident. Didn't seem like a big deal. Other party completely at fault (I was stopped at a stop sign). My arm just hurt a little.
Then it was a big deal. Mega $$$ in hospital bills and a serious injury. The other party had $100k coverage that their insurance company threw in right away. I had $500k in uninsured/underinsured coverage. When it came time to sit down with my insurance company I learned all about CONVERSION coverage - that I did not have:

This is from the state of CT's insurance website
Underinsured motorist conversion coverage also provides for reimbursement in case you are injured by an underinsured driver. If your damages exceed the at-fault driver’s insurance, or other payments, your underinsured motorist conversion coverage will be available for damages not paid. This optional coverage is not reduced by payments from any other source, including the at-fault driver’s liability insurance.

For example, if you have uninsured/underinsured coverage of $300,000 and you sustain $400,000 in personal injuries caused by an at-fault driver with $200,000 in bodily injury liability, without underinsured conversion coverage you would only be able to collect the $200,000 from the other driver’s insurance plus $100,000 from your own underinsured coverage, which equals your $300,000 limit minus the $200,000 collected from the other driver’s insurance. With conversion coverage, you could collect the full $200,000 from your own underinsured coverage.

I never blamed my agent. It's my own fault.
It's relatively cheap to add and when I asked by buddy the insurance guy why he hadn't included it he replied, "Only my clients that are attorneys ask for it". DUH! They understand.

 

[paulfun9]

I noticed a lot of folks complaining about not getting a response on e- mails and phone calls and often wonder how important they feel they are compared to the customer standing in someone’s shop with cash or checkbook in hand?

If you post an e- mail on a web site advertising your product you need to monitor and answer those e- mails.
If you advertise with a phone number you need to answer the phone and return calls.
If you accept texts to your phone you should answer those texts.

It’s just good buisness sense. If you don’t want to be bothered with e- mail or texts set your buisness up without them so they are not an option. Then if a customer decides that’s the only way they want to do buisness they can choose a different dealer and not complain you didn’t respond.

Myself the only thing I won’t respond to is text messages but I suggest that people learn to understand that I am not going to monitor my e- mail 24/7 and will take care of a customer on site before even entertaining looking at my e- mail and a phone call will also be handled before the e- mail as well.
What this means is sometimes your answer via e-mail will sometimes come a day or even two later than you think it should.

Want to complain, that’s fine suck it up buttercup think about how you would feel if you were at my shop in person and I left you standing there while I answered the phone and all those e- mails instead of helping you the one who showed up with checkbook in hand!

By the way if you take the time to write a hand written letter and mail it, you will be responded to with a hand written letter within 3 days no matter how busy I am, please allow time for delivery.

 

[jezreel]

It's been two years for me. A lot of people come on here everyday posting the same kind of threads over and over and over again asking the same kind of questions. "What is your opinion about X brand tractor versus X brand tractor" or "what do you think would work best for my property" or what's your opinion about such and such model tractor. They are all looking for a quick, easy way/short cut to figure out what to buy but there is none. They don't realize how much work and time it takes to learn about this stuff and you're not going to learn it overnight. I feel like telling them they need an education not someone's opinion.

Yeah, they’re are “opinions” on here, but there is a heck of a lot more anecdotal answers from “experience.” THAT is what I was looking for when I first started reading posts, and then asking questions to help figure out which machine was right for me, which insurance, which implement, how to approach problems on my property, etc. There is a wealth of knowledge on here that a guy like me (first tractor owner) took As An Education. As stated in many recent threads, you are most likely NOT gonna get that education from the salesman at the tractor dealer. Thanks to ALL who helped me in the beginning and are still helping me now. I continue to learn from y’all and enjoy hearing about everybody’s experiences.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I noticed a lot of folks complaining about not getting a response on e- mails and phone calls and often wonder how important they feel they are compared to the customer standing in someone’s shop with cash or checkbook in hand?

I don't know that most of us feel all that much more important than anyone else most especially a customer on the lot or at their desk but there are very few places that are that busy that if they advertised give us a call or shoot us an e-mail that couldn't respond in a timely manner within reason. When I start asking questions and inquiring about a product from a dealer it means that I am considering buying, I'm not bluffing, but no return phone call or e-mail or attempt to reach out to me guarantees that I won't be buying from them.

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

There is a wealth of knowledge on here that a guy like me (first tractor owner) took As An Education.

As did I along with other things. Truth be known, I made similar mistakes as the people I was referring to. It's natural to look for answers from "the guys that know" but you don't get educated that way. Then you become reliant on other peoples opinion and you never form your own because you never gain enough knowledge about a subject to do so.

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

I noticed a lot of folks complaining about not getting a response on e- mails and phone calls and often wonder how important they feel they are compared to the customer standing in someone’s shop with cash or checkbook in hand?

If you post an e- mail on a web site advertising your product you need to monitor and answer those e- mails.
If you advertise with a phone number you need to answer the phone and return calls.
If you accept texts to your phone you should answer those texts.

It’s just good buisness sense. If you don’t want to be bothered with e- mail or texts set your buisness up without them so they are not an option. Then if a customer decides that’s the only way they want to do buisness they can choose a different dealer and not complain you didn’t respond.

Myself the only thing I won’t respond to is text messages but I suggest that people learn to understand that I am not going to monitor my e- mail 24/7 and will take care of a customer on site before even entertaining looking at my e- mail and a phone call will also be handled before the e- mail as well.
What this means is sometimes your answer via e-mail will sometimes come a day or even two later than you think it should.

Want to complain, that’s fine suck it up buttercup think about how you would feel if you were at my shop in person and I left you standing there while I answered the phone and all those e- mails instead of helping you the one who showed up with checkbook in hand!

By the way if you take the time to write a hand written letter and mail it, you will be responded to with a hand written letter within 3 days no matter how busy I am, please allow time for delivery.

You make a lot of valid points but so does he

I don't know that most of us feel all that much more important than anyone else most especially a customer on the lot or at their desk but there are very few places that are that busy that if they advertised give us a call or shoot us an e-mail that couldn't respond in a timely manner within reason. When I start asking questions and inquiring about a product from a dealer it means that I am considering buying, I'm not bluffing, but no return phone call or e-mail or attempt to reach out to me guarantees that I won't be buying from them.

 

[JDZ735M]

@Lineman North Florida When I start asking questions and inquiring about a product from a dealer it means that I am considering buying, I'm not bluffing, but no return phone call or e-mail or attempt to reach out to me guarantees that I won't be buying from them.

You may not be "bluffing" but you also probably are not as ready to buy as the customer who took time to come into the store and speak to the owner in person. Or, that person who is there in person may be a customer who has experienced a problem and needs to get it resolved asap. I'm sure you would expect to be prioritized that way when you had a problem.

But, maybe not

 

[Lineman North Florida]

@Lineman North Florida When I start asking questions and inquiring about a product from a dealer it means that I am considering buying, I'm not bluffing, but no return phone call or e-mail or attempt to reach out to me guarantees that I won't be buying from them.

You may not be "bluffing" but you also probably are not as ready to buy as the customer who took time to come into the store and speak to the owner in person. Or, that person who is there in person may be a customer who has experienced a problem and needs to get it resolved asap. I'm sure you would expect to be prioritized that way when you had a problem.

But, maybe not

That is exactly why I said in my post that I didn't feel more important than anyone, especially a customer on the lot or at his desk, I fully expect him to prioritize him. Just remember tire kickers come in all shapes and sizes, not just people who call a dealer, some walk ins are just passer by's that see all that shiny new equipment and just can't resist, they have a dream, it really doesn't take that long to quote a price, dealers know what they need to make to be profitable.

 

[IndyJay]

I noticed a lot of folks complaining about not getting a response on e- mails and phone calls and often wonder how important they feel they are compared to the customer standing in someone’s shop with cash or checkbook in hand?
<snip>

On the flip side of that, nothing aggravates me more than to be standing in front of a salesperson talking with them and have them interrupt our conversation to answer the phone. Unless it is to ask the caller to please hold, I will most often turn and walk out the door.