Bob_Skurka
Super Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
- Messages
- 7,615
WARRENJ . . . not to pick apart your post to much, because that is not my intent, BUT . . . on a good day I can't even pretend to be a farmer or even a farmer wanna-be. When I pull in the dealer lot in a fancy european convertible and stride in wearing a fancy Swiss watch, I sure don't look like the typical tractor owner. All that said, I won't pay a big premium to buy a tractor from you and I will expect you to earn my business, regardless of what your labor costs, property taxes or other local issues are.
I purchased a NH almost 2 years ago. I priced other brands. I priced on the internet. I priced locally. I told my local dealer he was too high and I told him by how much. I had never set foot in his shop, I had never even met the guy. I did it on the phone. I told him what I wanted, I told him what I expected. I was not rude, but I was not going to give in either. My local dealer is in the shadow of Chicago, probably not much different than your proximity to NYC. Not only did my local dealer bring in a tractor for me to look at, he ordered it with no obligation for me to buy it, and he spec'd it to my wish list, and then he matched the lowest price I got.
Since I made that purchase I have purchased 3 other implements from this same dealer. In each case I called him and asked for a price. In the first case he was high, but came down. Not only did he come down, he ended up being the lowest price I found. Then he fitted it to a similar model NH on his lot to adjust everything. Then he delivered it to me (no delivery charge). On the next 2 purchases I called again. Right off the bat he was the low price, beating the big internet dealership by a wide margin, installing the implements (including the MMM), and picking up and deliverying my tractor (again free of charge).
I am NOT a big profit center for that dealership. But they treat me very very well. I am honest with them. They are a supurb dealership. But I would have purchased a different brand in a heartbeat if they didn't offer me a good price. And I do own a Kubota and a Ventrac and a Cub Cadet, and I have purchased 4 other Cub Cadets and given them as gifts. I've had a 11+ year relationship with the Kubota/Cub Cadet store that is only 5 miles away, and I continue to be on a first name basis with the owner . . . but when he was out of town and his sales rep wouldn't deal, that was when the door opened for N.H.
You see, I like local service, but I won't pay above market prices for it. My customers don't care if I have a fancy office or sit in an office with bare walls and use and upturned cardboard box for a desk . . . what they care about is that I give them LOW PRICES and GOOD SERVICE and if I don't do it, then I have competitors breathing down my neck that will do it! I practice what I preach in my own business. I expect nothing less from my tractor dealer.
And I honestly think that if dealerships today think they can charge more than their competition then I think they will have long term survival issues. Let's be real honest here folks. A bright blue N.H. tractor is not all that much different than a bright red Mahindra and that is not too much different than a shiny green John Deere when we are talking about mowing lawns, or scooping up piles of dirt on our little 2, and 5 and 10 acres patches of heaven. Maybe there is a big difference between the real farm tractors, but under 50hp, I think most of the quality machines are just about equal and Kioti & Mahindra are going to kick some NH/Case/Kubota/Deere butt if the dealerships don't realize that those other brands are making very good machines. And dealerships that try to push high prices JUST BECAUSE there are few local competitors, or JUST BECAUSE they are the only one of that brand in town, or JUST BECAUSE of 10 other reasons, better take a serious look at their business model and figure out how to make their profit by cutting non-essential costs while keeping their service high.
I purchased a NH almost 2 years ago. I priced other brands. I priced on the internet. I priced locally. I told my local dealer he was too high and I told him by how much. I had never set foot in his shop, I had never even met the guy. I did it on the phone. I told him what I wanted, I told him what I expected. I was not rude, but I was not going to give in either. My local dealer is in the shadow of Chicago, probably not much different than your proximity to NYC. Not only did my local dealer bring in a tractor for me to look at, he ordered it with no obligation for me to buy it, and he spec'd it to my wish list, and then he matched the lowest price I got.
Since I made that purchase I have purchased 3 other implements from this same dealer. In each case I called him and asked for a price. In the first case he was high, but came down. Not only did he come down, he ended up being the lowest price I found. Then he fitted it to a similar model NH on his lot to adjust everything. Then he delivered it to me (no delivery charge). On the next 2 purchases I called again. Right off the bat he was the low price, beating the big internet dealership by a wide margin, installing the implements (including the MMM), and picking up and deliverying my tractor (again free of charge).
I am NOT a big profit center for that dealership. But they treat me very very well. I am honest with them. They are a supurb dealership. But I would have purchased a different brand in a heartbeat if they didn't offer me a good price. And I do own a Kubota and a Ventrac and a Cub Cadet, and I have purchased 4 other Cub Cadets and given them as gifts. I've had a 11+ year relationship with the Kubota/Cub Cadet store that is only 5 miles away, and I continue to be on a first name basis with the owner . . . but when he was out of town and his sales rep wouldn't deal, that was when the door opened for N.H.
You see, I like local service, but I won't pay above market prices for it. My customers don't care if I have a fancy office or sit in an office with bare walls and use and upturned cardboard box for a desk . . . what they care about is that I give them LOW PRICES and GOOD SERVICE and if I don't do it, then I have competitors breathing down my neck that will do it! I practice what I preach in my own business. I expect nothing less from my tractor dealer.
And I honestly think that if dealerships today think they can charge more than their competition then I think they will have long term survival issues. Let's be real honest here folks. A bright blue N.H. tractor is not all that much different than a bright red Mahindra and that is not too much different than a shiny green John Deere when we are talking about mowing lawns, or scooping up piles of dirt on our little 2, and 5 and 10 acres patches of heaven. Maybe there is a big difference between the real farm tractors, but under 50hp, I think most of the quality machines are just about equal and Kioti & Mahindra are going to kick some NH/Case/Kubota/Deere butt if the dealerships don't realize that those other brands are making very good machines. And dealerships that try to push high prices JUST BECAUSE there are few local competitors, or JUST BECAUSE they are the only one of that brand in town, or JUST BECAUSE of 10 other reasons, better take a serious look at their business model and figure out how to make their profit by cutting non-essential costs while keeping their service high.
