Well, Roger...once again one of my hot buttons. I think at the most basic level a dealer is someone who can/does resolve most/all of their customers' tractor problems from their own business. That is not to say they cannot employ/utilize any number of other resources, including perhaps the "authorized" Yanmar guy who sells them parts, the rebuilder they use, the tire store they buy from, the fabricator they contract, etc. The seller tells the customer that someone else (frequently a specifically named dealer with a good reputation) can take care of their needs..or "you can get all your parts at Napa/JD/Herb's Corner Parts & Liquor stand." I realize there are exceptions, and I tend to paint with a broad brush. In my definition of these terms, the seller is the bane of our business. This person creates a false confidence that the customer can get easy/universal access to parts and service help, and uses that false confidence to sell a cheaper tractor (which is often a pig in a poke). Said customer then becomes very disenchanted when they discover that a dealer cannot survive providing free phone support on an ongoing basis...and from my experience that disenchantment gets taken out on the dealer, not the seller who set up the situation. We are by no means the biggest in this business...so imagine what others get when we are getting app. 2 dozen calls and three times that in emails each week from people wanting to know where they can get a head for their "oh, I'm not sure of the model, but it's made in Japan" or a "thing, you know, the thing by the engine" for a "well, the guy said it was, ummm, I'm not sure. But you sell Japanese stuff, don't you?.
So I see volume as only a minor part of the definition. I see the level of repsonsibility accepted as a major part. Don't whine (those who might be so inclined) about everybody having to start small. Guess what? We did too. Get over it. Yeah, there were times when we worked for nothing, fixing something we felt accountable to fix, or when profit in a unit got eaten up by something we had to do. And as we grew (in size, resources, RESOURCEFULNESS, and efficiency) these things cost us less and less. I see far too much tendency to tell folks they can find it on the web, or, Sin of dealer sins in my book, "dealers" posting questions. Good grief, give your customers a little reason to have confidence in you. Develope some resources. Don't expect to pick up the phone and have some established dealer blithely give you all the trade information he's spent years and $$$ gathering. If you're not importing, your seller should be able to provide darn near all the information you will need. If you are importing and are lacking significant info necessary to completely handle problems...you probably shouldn't be importing. The summer before we started our business, we visited the four largest importers east of the Mississippi. Drove there, hung around the yards/shops(no one kicked us out) and soaked up information. Bought the beer, took a few guys out for burgers. Stayed out of the way, said "thank you" a lot. Paid the dues. (No, they were NOT close. I used much of my vacation and drove over 3000 miles doing this)
Unless you already have a background with resources in this area, don't expect to become a dealer without investing a lot of time and effort regardless of how much money you have. And if you don't do the above, don't expect some of us to ever call you anything other than a seller. And for goodness sake, act like you know what you're doing. It's fine for another dealer to know you're an ignoramus (and mechanically I am one...that's why I pay good people to do that work), but not the customer base.
