Aligning With Customer Needs for a Competitive Edge in 2025

2/4/2025
The beginning of the year is a critical time for equipment dealerships. Planning inventory needs for the upcoming year, developing sales strategies, training and developing teams, evaluating market conditions and trends, and launching early-year marketing campaigns – these are just a few of the measures dealers take to ensure a productive and profitable year. 
But many dealers overlook the importance of reaching out to and meeting with their current customers early in the year to inquire about their needs for the upcoming months. Beyond helping you maintain a good relationship, meeting with your customers and asking them the right questions about their own equipment-related concerns can help your dealership when it comes to planning inventory and sales strategies for the upcoming year.
Here we’ll explore how meeting with customers can help you plan, as well as suggest some specific questions you should ask your customers to get the most out of your conversations. 
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Understand customer demand for specific equipment

Challenge: Accurately identifying in-demand equipment and aligning your inventory with this demand is an ongoing struggle, and stocking the wrong equipment can result in missed opportunities and increased carrying costs for less-popular equipment remaining on the lot. 
Asking your customers which equipment they are looking to buy or upgrade can be a straightforward way to gain direct insight into the larger equipment needs for the year within your AOR. By surveying a large enough customer base, you can identify patterns in demand for specific equipment types and models, improving your inventory management capability.
Questions to ask your customer:
  • What specific types or models of equipment do you plan to purchase or upgrade in the next quarter or year?
  • Are there any features or capabilities you are looking for?
  • Have your operational and technology needs changed since last year?
How customers benefit:
  • Gain assurance that you understand their needs and are prepared to meet them in the upcoming year.
  • Get a chance to provide input on inventory planning, which means the dealership will be more likely to stock the equipment they need.
  • Receive equipment and software recommendations that align with their goals, making your dealership their go-to option for expertise and equipment.
How dealers benefit:
  • Gauge customer interest in your dealership’s existing stock and identify opportunities to promote slower-moving items.
  • Understand customer needs so you can suggest specific equipment, features, and technology that your dealership provides.
  • Gather insights to adjust current inventory strategies based on anticipated customer purchases.
How dealership software can help:
Understanding your customers’ needs is just one piece of the puzzle. Having the right software tools at your fingertips helps put these insights into action. Tractor Zoom’s software solutions can help dealers understand buyer behavior – both at your dealership and in the wider market.  
  • Dealer CRM: Track customer preferences and purchase history within a centralized CRM to tailor inventory planning to customer demand. Apply customer insights to prioritize sales of specific stock units based on individual customer needs.
  • Equipment Market Trends: Create aggregate reports in your CRM and compare them side-by-side with equipment market trends to identify demand patterns in the wider market.

Align trade-in appraisal and sales goals with customer demand 

Challenge: Although equipment trade-ins occur throughout the year, early-year meetings can help dealers identify which current customers are likely to trade in equipment for upgrades during the year. Advance understanding of trade-in needs can give equipment managers time to get these units pre-sold before the dealership owns them and has to start paying interest. Targeting these current customers based on their interests also gives sales reps a boost on hitting their annual targets.
Questions to ask your customer:
  • What are the needs you anticipate this year within your farming operation and which upgraded equipment might help with those needs? 
  • Which equipment, if any, are you planning to trade in this year?
  • What would make the trade-in process easier or more enticing to you?
How customers benefit:
  • Gives them a clearer understanding of their trade-in options and current value with a tool like the Tractor Zoom Appraisal App.
  • Instills confidence in the dealership’s ability to provide accurate appraisals.
  • Provides them an opportunity to begin researching which equipment to purchase from your dealership after trade-in.
How dealers benefit:
  • Get a chance to discuss trade-in opportunities and collect initial details about the equipment customers are considering for trade.
  • Build trust by offering transparent trade-in processes during these conversations.
  • Know which specific equipment could be on the lot later in the year and prepare some strategies in advance to market and sell this equipment.
How dealership software solutions can help:
While spreadsheets and notebooks can be useful for jotting down details about customer equipment and preferences, dealers can eliminate errors and redundant inputs with platforms that centralize this data and make it more immediately useful when the time comes to move on a trade-in appraisal. 
  • Appraisal App: Streamline trade-in assessments with real-time market data, improving appraisal accuracy and speeding up the trade-in process. Because this app is available on mobile devices, you can get an instant view into what the customer can expect to get for their combine or sprayer, even while on a visit to their farm.
  • Inventory Manager: See your customer’s purchase history, current equipment, and service history at a glance, and share information about available equipment on the lot that your customer might be interested in. Use inventory searches to locate specific stock units and run automated inventory checks to notify you when matching inventory is found.

Be more proactive with lead gathering and nurturing deals

Challenge: As a dealer in a competitive market, expanding your customer base and staying top-of-mind with prospects is crucial. This means being aware of what your customers and prospects are looking for and meeting them where they are to identify chances for upselling, and even finding the occasional new leads from among your customer’s personal or professional network.
Questions to ask your customer:
  • What challenges are you facing that new equipment might solve?
  • Are you considering any specific equipment purchases in the near future?
  • Do you want to be contacted when we have this or similar equipment in stock?
  • Are there any financing options or trade-in programs that would make purchasing easier?
How customers benefit:
  • Receive proactive assistance in planning their equipment investments.
  • Gain access to solutions that address their challenges before they become urgent.
  • Be assured that they will be notified when equipment they are looking for is in stock.
How dealers benefit:
  • Identify upcoming equipment needs or future purchase plans, which can be logged in the customer profile in the CRM to follow up on later.
  • Capture equipment demand and address any gaps in inventory. 
  • Build stronger relationships with prospects through direct connections to increase future sales.
How dealership software solutions can help:
  • Marketing Requests: Efficiently track, manage, and fulfill customer equipment needs by matching demand with available and incoming inventory. This solution directly supports deal nurturing by turning customer conversations into actionable requests, as well as automating follow-ups and keeping your leads warm, leading to increased conversion rates.
  • Anvil Pro Messenger Feature: Meet your customers and prospects where they are by sending text messages directly from the Anvil Pro platform using a single dealership number – even from your personal mobile device. Because all conversations are saved directly to your customer’s profile within the CRM, you get a complete history of all interactions to more effectively nurture leads and follow up when preferred equipment is available. 
"Tractor Zoom turns Used Equipment Data into something that is quickly digestible getting me to decisions faster."  –Josh Martin, Atlantic Tractor

Dealer Steve and Farmer Dave: An early-year meeting scenario

Let’s look at an example of how a face-to-face meeting with a customer might play out, including what information the farmer might share and how the dealer can make these insights actionable to improve sales and operations at their dealership using dealership sales and operations software. 
Scenario: Steve, a John Deere dealer, schedules early-year meetings with key farming customers to discuss their operational plans for the upcoming year. One of his long-time customers, Dave, is a row-crop farmer in Illinois with 2,000 acres. He stops by the dealership in late January to discuss his equipment needs.
Conversation Insights:
  • Dave mentions that last year’s wet planting season delayed fieldwork, causing him to struggle with his Deere 1775NT planter due to slower planting speeds.
  • He’s looking to upgrade to a new high-speed planter to maximize efficiency and improve planting accuracy, specifically one with ExactEmerge technology.
  • However, Dave isn’t ready to buy just yet – he’s waiting to see how commodity prices trend and wants to evaluate potential trade-in options for his current planter.

What Dealer Steve gains and how Tractor Zoom’s solutions help

Here are just a few insights a dealer might gain after speaking with their customers and asking the questions covered above. Dealers can make these insights actionable by using the appropriate tools in Tractor Zoom’s solution suite.
1. More accurate demand forecasting for specific planter models
  • Steve recognizes that demand for high-speed planters with precision planting technology is rising due to unpredictable weather conditions.
  • Since Dave isn’t the only farmer experiencing planting delays, Steve notes a potential trend and considers increasing his dealership’s stock of John Deere ExactEmerge planters – specifically models like the 1795 planter, which comes equipped with ExactEmerge technology.
2. The ability to proactively source inventory & get an appraisal
  • To quickly check if a suitable John Deere 1795 planter is currently available, Steve uses Anvil Pro Inventory Manager, which gives him real-time visibility into inventory on the lot at his dealership.
  • Farmer Dave is curious about the current trade-in value for his 1775NT planter, so Steve uses the Appraisal App to give him an accurate valuation. For good measure, he also uses Tractor Zoom Pro’s Equipment Search function to show him how much it would likely fetch at auction if he wanted to take that route.  
3. Maintaining an open sales opportunity & nurturing the deal
  • Since Dave isn’t yet ready to buy, Steve logs his request in Anvil Pro Marketing Requests and sets up automated follow-ups to nurture the deal throughout the coming weeks and months.
  • Steve follows up with Dave through March, sending him direct text messages through Anvil Messenger and keeping him informed about:
    • Any available trade-in opportunities for his 1775NT.
    • Spring pre-order programs that could save him money on a new planter.
By meeting with Dave early in the year, Steve gains insight into demand trends for high-speed planters, allowing him to stock the right models, plan for trade-ins, and position his dealership as the go-to resource when Dave is ready to buy.
When Dave finally decides to move forward, the used equipment manager at Steve’s dealership uses the Anvil Pro Trade Assessments solution to link to JDQuote2 and quickly get an accurate appraisal for his 1775NT planter. Once Dave signs a purchase order for his new planter, then Steve uses Anvil Pro Order to Cash to streamline the PO and settlement process, eliminating manual inputs and logging all related requests (for parts, shipping, and more) directly from one shared platform. 
By anticipating Dave’s needs and having his order details prepared in advance, Steve gains an edge and strengthens a valuable customer relationship that will yield revenue benefits for his dealership well into the future.

How Tractor Zoom’s technology enhances your dealership

While dealers can take proactive steps to ensure they are understanding the needs of their customers, without the right technology and software, they lack the viability and efficiency to meet the demands of modern customers and succeed in a competitive landscape – especially during a slower equipment market. 
That’s where Tractor Zoom’s solutions can make the difference. By implementing a dealer intelligence platform like Anvil Pro, dealerships can integrate all their current systems in one place to enhance operational efficiency and maximize sales processes. When used together with an inventory and valuation platform like Tractor Zoom Pro, dealers can have comparables at their fingertips and achieve complete visibility over their own inventory.
To learn more about how Tractor Zoom’s platforms and solutions can be used to optimize and enhance every aspect of your dealership, book a demo with one of our reps today.

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