Summary
Utilizing
Tractor Zoom Pro Appraisals, Ziegler Ag Equipment streamlined its equipment cataloging, evaluation, and appraisal process resulting in efficiency gains that allow them to scale sales without adding headcount.
The Challenge
Growing market share without adding headcount
One of the primary goals for Ziegler Ag is to grow its existing market share by 20%. In order to influence new sales and deal turn without adding new sales personnel, the company needed the ability to free up time for its existing used equipment team to work through more deals, while also improving the experience for its customers to increase win rate over time.
“We reached out to Tractor Zoom to help us come up with a solution to increase our efficiency on our used equipment appraisal process and increase our accuracy on the data,” said Ben Freidhof, Used Acquisition & Remarketing Manager at Ziegler Ag. “We had a huge bottleneck in how long it took us to get that information into our system and get our salesmen back out selling.”
Expediting customer follow-up and deal turn
Multiple systems were used to collect, generate, and share evaluation and appraisal data between teams, which created multiple points of data entry for a single piece of equipment and negatively impacted the turnaround time for a completed appraisal.
Territory managers (TMs) were responsible for collecting equipment photos and specs and manually entering them into a spreadsheet for review
Used Equipment Managers (UEMs) were bogged down entering TM data into the business system and researching real-time equipment comps and values, which created a bottleneck for completed appraisals
“The evaluation process is really the first step of our sales process, and the longer that process takes, you start getting into timeliness issues and losing the fire of the sale, so to speak,” said Ben Freidhof, Used Acquisition & Remarketing Manager at Ziegler Ag.
Trust in equipment data for repricing
With multiple systems and spreadsheets at play across the dealership, and manual data entry into all, data continuity and integrity across systems was a concern.
Collecting equipment data without a standardized process generated duplicate appraisals, Makes, and model configurations within the Ziegler Ag business system
Missing equipment specs to complete an appraisal was only identified at the end of the process, which resulted in an evaluation needing to be sent back to a TM for further review and follow-up with the customer
Incomplete or incorrect evaluation data affected the UEMs ability to match it against the most comparable equipment sales, resulting in less accurate values
The Solution: Tractor Zoom Pro Appraisals
In cooperation with Ziegler Ag, Tractor Zoom developed Tractor Zoom Pro Appraisals – a 100% digital application that allows Ziegler Ag to comprehensively manage its equipment cataloging, evaluation, and appraisals process – all in a single platform.
Standardizing the process & data collection
Bringing the cataloging, evaluation, and appraisal process into Tractor Zoom Pro Appraisals allows Zielger Ag to move away from juggling multiple platforms or spreadsheets, while also standardizing what data is ingested to inform appraisal values.
A standardized Make/Model list ensures the Ziegler Ag team has a clean approach to its data ingestion, not duplicating data based on incorrect data entry or missing information. Additionally, Tractor Zoom Pro Appraisals intelligently provides relevant attributes based on the equipment category or subcategory, enabling Ziegler Ag TMs to focus on collecting only the specific information essential for obtaining the best market value for their customers.
100% digital workflow
The minute the shed door opens, Ziegler Ag TMs begin to catalog equipment with the Tractor Zoom Pro mobile app. High-resolution equipment photos and relevant specs are collected and synced to Tractor Zoom Pro Appraisals, where UEMs access for further evaluation and appraisal. Even in rural locations with unreliable internet, the app stores data locally on the mobile device to be synced when internet is available.
UEMs receive real-time notifications when an item is ready to be appraised, while TMs receive in-app or email notifications when an appraisal is complete and ready to be presented to the customer. These real-time notifications help prompt swift follow-up with customers and ultimately, improve win rates.
“I worked through an appraisal on a planter in five minutes through the app. This would have traditionally taken over an hour. I was able to spend more time with the customer who was also very impressed with how quickly I got it done and the technology we are using,” said one Ziegler Ag TM.
Data-driven pricing decisions
By automatically connecting to Ziegler Ag’s Tractor Zoom Pro Inventory data, its UEMs seamlessly pull up and access over $35B of used equipment values plus Ziegler Ag’s own sold history data.
It’s this integration, directly within the appraisal workflow, that enables the UEMs to make faster, more informed pricing decisions when it comes to trade-in values. Providing accurate market valuations in a timely manner helps instill confidence in Ziegler Ag’s customers.
The Results
Since implementing Tractor Zoom Pro Appraisals and the mobile app into its evaluation and appraisal process, Ziegler Ag has removed seven steps from its previous process, equating to a 60% increase in time saved evaluating and appraising equipment.
“We've seen some gains of multiple time frames, cutting some of our times down from hours to minutes. And so I think that's going to be the number one hit,” said Freidhof. “I think the number two is we're going to have a lot more accurate information, therefore we have a much better platform to sell off of.”
If Ziegler Ag completes an average of 2000 appraisals per year, the process improvement and time savings introduced by leveraging Tractor Zoom Pro Appraisals equates to an additional 1,200 appraisals that can be completed without adding any headcount.
While Tractor Zoom does not have information related to its sales, assuming Ziegler Ag averages $75,000 per sale and has a 30% win rate on these additional 1,200 completed appraisals, the 60% efficiency gain equates to an additional $27M in top-line revenue.
Gain efficiencies, scale operations, and increase win rates with Tractor Zoom Pro Appraisals.
If your dealership is looking to increase appraisal win rates and scale sales operations without expanding headcount, Tractor Zoom Pro Appraisals seamlessly integrates the power of Tractor Zoom Pro equipment data with streamlined evaluation workflows and automations to optimize the equipment appraisal process, boost efficiency, and fuel business growth.
Contact us today to learn more or schedule a demo today.
About Ziegler Ag Equipment
With 32 locations in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Missouri, Ziegler Ag Equipment is the largest AGCO dealer in North America. As a family-owned company with over 100 years of experience, Ziegler has the industry knowledge, infrastructure, and proven track record to help its customers grow and succeed. Ziegler Ag Equipment represents FENDT tractors and combines, RoGator and TerraGator application equipment, Sunflower tillage equipment, Massey Ferguson tractors, planters, and hay equipment, CLAAS combines, and much more.