Derick McGhee, integrated solutions manager for Heritage Tractor, Baldwin City, Kan., discusses two ways the dealership is improving efficiencies -- its parts van and new employee goal monitoring software.

Kevin Bradford, salesperson for Heritage Tractor, Baldwin City, Kan., shares sales strategies for the rural lifestyle market.

John Newman, assistant service manager for Heritage Tractor, Baldwin City, Kan., discusses how the service department communicates with each other and its customers.

Rural Lifestyle Dealer is asking for your input about extending business hours as a way to earn more rural lifestyle business. The poll is just 2 questions. Thanks for your input. We'll report the results next week.

If a prospective customer actually opens your email, the last thing you want to do is irritate or bore the customer. Here are 12 very common phrases that should be avoided:

Mahindra & Mahindra's Farm Equipment Sector (FES), a part of the USD 16.2 billion Mahindra Group, announced the total tractor sales numbers for August 2013, which stood at 13,543 units in the domestic market as against 12,394 units during August 2012, a growth of 9%.

Mahindra USA, the number one selling tractor brand in the world based on volume, adds Raymond Schroth to its senior leadership team as Senior Director of Aftersales.

The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC), meeting last week in New York, announced the election of a new Executive Committee, including the first woman to lead the organization, and authorized the staff to publish a 2014 budget plan for public review and comment. Paula Wilson, director of marketing at AmeriGas Propane in Valley Forge, Pa., presided over her first meeting as chairwoman. Four other newly elected officers also began one-year terms:

Almost all companies prepare a budget, or annual operating plan. And almost all companies do it wrong.

If you want to motivate your employees, you give them a raise, right? Wrong. In fact, sometime a raise can even de-motivate an employee. "We all like to make money, but it is not the "be all and end all".