Connor Tractor has only been open for business for 18 months, but in that time owner Jeremy Connor has improved their unit sales, been named to a “40 under 40” list locally and was named best agricultural dealer in the 352 area code.

Connor purchased the dealership’s building from Kioti dealer Caldwell Tractor in January 2021. 

Connor’s original career plans didn’t include owning a tractor dealership. He graduated college with a civil engineering degree, but when he moved to the U.S. from Ireland the economy was weak, and there were no engineering jobs. “When I first moved to the U.S, I was a plumber. And after plumbing in Cleveland, I moved down here to Ocala, and I was doing a classic car restoration for a car collector here,” he explains.

After 5 years working with the classic car collector, Connor started a mobile mechanic service focusing on auto repairs, which eventually morphed into tractor repairs as well, he says. A parts purchase brought Connor to Caldwell Tractor. “They asked me what I did, and I told them I’m a mobile mechanic who could do tractor repair and car repair. They said, ‘Well, we need a mechanic to do mobile work.’”

After about 2 years, Connor saw the opportunity and growth in Ocala and decided to purchase the building from the owner of Caldwell Tractor. 

“It was a father-and-son business all their life. They were ready to retire. When I came out of high school, my dad told me to go to tech school and become an agricultural mechanic, but everybody else was telling me I need a bachelor’s degree. I went off to college and became a civil engineer. So, I’ve came back around full circle.” 

The majority of Connor Tractor’s customer base — about 70% — is homeowners with 5-10 acres. The dealership also serves some horse farmers who are using tractors to clean horse stalls and mow pastures. 

Jeremy Connor, owner of Connor Tractor in Ocala, Fla., made Ocala Magazine’s 40-under-40 list in 2022.

All photos courtesy of Connor Tractor

“The main reason for that is because Kubota and John Deere are in the ag equestrian associations here. So, they are able to give good discounts for being in that group, but Kioti and Branson are marketed more toward homeowners,” he says.

Building the Business 

Since Connor didn’t acquire the business, just purchased the building, all the OEM contracts didn’t transfer over. The Kioti Tractor contract came first. They added the Branson Tractor line about a month later. Caldwell had been a Branson dealer when it first opened, which means there is a lot of used Branson equipment in the Ocala area. 

“That was one reason to add the line. The second reason was we just couldn’t get enough inventory from Kioti, so we needed a second line,” Connor says. “And because there was no other Branson dealer in our area and there were a lot of used tractors and people required parts, it was just a good fit. They were able to provide a lot more tractors last year.”

Connor Tractor also carries Titan Implement, Cover My Tractor cabs and canopies and W.R. Long attachments.

Since the location changed to Connor Tractor 18 months ago, the number of tractors sold has grown exponentially. Connor says one key to that growth was a drastic increase in advertising, particularly using Facebook and boosting posts. And some of it was also just entering a growing market. 

“With the people moving here to Florida from out of state and buying 10 acres, we happened to get in at a good time,” he says. 

Connor admits buying the building and opening Connor Tractor was a big risk. “People questioned what I was doing. When I took over the building in January last year during Covid, they had 5 tractors on the lot and there was nothing scheduled to even be shipped for about 6 months,” he says. 

Despite the risk, Connor saw the potential in the market with the number of people who were moving to the area. 

“My customers from the repair side were increasing with a lot of people moving into the state and looking for a new mechanic. I could foresee the market for tractors was going to increase,” he says. 

Connor Tractor didn’t receive any Kioti units until June of 2021 and took its first load of Branson tractors in April 2021. Connor says they went the first 3 months of the year without any wholegoods income. 

“I was basically working off my repair income from previous customers,” he says. “I flipped some used tractors to get us by, but I was just willing to take the risks as far as the inventory was concerned. I was just hoping I was able to get something soon.” 

Tyler Brentlinger started as an apprentice mechanic before Jeremy Connor bought the building and opened Connor Tractor. Today, Brentlinger is part of the sales team.

With cashflow tight at the start, Connor wasn’t able to hire a large staff for the first half of the year. But he did hire a mobile technician to do the work he had be doing, and he took on service work at the shop as well as sales. In addition, he hired a receptionist. Today, the staff has grown to 6. All it took to turn things around was getting their hands on some equipment. 

“Once we started getting inventory, we had customers who had been on a wait list and it all started happening,” Connor says, “but we still haven’t gotten over the inventory issue, especially with Kioti. A lot of the most common models are still on back order.” 

Expanding the Business 

At the beginning of 2022, Connor Tractor purchased the lot next to the dealership, expanding from 1 to 2 acres. Connor says he’s in the process of building a new service shop, but the project is held up with permitting issues. While the prefab building was scheduled for delivery in July, Connor says they are still about 6 months out
on permitting.  

The current facility is 2,500 square feet, split between one service bay and a sale showroom. The new building is 2,400 square feet and will be a dedicated service shop, with the old facility then being dedicated to parts and sales.  

While other lines may come in the future, Connor says right now they are focused on doing their best selling the 2 tractor lines and Titan Implement.  

Competitive Challenges

TYM’s purchase of Branson Tractors has added some new challenges for Connor Tractor. While the change has been a long time coming (Branson’s parent company was bought by TYM back in 2016), in January 2023 the Branson name will change to TYM, but Connor says the product line will stay the same. “The tractor is going to look the same, but it’ll just have a TYM badge on it.” 

In October, Connor Tractor will be eligible to start selling TYM tractors and in August the dealer down the road was going to be getting Branson units. “We’re both going to be selling the same products within a mile of each other,” he says. 

As the largest TYM dealer in the country, Ocala Tractor will have the benefit of priority shipments, Connor says. 

Connor says Branson is a strong name in the U.S. and benefited from sounding like it was made in America even though it was a Korean-owned company. It’s not the same with the TYM name, though, he says. 

To overcome the challenge the name change presents, Connor says they’ve been communicating to customers that the change is coming. “For people who are interested in or inquiring about Branson, we tell them the name is going to change but the product is going to stay the same,” he says.

Most people aren’t concerned about the name change, because they buy Branson for the specs, Connor says. What they are worried about is if their warranty will still be valid and what the value of their Branson tractor will be in 5 years when they are ready to trade it in. He says they are guaranteed warranty on the Branson tractors for the next 7 years. 

In addition to Ocala Tractor, Connor Tractor has some large competitive dealers in its AOR. John Deere dealer Ag-Pro. — the largest North American ag dealer by locations and No. 1 on the Farm Equipment 100 list — has an Ocala location. As does Kubota dealer Florida Coast Equipment (10 locations), which has been rapidly acquiring other Florida Kubota dealers, and Crystal Tractor (12 locations), a former car dealership which now carries Kubota, Mahindra and LS Tractor, among other brands. 

Being a small, family-owned business is appealing to Connor Tractor customers, and his background in service also adds some credibility as a salesperson, Connor says. 

“We’re a more relaxed atmosphere. The other dealerships, they train their salespeople more like car sales guys. They’re standing at the door ready to pounce, and they have to sell to make a living, whereas we are a lot more relaxed. Up to now, I’ve been the main sales guy and I’m the owner — people like when the owner is the salesperson,” he says.