The Deere & Co. board of directors recently elected John C. May to the position of Chief Executive Officer, effective Nov. 4. Samuel R. Allen, the current CEO and chairman, will continue as chairman after he steps down from the CEO position. May becomes the 10th chief executive in the company's 182-year history.
We asked dealers, “If you had the chance, what would you ask John C. May?”
A. “How can you get Deere tractors back to the reliability/longevity/premium as they have been the last 100 years. They have had major issues in the 8000 series.”
— Wally Emery, Valley Truck & Tractor Co.
A. “I would like to know if the dealership merger of the last 10 years was what John Deere thought it would be like and is it working around the country. It's not working here at all. Thank you for your time.”
— Wayne Kuhl, Kuhl Equipment
A. “In my opinion customer service with Deere and Co. is a slogan and that is all that it is. My customers have to go many miles to get parts for their equipment since the policy of Deere is to have less dealers and making it difficult to obtain ag parts. The policy of getting rid of single-store family-owned dealerships is a hardship for many people, especially here in the Easer where there are smaller farms. The single-store and family-owned dealership is what made Deere what it is today. Deere had over 5000 dealers in 1960 and today there are less than 1,500 and I believe these numbers are close to being correct.
Also, the close-out procedure that Deere used cost a lot of money to the dealership families. Restrictions on return of parts and wholegoods cost dealers a lot of money.”
— Donald Angstadt, Pikeville Equipment Inc.
A. “As a 42-year Deere dealer, terminated January 18, 2018, I would like to ask Mr. John C, May how he plans to get back to the basics of what built the Deere name? That was your small mom-and-pop dealers who took care of their local customers, on a first name basis. When you have dealer who owns most of the dealers in the Southeast, and someone is not happy with that dealership's business practices, are you willing to looe your customers to another brand? You are doing this everyday in Northeast Florida. It may be a drop in the bucket, but we are working on your "market share." This is all that matters to you all any how
In 2018 SATISFYD surveys ranked us #8 in US, Canada and Australia for our customer service. What does this mean to JD? Not a thing. Pretty much you cut our area of responsibility down to 2 counties to sell in. Nonetheless, we are now an AGOC dealer and are more then happy with the outcome of our termination. You see ,for the past 12 years, we have been fighting against a company that we have so faithfully sold their product for so long.
The folks at AGCO help us out every day. They aren't holding orders out on us and they are not applying volume discounts when you buy 100 tractors. We are just a drop in the bucket, but we have sold over 119 Massey Ferguson and Exmark products in our short 6 months with them.
We are killing you on price and you are selling a plastic, aluminum machine that are weak and full of emissions problems. But, carry on. We appreciate a weak competition.”
— Justin Howard, Hobo Tractor
Related Content: Deere & Co. Board Elects John May as CEO, Board Member
