The concern for me here is how viable will Kioti be going forward if their best dealers are baling out.
While I am very saddened to lose my dealer and someone who has done more than any other to make this Kioti forum a place we all turn to for helpful advice, I do think that we need to be careful not to let common business decisions to undermine overall faith in a product. Rick is great at both sales and support but part of that reflected the quality and value of the product he was selling and maintaining. I have little faith in Korporate Kioti but Daedong makes fine engines, strong tractors and has a modern parts distribution system to support us. We all knew we were buying the Hyundai of tractors, no one who did research on CUTs could possibly think Kioti is as well established as Kubota, JD, or NH. I'm guessing we all basically saw the quality of the tractors and considered their value in relation to what the other brands offered before joining the pack.
As corporate policies change there will be changes in dealerships. That is business and it works both ways and for all the tractor companies. While policies are undoubtedly made with Kioti USA's financial interests at the top, one presumes that there is some rationale for whatever strategic plans have lead to situations where excellent dealers decide to drop the line. I doubt seriously that Kioti wanted to get rid of Rick and assume it was fallout from some policy that made overall sense to the company. It sucks when an excellent dealer drops out but it doesn't change the quality or reliability of the tractors they sold us. I'm sure both Rick and Sweet's would agree. Does it complicate life for those of us who relied on Rick, yes, without a doubt this is an unwanted complication but the tractor still starts up and runs like it always has so except for my sadness nothing much has changed.
We all know the small dealer network for Kioti is its Achilles Heel and obviously the current economy is doing nothing to help them resolve that issue. Still, I have learned through TBN of other good dealers and with Bobcat now carrying most of the line it is actually easier than ever to get service and parts on Daedong built tractors. If the number of dealerships has dropped from about 300 to about 200 that was a process that has been going on for several years as Kioti has indentionally adopted policies aimed at weeding out the smallest low volume dealerships as part of a strategy to strengthen the brand overall. If those policies have had the unintended consequence of causing a few excellent dealers to leave that is certainly unfortunate but not evidence that the whole dealership network is collapsing.
I don't pretend to understand the business dynamics between manufacturers and dealers but I'm sure they are complex as both sides have power and vulnerabilities and the balance must therefore be both dynamic and sometimes precarious. Seemingly small changes in corporate policy can have different effects on different dealerships which could change fortunes dramatically in either direction. It may seem a trivial analogy but it seems that loss of a favorite dealer in some ways is like having your favorite and favored sports team lose a game they were expected to win. Doesn't mean you drop the team or sport, it just means that sometimes evil (read Yankees, Kioti) trumps virtue (read Red Sox, good dealers). Life goes on. The sun still rises. The Red Sox will win again.
I'll always see Rick and Amy's business as a paragon of how dealerships should do both sales and support. I am now jealous of the TBN participants with MF or Mahindras as I'm sure Rick will do every bit as good a job supporting them. Rick is a very smart businessman and an equally hard worker. Amy keeps him in line and organized. They are both affable, charming and completely trustworthy. Rick sold me a new tractor over the phone, sight unseen, then hopped in his truck and delivered it to an island as scheduled 300 miles away even though he was nursing a bad back and had to bring an assistant with him to lift anything. He delivered exactly what he said he would, did not exaggerate his sales pitches and really worked with his customer to get them the best tractor with the best deal he could. Support after the sale was just as up front and helpful. It was a pleasure doing business with them and I will surely miss knowing Wallace Tractor is my dealer. But, I still have complete confidence in the machine they sold me and know that I will find someone will fill the gap they have left. And, I am betting that despite his unpleasant dealings with Kioti, Rick probably does not want to unload his personal DK40se (though as a MF and Mahindra dealer now it could be a bit embarrassing for him to keep a bright orange tractor amidst all the red ones
).
