May 2018 INSIGHT by Michael Arbach

MAY 2018 INSIGHT. Monthly Employee Newsletter.

C & B GRADS!

Sydnee Lohkre Montana State University Daughter of Kris (Angie) Lohkre Parts—Miles City, MT

Lilli Cronin St. Mary’s College (IN) Daughter of Matt (Janet) Cronin CEO–Gettysburg, SD

Brynli Hymas College of Eastern Idaho Daughter of Jay (Jamie) Hymas Regional Sales Mgr—Idaho

Cole Humpal Mitchell Tech Service Tech—Wagner, SD

Katelyn Hart University of South Dakota Daughter of Mike (Kristee) Hart Parts—Luverne, MN

Tucker Hansen Blackfoot HS Son of Cole (Lacee) Hansen Sales—Blackfoot, ID

Lexie Hoffman South Dakota State Daughter of Bob (Pam Rubis) Hoffman Service—Luverne, MN

Emily Lamson NDSCS (ND) Daughter of Scott (Melissa) Lamson Regional Warranty Admin— MT

Mitchell Overvold Glasgow HS Parts—Glasgow, MT

Cade Versteeg Luverne HS Son of Tom (Alison) Versteeg Sales—Luverne,MN

Londyn Espenson Windom Area HS Daughter of Mike (Danylle) Espenson Store Mgr—Jackson, MN

Payton Lamson Glasgow HS Daughter of Scott (Melissa) Lamson Regional Warranty Admin— MT

Victoria Neyens Minneota HS Daughter of Jeff (Kantina) Neyens Service Mgr—Pipestone, MN

Kyle Schillinger Circle HS Service—Circle, MT

Chase Farrell Jackson County HS Son of Eric (Heidi Farrell) Edlin Service Mgr—Jackson, MN

Carolyn Blaha Wagner HS Daughter of Joe (Marie) Blaha Service Mgr—Wagner, SD

C & B GRADS!

Dylan Yerbich Circle HS Service—Circle, MT

Breylan Jacobson Murray County Central HS Son of Chris (Cheri) Jacobson Store Manager—Slayton, MN

Zoey Sandbulte Luverne HS Daughter of Eric Sandbulte Sales—Luverne,MN

Sydnie Haynie Circle HS Daughter of Dan (Kim) Haynie Service—Circle, MT

Brennan Hart Brogan Hart Southeast Technical Institute Luverne HS Sons of Mike (Kristee) Hart, Parts—Luverne, MN

C&B MAY INSIGHT.

MILES CITY

BUCKING HORSE SALE PARADE

MAY

CALENDAR CUSTOMERS

Fastert Farms Rock Rapids, IA

Goebel Farms Lebanon, SD

Rourke Farms Gillette, WY

C&B MAY INSIGHT.

MARKETING

WHAT’S THE LATEST?

In April the Pipestone, MN store had the opportunity to have their 1968 4020 on display at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul for a Minnesota Ag Energy Alliance event. It is shown here next to a 2018 9570RX.

The Marketing Team has been feverishly working to keep up with the day-to-day activities, but we also have been working on executing some additional rebranding efforts as well. Here some quick updates for you: Pandora Radio Test: We will be advertising on Pandora radio immediately after the website launches in each county that we have an Area of Responsibility in. We can specifically target people who are in the ag field by zip code, so if you hear any of these ads or receive feedback on these ads, please let us know if they are working. Goal is to launch this test in July.

Sponsorship/Banners: The marketing team has updated artwork for fair/rodeo/ sponsorship banners with new branding. If you need something updated, please reach out to the marketing team so we can get these done promptly for you. Apparel: We are working on an online program through Lands’ End. Employees will be given an allowance to purchase newly branded C & B apparel through a promo code. Lands’ End is finishing the building of the C & B online catalog and we hope to have this rolled out as soon as next week. More info coming soon. Company Truck Decals: We have finalized the designs and will be ordering the new designs later this summer when the Noteboom team is on board. Business Cards: We are going to hold off on ordering the massive business card order until after the Noteboom transition. If you have an immediate need, please let the Marketing team know and they can order the immediate needs today, otherwise the others will come later this summer. Exterior Store Signage: We have identified a potential vendor and are working through their bid. More to come soon-our goal is to have this done by early fall. Company Videos: Feel free to subscribe to C & B’s YouTube channel as we will be adding additional videos throughout the year. We just released a new recruiting video (see below) and the community outreach one will be loaded soon as well. We intend to use these videos to help drive brand awareness, company culture and loyalty through our social channels. They will also be showcased on our new website. Website: We are nearing the “beta launch” of the website. “Beta ” for C & B means that the website is not perfect, but we want C & B employees to review the website and give the Marketing Team some input on how to make it better through constructive feedback. We will share with you the “beta” website very soon and this will initially be an internal review only. After we implement most of the changes, we will roll out to our customers. Exciting stuff and more to come on this soon.

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out to myself or anyone on the Marketing Team. Michelle Fields 952-887-1840

NEW RECRUITING VIDEO! Know somebody that might fit in at C&B? Send them our new recruiting video: https://youtu.be/w5ZeN0WoWV8 See all new C&B videos on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CBOperations

At the Aftermarket Summit I learned many things to help us become more efficient in the way our departments work together to get work done. One area we struggled with was getting all the equipment through our shop in a timely manner. On our MUD roll deals we would get multiple pieces in that would get cleaned and parked out front without going through the shop, with us missing out on service and parts revenue. We worked on a few ideas but came up with a simple way of making sure all of our trades are getting the recon completed and ready for sell. We created a spreadsheet listing all of the used equipment currently on the lot and whether recon had been done or not. We also included what the salesman had estimated as recon so the service department knew right away what sales figured on putting into a piece of equipment. In the beginning I would email a copy of the spreadsheet every Monday morning with equipment added that week. Every Friday I would receive a copy from the service department of the work that was completed during the week. To make this process more effective I “shared” the spreadsheet through SharePoint and made it a “live” document. Now when we get a used piece of equipment in I can add it to our list and the shop can see it right away. The only ones authorized to make changes are myself, service writer and service manager. The salesmen can also view the spreadsheet but cannot make changes. It is helpful to the sales professionals as they can check the status of the recon of their trade or another model they may be looking to sell. This simple spreadsheet has made a world of difference to us in Idaho Falls as we are able to keep up on the used equipment coming into the shop. Chad Kenison Store Manager, Idaho Falls

WESTERN REGION

SUMMIT TAKEAWAYS Morning Huddles = taking 5-10 minutes each morning to: 1. Sum yesterday’s activities in items sold and let employees know how much revenue was created in each department. 2. Find out where people are headed and the scope, size and importance of those projects. 3. Identify potential burning fires or sparks out in the field that need to be taken care of. Having traveled to several stores in the past 6 months I see almost every store doing some type of morning huddle. It’s working, so if you haven’t started, it’s time. I see more employees taking ownership of situations with customers, ownership of store pride and ownership of their position and how a positive action can be beneficial to all in the dealership. Besides the items list above, an employee having a voice and feeling valued and empowered in the store’s business makes the employee feel good about their career with C&B and helps with employee retention. One store I visited was adopting the baseball team discussion. What is that? Well, at the morning meeting they have a baseball and the only one that can talk is the person with the baseball. It gets passed around to everyone and it goes quick and seems to be fun and productive. Another store has one person that takes a few notes or minutes at the meeting. This simple action helps to keep all held accountable by an easy follow-up the next morning using the notes. In whatever way you choose to have a morning huddle, the communication helps in so many ways. If you are not doing a huddle, reach out to a store that is and start building your store’s PRIDE. Nate Balstad RAM, Western Region

This hardworking JD Gator was spotted at Windsor castle just before Prince Harry’s wedding by Jack Gerhardt, MN RAM Construction continues in Luverne

C&B MAY INSIGHT.

WELCOME

NEW EMPLOYEES Guy Schneider

Bryan Garcia

Service

Service Student St. James, MN

Roscoe, SD

Blackfoot, ID

Steven Derby

Keith Vockrodt

Nathan Snook

Ryan Knudson

Miles City, MT

Service

Tim Lytle

Sales

Service

Brian Harrington

Sales

Billings, MT

Luverne, MN

Miles City, MT

Jackson, MN

Mason Teachout

Cody Richins

Matt Kotewa

John Schaffer

Store Mgr

Service Student

Parts

St. James, MN

Rexburg, ID

Seth Ingram

Scott Knapton

Parts

Regional Sales Mgr

Glasgow, MT

Truman, MN

Service Mgr

St. James, MN

Montana

Matt Richey Not Pictured:

Joella Dirette Parts Sheridan, WY

Service Student Rexburg, ID

Chad Bietz, salesman in Wagner, SD worked the C & B booth at the Wagner Farm, Home & Garden show in April. The Wagner store planned their successful Drive Green event around the show.

Josh Horst, Master Service Technician in Truman, MN, was recently awarded an honorary FFA Degree for his work over the last year with the Fairmont High School Ag Mechanics team. Several years ago Josh visited mechanic classes at both Fairmont and Blue Earth High Schools looking for future C & B service techs. Fairmontâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s FFA asked him to work with the Ag Mechanics team, which placed at the regional competition. Josh was successful in his recruiting effortsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;both Matt Kotewa from Fairmont and Oliver Mohwinkel from Blue Earth are working in Truman and headed to technician school in the fall. Matt and Oliver both competed at the state FFA competition this spring.

NEW ARRIVAL David and Mary Hess welcomed Criston Chiamaka Hess on April 2nd. Criston weighed 7 lbs., 10 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. David is the truck driver in Selby, SD.

Congratulations! ACCIDENT FREE DAYS (as of May 15)

JUNE BIRTHDAYS

Headquarters

3178 Rexburg

Gettysburg

249

Blackfoot

186

Selby

131

St. James

Miller

285

Jackson

645

Roscoe

Truman

117

Craig Anderton

Billings

Luverne

701

Jim Childress

Miles City

Edgerton

930

Michael Espenson

Darrin Hauck

Mark Mertes

Glendive

391

Pipestone

Wade Stein

Kendall Towne

Glasgow

Worthington

Greg Willard

Glenda VandeGriend 20

Layne Anderson

Circle

Tracy

Brandy Dayton

Joy Keil

Kevin Ward

David Krosch

Rich Seurer

John Grimes

Culbertson

Slayton

Kent Senf

Rocki Cavanaugh

Chris Miller

Plentywood

Freeman

165

Jared Soulek

Arvid Rolandson

Michelle Fields

Sheridan

113

Wagner

127

Michael Arbach

Gil Wipf

Powell

120

Yankton

278

Idaho Falls

Mitchell

154

Kohl Kubal Jason Brecher

1 3

Duane Dohn Paul Koeck

12 13

Matthew Richey Anna Nagel

23 25

John Schaffer

Corey Thelen

Bob Goebel

Don Byrne

Doug Hampton

Courtney Pazour

Terry Larson

Jarred Thomas

Jake Syndergaard

Carl Walter

Mike Dietz

Mark Zwinger

Travis Austin

Bart Steltzer

Cheryl Edwards

Nate Balstad

Jim Hagen

Chad Kenison

Dixie Berwick

Jeremy Valdez