THANK YOU. Dedicated employees and loyal customers, you are the ones who’ve made 70 years a success.
CELEBRATING 70 YEARS OF LOYAL CUSTOMERS AND DEDICATED EMPLOYEES Congratulations Monroe Tractor on a legacy of providing reliable equipment and support customers can count on—from all of us at CASE Construction Equipment.
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CONGRATULATIONS!
LeeBoy salutes our friends and partners at Monroe Tractor in celebrating this historical milestone.
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Monroe Tractor celebrates 70th anniversary Born in a cinder block building in 1951, business grows into powerhouse northeast dealer Husband and wife team Henry and Dorothy Hansen opened their Case tractor dealership in Henrietta, N.Y., in 1951. Seventy years later, the dealership still in the family, has expanded to 15 retail locations plus a corporate headquarters and is flourishing. Henry Hansen was raised on a farm near Bellona, N.Y., a Finger Lakes community some 40 miles from Henrietta. He attended Rochester Institute of Technology and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Four years after he and Dorothy married in 1947, Hansen took his machinery and technical skills to Henrietta in Monroe County and partnered with manufacturer J.I. Case Company to open a dealership, soon named “Monroe Tractor.” Case had been around for a hundred years and was credited with building the first steam engine-powered tractors. In 1951, the longtime, widely respected company was selling such tractors as the 27-hp Model SC and 51-hp Model LA. The dealership was started in a 30-ft. by 40-ft. cinder block building with a wide roll-up door. Heated during New York winters by a coal-fired pot-bellied stove, the building was home base for, essentially, a one-person operation. On days when Hansen was out making sales or service calls, Dorothy Hansen would answer the phone. She also was the company bookkeeper.
Other factors besides hard work sparked the dealership’s growth. One was the backhoe attachment. A Vermont company, Cone Automatic, developed an all-hydraulic digging attachment for tractors, including Case. This Pippin backhoe introduced Hansen’s Case tractors to the construction market. Then, in 1957, Case purchased an Indiana company, the American Tractor Corporation, primarily to gain rights to its backhoe. It soon began marketing Case tractors with an integrated backhoe and front-end loader, thereby creating and dominating the backhoe/loader market. “The construction equipment market began to explode for us,” Felosky said. “We would have 20 or 30 backhoes sitting in our lot at any given time. Locally, we were referred to as ‘Backhoe Park.’” Another factor propelling growth was Hansen’s decision to rent equipment. Commonplace now, it was a pioneering concept in the early 1960s. “I don’t even know if they rented cars then,” the founder said in retrospect. He first proposed renting a tractor to a powerline construction contractor who had approached him. Case executives were not thrilled. “You can’t do that because the machine is collateralized,” Hansen was told, according to Felosky. She said her father responded that he would send 80 percent of the rental money to Case and pay down the note.
“As a family, we sacrificed quite a bit,” recalled Monroe Tractor CEO Janet Felosky, daughter of the company’s founding couple. “We lived a simple life in the early years and anything extra was put back into the business.” The sacrifices on behalf of the company — not an uncommon entrepreneurial experience — were shared, but Henry Hansen probably bore the brunt of them. “One of the things that really stands out in my mind is how hard Dad worked,” Felosky said. “It seems like he did everything himself and that went on for quite a number of years. He would come home for dinner, take a 15-minute nap and then be out the door and back on the road again. Whether it was picking up telephone poles to build a ramp to unload equipment or whatever, he did it all himself, day after day, six days a week.”
Monroe Tractor was started in a 30-ft by 40ft. cinder block building with a wide roll-up door.
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Monroe Tractor, circa 1980’s
“Case agreed and it wasn’t long before we had a rental fleet of eight or 10 machines, decades before equipment rental was even a thing,” Felosky said. Hansen’s vision and hard work continued to build out the company. It separated into ag and construction divisions in 1973 when agricultural product sales began in two locations, Batavia and Canandaigua. The Henrietta store then catered to construction contractors and government agencies. A decade later a second construction products store was opened in Buffalo, and a third in Syracuse in 1986. A Monroe Tractor ag dealership was added in Adams Center in 1988 and then the proliferation of Monroe Tractor stores ended and the company focused on strengthening its footprint over the next 20 years. Not until 2008, did company branches again multiply. It happened when the company purchased the Case dealerships of S.C. Hansen, an entirely separate New York State company founded in 1947 by Henry Hansen’s brother, Stewart. With the merger of the two Hansen family-owned enterprises, Monroe Tractor absorbed construction equipment lines offered by S.C. Hansen and added four locations — Elmira, Binghamton, Albany and Hornell. The Elmira and Hornell stores became a single facility in Campbell.
Company founder, Henry Hansen was raised on a farm near Bellona NY, a Finger Lakes community some 40 miles from Henrietta. He attended Rochester Institute of Technology and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
Monroe Tractor’s footprint crossed the New York State line in 2017 when it acquired two Case of New England dealership locations — one in Worcester (covering Rhode Island) and another in Woburn, Mass. A year later, Monroe opened a location in Hartford, Conn. and in 2019, two ag branches were opened in New Haven, Vt., and Derby Vt. In 2021, with a third generation of the family firmly in place and a strong group of loyal associates at Monroe Tractor, the 70 years of company growth feels more like a beginning than a culmination. The company continues to strengthen its reputation for excellent service, adhering to a philosophy first voiced by Henry Hansen clear back in 1951: “If you take care of the customer, the business will grow.”
In 1947. Henry Hansen took his machinery and technical skills to Henrietta in Monroe County and partnered with manufacturer J.I. Case Company to open a dealership, soon named Monroe Tractor.
In 1957, Case purchased an Indiana company, the American Tractor Corporation, primarily to gain rights to its backhoe. It soon began marketing Case tractors with an integrated backhoe and front-end loader, thereby creating and dominating the backhoe/loader market.
Monroe Tractor Family: CEO Janet Felosky; her son, Chris Felosky; her daughter, Laura Wilkas and company founder Henry Hansen.
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Congratulations Richard DiMarzo and Paul Hanrahan from The Pelican Bay Group Wealth Management at Morgan Stanley wish to congratulate Monroe Tractor and Their Employees as they celebrate 70 Years of Outstanding Service! The Pelican Bay Group Wealth Management at Morgan Stanley Richard J. DiMarzo, CPM® Senior Vice President — Wealth Management Financial Advisor Paul M. Hanrahan Senior Vice President — Wealth Management Financial Advisor 1250 Pittsford Victor Road Building 200, Suite 350 Pittsford, NY 14534 800-332-0274 richard.j.dimarzo@morganstanley.com
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A Tip of the Hat to Monroe Tractor We congratula ate and join in the celebration of M Monroe Trac ctor reaching their miles stone 70th Anniversary!
Mon Mo in the gr
of all the Monroe Tractor ac ccomp plishments through those 70 years and nd we’re also Monroe Tractor as part of th M he Okada America, Inc. Distributor n netw work. We apprec ciate r ’s s continued commitment to provide Okada’s s valued customers r Con nnecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island areas with the:
• Full-line of TOP Series and ORV Series hydraulic breakers, OAC vibratory compactor/driverrs, OSC Series secondary crushers and magnet pulverizers, ORC Series rotating pulverizers, TSRC Series multi-crushers, TS Series primary crushers, TMB Series trommel screening buckets (padding buckets) and Pedestal Roc ck Breaker Boom Systems. • Factory authorizzed parts and service to keep those Okada products productive and on n the job.
www.monroetractor.com
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904 Medina Road Medina, Ohio 44256 T: 330-239-2666 F: 330-239-3670 www.okadaamerica.com
192 New Boston Street Woburn, MA 01801 T: 781-933-4217 F: 781-935-085 54
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Monroe Tractor’s CEO, Janet Felosky with her children, Laura WIlkas, Marketing Director and Chris Felosky, President.
Immeasurable years spent side by side learning from one another, Monroe Tractor founder, Henry Hansen and daughter Janet Felosky, CEO.
CASE is in her blood. A young Janet Felosky, grew up around the equipment.
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Janet Felosky Leading in her father’s footsteps. When Janet Felosky was named president of Monroe Tractor in 1990, she did not shatter a ceiling. She already had broken through such traditional barriers to female promotion as she rose through a succession of positions at Monroe Tractor. True, her father was president of the company — but Felosky overcame that handicap. “My father certainly did not put a silver spoon in my mouth,” she said with pride. Her work experience bears that out. After all, shipping and receiving is not a plum assignment for a college graduate with a business administration degree, but that’s where she started. She then moved on to the parts department, another vital but unglamorous position at an equipment dealership, a job that women were not commonly doing in the 1970s. Felosky worked full-time at the family business for a full 18 years — including being credit manager before finally going into accounting — and only ascended to the position of president when the position suddenly became vacant in 1990. In other words, she worked her way up in the company, establishing some new norms for women along the way. Did she feel like a trailblazer? “You know, it never felt difficult, challenging or forced,” she said. “I’d always been around the shop doing some sort of odd jobs. I always fit in, so I was never a threat to the other employees. I did not come off as the boss’ daughter. I put my jeans on the same way everybody else did and I did anything that I was asked to do. I was accepted.” Acceptance in-house is not always mirrored in outside relationships. She had female contemporaries in leadership roles in the equipment industry along the way, but not so many that their presence in industry gatherings was deemed unremarkable. Felosky, who became Monroe Tractor’s chief executive officer in 2013, said it never intimidated her to sit down with equipment vendors, always men. “When I had a meeting, I made sure I brought with me the right specialist from our organization to deal with the topic at hand. I didn’t profess to know anything about equipment — I might have known the least of anyone in the meeting,” she said. “What I did have was a good sense of how our business operated and I knew we had to pay for whatever we ordered.” Mike Celentano watched Felosky handle herself in this environment. Celentano was named chief financial officer the same day Felosky became president. He retired this year in March. “Being a woman in this industry years ahead of her time never phased Janet, he said. “She could deal with anyone on any level
regardless of the situation, from any of her own employees to attorneys and corporate CEOs.” Felosky said she surrounded herself with “some very talented people skilled at helping Monroe Tractor evaluate its equipment needs.” She carried with her into business meetings some guiding principles that served her well. They were instilled in her by the company founder. “Stay humble and be a better listener than you are a talker, Dad would tell me. You know, use your two ears to listen. He was a big believer in mutually beneficial relationships. He would listen carefully before he’d speak, and when he did speak, it would make good sense because he had all the information available. He never professed to know everything.” Celentano added, “Janet learned many of the same lessons from her father that I did, lessons that included how to treat employees, how to treat customers, don’t jump to conclusions. She was fortunate to be with him and learn from him all the time, and as a result, she understood his philosophies.” Looking back on her successful and ongoing career, Janet Felosky acknowledged that her decision to go to work for her father at Monroe Tractor was as much about her father as it was about the company. “After graduating from college and becoming engaged to my future husband (Greg Felosky), I decided to join the family business. I’d always respected my father and was proud of his hard work. I wanted to be a part of that. I was proud to be a part of a family business.” Felosky attended State University of New York-Canton, before earning her business degree from Kent State University. In recognition of her pivotal leadership role in the growth of Monroe Tractor over four decades, SUNY-Canton inducted her into its hall of fame in 2019 as a distinguished alumni. The family legacy continues at Monroe Tractor. Felosky’s son, Chris, is company president after 20 years of working in management roles, and a daughter, Laura Wilkas, joined the company 10 years ago as marketing director and is putting a unique Monroe Tractor stamp on the business. 9
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Chris Felosky Leading Monroe Tractor into the future. In 2001, Chris Felosky indicated interest in joining his family’s company, Monroe Tractor. The president of the company — his mother, Janet Felosky — told him the company had some sales positions open if he wanted to interview for one of them. Think about that for a moment. Your mother is company president and you have to be approved for a lower-level job by a management team. Janet Felosky’s meritocratic hiring process continued beyond her son’s hiring: “Chris did well with the interview and he got the position. My stance was, let’s see how he does with this for five years to determine just how interested he is in this business.” Tough boss. ** Chris Felosky was hardly looking for a cushy job at age 24. A graduate of the University of Delaware, he was a salesman for a national firm when he turned to Monroe Tractor. His subsequent success as a Monroe Tractor salesman was no surprise and, after five years, he was promoted to product support manager. He climbed the ladder of leadership through successively more responsible positions — working in each position for five years. He looks back on some of the lessons learned along the way. “The parts and service reps that we developed helped us grow sales and we found that good product support reps developed into great machine sales reps.” He also cultivated a new focus at all Monroe Tractor locations — the ability for the dealership to produce parts and service solutions regardless of the brand of equipment customers owned. This emphasis on finding solutions instead of just moving company products from the shelf was a winner with Monroe Tractor customers. When the general manager for agricultural products abruptly left Monroe Tractor, Felosky said his mother “decided that would be my next role. To be perfectly honest with you, until that point, I had successfully managed to stay clear of the ag side. I think I was secretly trying to advance without ever having had an active role on the agricultural side. In retrospect, I’m very glad I did.” He came to realize that agricultural and construction customers are not much different — “both are very demanding customers,” he said. Yet there are differences, too, including the greater impact that seasons have on ag producers. “The weather sends so many curve balls that it’s not unusual for the farmer to be working 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That’s different from a contractor who usually just gets his work pushed back for a while.” He also came to see that, whereas construction work can vary from year to year depending on contract bids and state budgets, farmers typically farm about the same acreage every year. 12
Janet Felosky said her son’s ag experience was crucial to his success. “Spending five years managing the agricultural division of Monroe Tractor was a critical part of his development because agriculture represents 50 percent of our overall business.” She added that immersing her son in various components of the business in five-year increments gave him the opportunity to “learn every aspect of our company and to earn the respect of employees.” That was precisely the path she had followed.
** In 2019, when Chris Felosky became president and Janet Felosky moved up to CEO, Monroe Tractor restructured its administration to better manage the work. Gone were general managers. In their place, function directors were named — directors of service, parts and operations, as well as directors of ag sales, construction sales and special products. The president said directorships are proving their worth by letting individuals focus on areas of strength. “This allows us to be laser-focused on each department, so we are able to get more out of each department,” Chris said. “It also helps us ensure that a customer at our Syracuse store will have the same experience as a customer at our Hartford store.” In 2011, Chris Felosky’s sister, Laura Wilkas came aboard as director of marketing. She had 10 years of experience with the Staples organization. Her brother persuaded her to bring her talents to the family company. What do the next 70 years hold for Monroe Tractor? Growth and prosperity is what Chris Felosky sees … if management can retain its focus. “And we need to continue to surround ourselves with talented people.” Some of that talent might come from within the family. “I want to be able to pass this company on to the next generation,” said the president, “whether it be one of my daughters or Laura’s son or daughter.” If and when the next generation decides when they want to leave their mark on the company and continue its long, successful run, it’ll be at least a decade or two — first they’ll need to finish up elementary school and perhaps, there’ll eventually be some summer work opportunities at Monroe Tractor as they get a little older.
President, Chris Felosky was at his mother’s side, Janet Felosky, CEO of Monroe Tractor, as she was inducted into her alma mater, SUNY Canton’s Hall of Fame.
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Collaboration, communication and patience are the key to the family’s success.
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Monroe Tractor has covered a lot of ground and is still growing strong. Congratulations on 70 years of growth and success. The equipment industry has significantly changed the past 70 years, but your commitment to meeting the needs of your customers has never been stronger. AgDirect® is proud to serve your customers’ financing needs. Call us at 888-525-9805 or visit agdirect.com today.
AgDirect is an equipment financing program offered by participating Farm Credit System Institutions with lease financing provided by Farm Credit Leasing Services Corporation.
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TH HANK YOU.. Our apprreciation e eciation goes out to our employees and our customerss for their dedication edication and support over the last 70 years. Henry Han nsen’s philosophy was simple yet sound, “if you take carre e of the custtomerr,, the business will grrow ow.” Our ability to do just that is because e of our employees, they arre e the heart of who we arre. e. We couldn’ n’t deliver on our brand prromise, omise, “we keep you doing your job” if it wasn’ asn’t for them. They arre e the face and heart of the Monrroe oe Tractor fam family mily. Cheers to the Monrroe oe T Tractor ractor team that gets up every day to keep our loyal oyal customers working!
Brighter e solutio ons are drivven byy th he best. b Congra atulattions Monroe Tract a or! o From one family-owned d company to another, CLAA AS congrratulates Monroe Tractor on 70 years of dedication to the agricultural industry. Solution-driven, family focused, and a dedicat d ed passion to your community, we applau ud your success!
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Congratulations Monroe Tractor for your 70th Year, So far!
Need filters? Always have one when you need one. With our filter program, we will stock your shop with a filter for any machine, no matter the make, model or vehicle. Ask your local Product Support Rep for more info. monroetractor.com
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Founding principles are our values.
Monroe Tractor founder, Henry Hansen’s legacy lives on. Successful companies are branded — that is, they are given a set of distinctive characteristics that create an identity. Monroe Tractor’s brand mostly originated with company founder Henry Hansen.
five decades of working at Monroe Tractor. He retired in March as chief financial officer and vice president. Celentano said change, rather than stability, is what kept him at Monroe Tractor.
When Hansen opened his small equipment supply house in Rochester, N.Y., in 1951, he frequently expressed his business principles in a pair of sayings. One was, “Where courtesy dwells, service excels,” which spoke to the constant need for a company to first treat customers as people, rather than as sources of revenue.
“There are many reasons why I stayed for 47 years,” he said. “One of the key reasons is that Monroe Tractor has never been content with the status quo. Whether it was Henry or Janet at the helm or today’s team, there was a constant endeavor to find ways to increase our sales and market share, grow the company, better serve our customers — either by taking on new product lines or growing the footprint of the company.”
The second adage was a practical formula for retail success: “If you take care of the customer, the business will grow.” Unlike some companies that just talk about customer care, Hansen considered it more than a mantra. He practiced what he preached. When the founder’s daughter, Janet Felosky, formally joined Monroe Tractor and developed into its next leader, she preserved both the sayings and the spirit of them. She did so for two reasons: First, they clearly work as rules for success and as branding markers. Second, they were reminders of a person who was much admired and respected by succeeding generations. “It has been important for me to bear in mind the lessons that my father taught me,” said the chief executive officer of Monroe Tractor. Henry Hansen passed away in 2014, age 94, having seen the company progress well along toward a third generation of family leadership. Hansen’s grandson, Chris Felosky, succeeded his mother in 2019 and reiterated his faith in the tone and brand established by the earlier generations.
He watched the number of company employees swell to 250 from the 22 when he joined the company in 1974. He also saw company branches proliferate across New York State and into New England, now totaling 14. Two major expansions occurred, one in 2008 and the other nearly a decade later. The first was the decision to take over four Case dealerships in New York State belonging to the family of Henry Hansen’s brother, Stewart. Absorbing the other dealership locations grew the presence of the company, of course, but it also afforded Monroe Tractor a way to better serve customers. “We were able to centrally stock parts in greater volume than ever before and support our customers as they used their machines just about anywhere in upstate New York,” Celentano said. In other words, the company didn’t sacrifice anything to growth. The second major expansion occurred in 2017 when Monroe Tractor
“I will always treasure the words of wisdom that were imparted to me by my grandfather and I look forward to the continued guidance and direction from my mother,” he said. However, it was left to the new president’s sister, Laura Wilkas, to more completely incorporate the brand into the culture of Monroe Tractor. When she joined the family business 10 years ago, Wilkas created this “brand promise:” We’re there to keep you doing your job. “That is truly the foundation of who we are as a company,” Wilkas said. “When I came on board as director of marketing, it was determined that that was how we wanted to brand the company. How we build relationships and maintain them now isn’t much different from how relationships were built by my grandfather, and that’s through having good people who care about the customer.” Wilkas added, “The culture and values that my grandfather held important 70 years ago were key to his growth then and still are key to our success today. Without them, we would not enable our people to make the right decisions.” ** The overarching function of a brand is to give a company an unchanging value even as markets and product lines change. It gives a company the perception of stability even as an organization evolves and grows. So, it is that Monroe Tractor is seen by customers as a constant though it has changed dramatically over the course of 70 years. Mike Celentano personally witnessed much of the change during almost 20
Mike Celentano, former VP and CFO at Monroe Tractor recently retired in 2021 after 47 years at the company. His dedication and perspective proved instrumental to Monroe’s growth.
there “toWe’re keep you
”
doing your job. This isn’t just a saying, it’s our brand promise that our team prides themselves on when working with customers. The values that my grandfather started the company with are still echoed in the values that we live by today. We wouldn’t be successful keeping our customers working if we didn’t have a set of values or a promise to live by – it’s what sets us apart.
- Laura Wilkas, Marketing Director
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acquired Case of New England, moving its equipment store brand into Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Celentano said “this was a significantly bigger challenge for us. New England was a whole new territory for us. We not only had to build Case product awareness, but also awareness of the Monroe Tractor brand. We had to rebuild from the ground up, including locating facilities.” To effect such changes while maintaining a reputation as a reliable, caring business partner is no small job. It’s a team effort. Karen Long, who succeeded Celentano this year as CFO, said the company’s commitment to teamwork is notable. She attributes the unified purpose she finds at Monroe Tractor to weekly group meetings. “These weekly group meetings, where groups of individuals work together as a team, solve problems or elevate problems up the chain so that leadership can solve them. They really put management’s money where their mouth is. It helps reinforce the culture the leadership team values and sets the tone for two other values, namely, to work hard and always do what is right. All of this is something that in my experience I find quite rare.” Wilkas echoed Long. “At Monroe Tractor, there is no room for individuals who want to operate as an island. We are all about operating as a team.” ** The Monroe Tractor brand is not the cumulative total of the many manufacturing brands it represents. Rather, it is a diverse product dealership with a singular focus. The flagship product line is Case and always has been. The Racine, Wis., manufacturer was there in the beginning when Monroe Tractor opened its doors as a distributor. Case remained a constant at Monroe Tractor after Case divided into two major divisions, agriculture machinery and construction equipment.
The split into divisions introduced complexity to Monroe Tractor. When Case introduced construction equipment in the early years of the dealership, via its backhoe, Monroe Tractor responded by opening two agricultural product stores in farming communities and converting its original store into a construction products outlet. Expansion of both store product lines continues today. Ag stores are located in Batavia, Canandaigua, Auburn and Adams Center in New York State and New Haven, Vt., and Derby, Vt. Construction stores are in Henrietta, Buffalo and Syracuse in New York State, Worcester and Woburn in Massachusetts and Hartford, Conn. The Worcester store also serves a Rhode Island construction equipment market. Three stores in New York State — Campbell, Albany and Binghamton — represent both agriculture and construction lines. Monroe Tractor offers a full lineup of Case construction and industrial machinery — backhoes and dozers, excavators (midi, mini and full-size), wheel loaders, rollers, motor graders and forklifts among them — plus such brands as Wirtgen, Kleemann, Hamm, Vogele, LeeBoy, Rosco, Screen Machine, Tana and Humdinger. Monroe Tractor’s Case IH ag stores offer a complete line of farm tractors, including iconic absorbed brands with names like Farmall and Steiger, plus harvesting, tillage and baling machinery, along with ag field equipment produced by German manufacturer CLAAS. So … lots of locations. Lots of products. Welding them into a single identity — Monroe Tractor — is the job Wilkas took on when she became marketing director in 2011. Janet Felosky recalled that moment: “We had reached a point in our growth where we either needed to develop an inside marketing
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department or use an ad agency to raise our marketing to another level. Chris felt strongly that his sister could do this. He put together a job description and set up a team to interview his sister. After the team determined that she was best qualified for the position and after Laura did some contemplation of her own about the role, she ultimately accepted the position. Wilkas came aboard with the conviction that the company be independently branded, that is, that Monroe Tractor be recognized as a quality dealer, rather than as a dealer for X or Y manufacturers. This is how Wilkas describes it: “Our brand is the way we take care of our customers at a very high level. It’s communicating to the customer in a manner where we understand what the customer is looking for and what his needs are, and the customer understands what he can expect from us. It is having a high sense of urgency in dealing with the customer. “Sometimes, it’s just finding some good middle ground, knowing that our solution and what the customer is looking for may not be exactly the same. But somewhere in between lies a solution that works for everyone, and it’s about not letting communication stop until that middle ground is found. Sometimes, it is just being honest and telling your customer what you must tell them, instead of telling them what they want to hear and later not being able to deliver on it.” Thus, branded for the life of the organization, Monroe Tractor embraces the future at the same time it recognizes that more changes are coming. Markets have a way of waxing and waning, and new markets springing into view. Chris Felosky believes the company is prepared for whatever comes through being adaptive. “Just because there was no market for a product two years ago doesn’t
dictate that the market today is not ready for that same product. We’re adding additional services, such as line boring, that we might have outsourced in the past. Certainly, products related to machine control are going to be a part of our future growth.” Growth of the semi-autonomous and autonomous machinery is impressive, especially in agriculture, he said. “Precision farming has been exploding in ag markets for well over a decade. As the technology changes, we’re investing in the right people and products to stay abreast of it.” Another challenge down the road is finding and training a new breed of technicians — computer techs, for example. Chris noted that engine overhaul specialists are not as urgently needed — with customers leaning toward remanufacture solutions — but hydraulic and electric troubleshooters are. “We are going to have to find people who are trained in those areas.” Consolidation of dealerships signals another challenge. “There are a lot fewer equipment dealers out there today than there were 20 years ago,” Chris said. “The other side of the coin is that there are a lot more equipment manufacturers than ever before and although there are a lot more manufacturers than when I started, the number of dealers are being consolidated and dealers are becoming fewer, but bigger.” In addition, sales methods are changing — more electronic sales material, fewer brochures, more Internet shopping, fewer visits to equipment lots. All of these more impersonal ways of doing business are being closely watched. “One thing that concerns me is with the ability for customers to shop online, the important part of our business — building relationships — will be harder to maintain. Relationships are vital to Monroe Tractor.” 23
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Congratulations to Monroe Tractor on its’ 70th Anniversary and best wishes for continued success in the future. It has been a pleasure representing Monroe Tractor for many of those years.
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TALBERTMFG.COM | 800-348-5232 NOTHING BETTER BETWEEN THE LOAD AND THE ROAD!
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PRO-TILL L
®
HIGH PERFORMANCE TILLAGE
High Speed, High Performance Tillage This is Pro-Till by Degelman. The fastest and most versatile piece of tillage equipment you will ever own, Pro-Till shreds heavy fall residue, openns up spring fields, levels ruts, destroys clods and produces an absolutely perfect seed bed. The Pro-Till shreds residue at speeds over 10 0 mph, up to three times the speed of traditionnal cultivators, while ensuring uniform distributio on of residue to eliminate problems such as uneven and delayed emergence, hair pinninng, erosion and seeder/planter plugging.
High Performance Blade Engineered for Silage The Silage King is built on the same rock-solid foundation that Degelman is known for, and includes features that will significantly improve how you push silage. With our new streamlined design, this blade pushes silage with less horsepower, while maximizing the approach angle allowing you to push the silage up where it belongs.
Degelman’s Radial Lift Approach
ENGINEERED TOUGH www.degelman.com
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Regardless of the challenges sure to come, Mike Celantano, the former longtime CFO, believes the newest generation of company leadership is up to the task. “I watched Chris grow up. When he decided to join us at Monroe Tractor, he knew very well the company would not be given to him on a platter, that he would need to grow and learn every aspect of the company, and that’s exactly what he did. I am fully confident that he is more than capable of leading Monroe Tractor into the future.” Laura Wilkas also has faith in the processes of leadership in place at the company. She noted that the company CEO and president “each have an open-door policy. If there is ever an issue with a customer, they are the first ones to reach out.” That’s a policy that was instilled by her grandfather.
“
We tackle problems head on, working together to find the best solution – most importantly we hold each other accountable to do the right thing for the customer.
Resolving customer issues is a central company dynamic.
- Laura Wilkas, Marketing Director
”
“We don’t turn a blind eye and hope a problem goes away,” Wilkas said. “We empower our employees to make the right decisions and do whatever they can to get a customer up and running.”
Our Values:
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We solve problems.
We embrace teamwork.
We work hard.
We do what is right.
Adams Center, NY Agriculture Division
Albany, NY Agriculture/Construction Division
Batavia, NY Agriculture Division
Auburn, NY Agriculture Division
Binghamton, NY Agriculture/Construction Division
Canandaigua, NY Agriculture Division
Buffalo, NY Construction Division
Campbell, NY Agriculture/Construction Division
Hartford, CT Construction Division
Syracuse NY, Construction Division
Worcester, MA, soon to be Westboro Construction Division
Rochester, NY Construction Division Corporate.
Woburn, MA Construction Division
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HERE’S TO A DEALER WHO HAS PUT FARMERS FIRST FOR 70 YEARS.
Case IH congratulates Monroe Tractor for being a best-in-class dealership. For more than 70 years, you’ve helped farmers get more out of their operation with outstanding equipment, service and support. We look forward to powering the next generation of farming with you.
©2021 CNH Industrial America LLC. All rights reserved. Case IH is a trademark registered in the United States and many other countries, owned by or licensed to CNH Industrial N.V., its subsidiaries or affiliates. www.caseih.com
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Your road building solutions.
Sales • Rental • Parts • Service • Support
Reliable rentals. Avoid expensive downtime – rest assured that you’ll get the job done when you rent an expertly maintained machine by us.
Late-model low-hour machines • Competitive rates • Rent to own options Well maintained equipment • Long and short term rentals Knowledgeable rental support • 70 years in the rental industry
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SPRINGFIELD AMHERST HADLEY NORTHAMPTON WESTFIELD 413.584.1287 BA ACONWILSON.COM
Schedule your rentals today! NY: 585-334-3867 • MA, RI, CT: 866-590-2273
See our entire rental inventory at: monroetractor.com/for-rent/construction/
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