Sara Loritz, parts technician at Vanderloop Equipment in Brillion, Wis., estimates that she spends 75% of her time at work talking with customers, whether on the phone or in person.

“Communication isn't too hard for me,” Loritz says. “I’m fairly outgoing. I like to talk. I have been told multiple times that I have been annoying because I will just keep asking my guys in the back and in other departments until we get things done.”

Adjusting her communication style to the individual coworker or customer positions Loritz for success in her recently reimagined parts technician role at Vanderloop (see sidebar), which has stores in Brillion, Beaver Dam and Lena, Wis.

“I grew up on a farm,” Loritz says. “Farmers can be a unique breed, and I'm fairly used to them because they're kind of like my old man. These are the people I actually like talking to. There are days that are draining, don't get me wrong, like during second cutting when everybody's freaking out and stuff's breaking. It gets exhausting answering the phone constantly and working with people because they're frustrated. It gets hard, but I don't mind it.”

She says the most valuable traits for someone in a customer service role to have are to be friendly, be outgoing and have tough skin.

“A lot of the time, customers aren’t actually angry at you — they’re just frustrated as a whole,” Loritz says. “You have to learn to take it with a grain of salt. They’re not mad at you personally. That makes a big difference and makes it less exhausting at the end of the day.”

Reading Customers

Growing up on a small grain farm, Loritz is empathetic to the needs of customers, especially those who aren’t running the newest equipment or the biggest operation in the dealership’s territory.

“I remember my dad telling me that he always felt like he got overlooked because he only had a couple hundred acres,” Loritz says. “I don’t want any grower to feel like he did, so that’s my motivation to try to keep a good relationship with customers. I’m a people person, so having that positive connection is my personality.

Making a positive connection depends on the customer’s personality, too, Loritz says. Some customers are more laid back and like to chat when they come in, while others want to get right to the matter at hand.

“A lot of it is reading the person and their body language,” Loritz says. “It’s a hard skill to learn, too. There are guys who I don’t joke with because all they're focused on is running a business. They are very serious. Farmers are a breed all their own, but they’re all also very different among each other.”

Loritz recalls a customer interaction that showed her just how differently people respond to frustration. Early on in her career at Vanderloop, a long-time customer came in on a rainy day and asked Loritz to help him find a part he’d purchased in the past. Loritz says she was a little nervous going from installing GPS guidance to finding the correct coupler for the back of a tractor.

“He had bought the part here once before, but it had been years ago, and it was really hard to find,” Loritz says. “We’re sitting there, digging through parts, and I'm struggling. I'm starting to get frustrated. I was already nervous starting at the dealership and not having 100% parts knowledge.

“The customer had to be the most patient guy in the world. He helped me look for the part. We ended up finding it, and it was great. I felt like, ‘Yes, I can do this job.’ It gave me confidence when I first started. That was huge. Again, it goes back to understanding farmers. They can get frustrated easily, but they are also very good people, and they understand that we're here to help.”

In instances when customers are frustrated and not in the mood to help, Loritz recommends letting them vent before trying to solve the problem.

“Sometimes they just need to vent at someone, and then we can move forward,” Loritz says. “It sucks getting yelled at, but keep in mind that they’re not directly mad at you. They're just frustrated with choppers down or so-and-so didn’t show up or a semi blew a tire. Once they’ve gotten that out of their system, then go, ‘OK, so how would you like to proceed? How do we want to tackle this?’”

Acting as Middleman

Once the customer stops venting, Loritz starts collecting information about the problem and communicating with the service technicians. Asking questions and recording as much detail as possible are key to solving the problem, according to Loritz, whether the interaction is going to result in a counter ticket, shop ticket, service call or warranty ticket.

“Sometimes I'm don’t have that perfect answer or know exactly what is needed, but the important thing is trying to find that answer by using resources and following up,” Loritz says. “I don't have to be a master of all, but I have to use my resources. Everybody matters, and they all want an answer.”

In the case of shop tickets, the service techs will work on the equipment, but Loritz will stay in contact with the customer if the issue isn’t fixed within a day. She either calls or texts the customer at the end of the day to explain what work has been done and what the service department is waiting on to finish the job. She’ll also ask the customer how quickly they need the machine back so she can start investigating other outlets for parts if needed or identifying resources to get the customer up and running while their equipment is in the shop.

“You got to keep everybody posted,” Loritz says. “Tractors and choppers are these guys’ livelihood. They have to know what's going on, so they greatly appreciate communication. If you can't solve the problem right away, it's OK, but letting them know is all they really need to know half the time.”

In 2023, Vanderloop got very busy around the third hay cutting because the weather was so dry and customers were cutting so fast. One of the dealership’s biggest customers, who has Vanderloop send techs out to fix all his machinery when it goes down, was one of many customers who called with an issue during the third cutting. Loritz told him she’d send someone out as soon as possible, but 3 hours later, still no one had gotten to his farm.

“I still hadn't gotten a tech back, and he had gotten pretty upset,” Loritz says. “Again, a lot of it was just letting him vent, but we ended up having a tech from another location go out. That’s the nice thing about having multiple locations. If we can’t get to somebody, Beaver Dam probably can. We jump around and help each other when needed, and that's what we ended up doing.”

Regardless of which tech ends up helping the customer, Loritz tries to stay involved to ensure good customer service and continue growing her own knowledge.

“I’m still fairly new on the service side of diagnosing problems, so I try to stay close to the techs and the customer to hear how we identified this problem, what happened prior, all of that,” Loritz says. “I’m like a fly on the wall. I’m trying to soak up as much as I can.” 

She also makes a point to talk with the techs throughout the day as they’re working on the machinery in the shop so she can continue learning and also build a relationship with them.