Getting John Deere Parts Faster: Tools, Options, and Support That Improve Uptime

Getting the right John Deere part—fast—can make all the difference during the season.

In this episode of the Leap Forward with Riesterer & Schnell podcast, Trevor Riesterer, Corporate Parts Manager, sits down with Marcus Fenske, Parts Manager at our Hortonville location, to break down how customers can get John Deere parts faster using today’s digital tools and support options.

They discuss how Shop.Deere.com and Equipment Mobile help customers find accurate parts the first time, how JDLink-connected equipment improves maintenance planning, and how Riesterer & Schnell supports customers with OEM and aftermarket parts options. The conversation also covers after-hours John Deere parts support during critical windows like planting and harvest.

If uptime matters to your operation, this episode shows how John Deere technology and experienced parts professionals work together to keep you moving.

Shop.Deere.com: https://shop.deere.com/jdb2cstorefront/JohnDeereStore/en?cog-id=083724

Equipment Mobile: https://www.rands.com/blog/discover-the-power-of-equipment-mobile

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Why Riesterer & Schnell?
Riesterer & Schnell, a progressive locally-owned John Deere dealership, has proudly been serving Wisconsin communities since 1931. Because you are committed to your land, we are determined to provide you with the very best in equipment and service. Our specialties are tractors, farm equipment, zero turns, riding lawn mowers, precision farming technology, parts and service.
www.rands.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome back to the next episode of the Leap Forward Podcast with Reaster and Schnell. I'm Trevor Riester, our corporate parts manager. Um today we're talking many thick great things about parts. Um we're gonna talk about how to get parts faster, um, what digital tools are available to you, um, what sets Reason Snell apart when it comes to OEM versus aftermarket parts and after hours. Um, so today I got Marcus with me, parts manager in Hortonville. Marcus, I want you to introduce yourself.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Yeah, absolutely. Hi everyone, uh Marcus Fenski, parts manager here at the Hortonville store for the last uh little over two years. Uh I was a technician in the shop for about two and a half years before I came up front when the uh the opportunity came uh came up for me. So now we are here and uh somehow I let you talk me into this, but we're uh we're here to do the podcast and uh happy to uh give our insight. Um, like Trevor mentioned, a lot of good things we're gonna touch on as far as after hours, um, what we can offer as Rester and Channel and um how we can kind of keep everybody moving in the right direction.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Awesome, Marcus. Um, so I guess starting off, in your view, what do customers expect in a great parts department today? I know it's come a long way, parts departments have evolved, things have changed, always changing. What what what are customers asking for from parts departments?

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Yeah, well, um as I'm sure you know, and and everybody that's watching or listening to this realizes time is money, right? And and being able to be efficient and getting parts out the door quickly in the first place, or right the first time rather, um, and making sure that uh things are as efficient as possible um means more uptime for the customer, um, and uh a lot of other good parts of that. So, what they're really looking for out of good parts department would be accurate parts again, the first time, um, having stuff out in an efficient manner. Um, if we don't have it here, what are the realistic time frames knowing knowing when stuff's gonna be getting in? Um, a lot of guys don't mind necessarily waiting on stuff, but they there's that certain expectation of when the time frame, um, you know, when they're when they're wanting it, you know, whether it's two days or when the urgency matters.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Yes. So, you know, we have a we want parts people that are confident, right? Yep. Um, access to probably a strong inventory access, you know, like John Deere's network of you know, parts availability is extremely strong. Um, we're we're grateful for that. Um, something else that comes to my mind is maybe uh a parts person that's flexible, you know, in a in a situation where maybe we don't have the part, but doing what they can to you know get the customer up and running, you know, when it you know, making something else fit that's in essence doesn't necessarily fit that machine, you know, just thinking outside the box, yeah. I think that goes a long way for customers and somebody just puts that extra effort in.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Yeah, absolutely. And and kind of along that lines, too, a lot of folks are looking for the convenience. You know, we we've got a lot of good online stuff, and I know we're gonna touch on that here in a minute. Yeah, um, the the I've got a lot of guys that are calling us with part numbers already. Most guys have access to the online stuff. Um, a lot of guys are doing their research already, so that helps make things a lot easier. And I know we were gonna touch on the the shop.deer stuff. I'll let you jump right into it.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

I mean, you brought it up shop.dear.com. Um, what is it? How should customers think about it? Use it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Um, so shop.deer. Uh prior to this, it was the reason all portal, and now they're gonna be working on tying things kind of together here before too long. Um, shop.deer is it's your your login, your link to everything reaster and channel parts side. So you've got the ability to place orders. Um, there are certain promotion programs that shop.deer is offering um above and beyond. And correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, Trevor, but there's there's a lot of aspects to it that make it easier for customers to find their own parts um the first time. Not not that we want to take away the parts counter or being able to call in or walk in or anything like that, but again, back to what I mentioned earlier, time is money, and and I think if we're a lot of guys, it's easier to say, hey, I know what I'm looking at. I got the part here in front of me. Yeah, you know, you have access to all the diagrams.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Um, it's not meant to replace you know the parts department, you know, you know, especially good parts people hard to find right. It's used as an extension, as a tool, you know, for customers to view our inventory, know that we have it before you make the trip down, um, in and out, pick the order up, say hi, how's it going, Mark? It's great to see you out the door. Yep, you know, when that when you know when time counts. Um, yeah. You touched on a little bit the promotions thing. I like with shop.deer.com. Uh it's a little bit broader reach of making sure the customer gets that promotion. Um, when Deer is running something versus just over the counter. You know, we do our best to try to reach people and say, hey, there's promotion. I can get you a discount on these parts. We have a hard time, there's millions and millions of part numbers, right? It's hard to reach everybody and get the discount on everything. The nice part about shop is everything is just loaded in there with the discount on there. You know you're gonna get that, you know, the special discount, you know, when when you're you know on shop.dear.com.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

So along with that, in a lot of cases, the um I've come to find out and realize, anyways, in a lot of cases, the serial numbers for these customers are already loaded into their profiles within the shop.dear again, former way the portal we were seeing this. So in a lot of cases, if it's a machine-specific part or a serial number uh more specifically, um, there would there is that ability to make sure again, we're not just okay, well, it's one of three options, which one do you want to try?

SPEAKER_00 5:40

You know, so we're hitting that accuracy thing in the part the first time.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Yep, absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Um, another tool in the toolbook, kind of less common, not as well known yet, equipment mobile. Yep. Um, what do you know about equipment mobile, Marcus?

SPEAKER_01 5:53

Um, yeah, like you said, man, it's it's new, um, it's coming down the pipe. Um, it's it's a extension, if you will, of your operator's manual, from my understanding. Um, not meant again to replace anything that we're doing at the store level, but um just making it more convenient for I believe it was all customers, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Not just lawn and guarding big and small, it doesn't matter, you know. Right, any any John Deere PC equipment you can access operator's manual app you down on download on your phone. Um, if your machine is connected with a JD Link modem, um it's tracking your hours. And the nice part of that is it's offering you suggested maintenance plans depending on where interval you're at on your hours, um, and as well as along with that giving you the option to add the parts you need right in the cart there and pushing it over to shop.t.com. So it's makes it simple, easy, um, gives you suggestions of what you should be doing for maintenance depending on the hours of your machine. Now, that's specifically if you have a link machine. If your machine isn't linked with a JD Link modem, you're not gonna have that, but you're still gonna be able to access, you know, operators' manuals, troubleshooting guides, you know, when it's we can't get down to the store or it's a weekend, we're closed. You know, you at least have some opportunity to do some research on your own. Let's switch gears here a little bit, Marcus. Let's talk about um aftermarket parts. Um, customers are often comparing pricing, shopping on ground, go online where it's easiest. Um how do you explain what sets Research apart when it comes to aftermarket parts, why we promote the the John Deere part, but we're also having an opinion of hey, we want to get you the right part that's for you.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

Yeah, um, yeah, absolutely. So um you kind of hit the nail on the head having that aftermarket option for a lot of guys is a is a great thing that um we like to offer here, and that's really what sets us apart, in my opinion, is not only do we have the OEM option with the deer part and having that accessible to us, but we also have the ability for, for instance, an AI product that's kind of our big fallback for um a lot of cases. Um, you know, starters, alternators, uh pieces of glass, seals, seal kits, bearings. Um, in a lot of cases, that's that's kind of where when the the name of the game is being conscious of the the dollar amount and that kind of thing, that's where we've got those competitive options. Um, I've heard a lot of good things for a lot of this aftermarket stuff from guys, a lot of good reviews. Um there is um there's a lot of options. It's not everything that qualifies for it, but yeah, um, like I said, what sets us apart though, really at the end of the day is having the OEM option, which is which is always great. Um, but then having that aftermarket one for the guys that are maybe a little bit more budget um conscious in in a lot of cases, that uh that's a nice option too.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

I think a good point to drive home is we understand that the OEM option isn't always the right fit at the right, you know, depending on the person situation at the time, um, you know, spending that little bit more for the OEM might not be the the right answer. So yep. So our parts people understanding that we need to offer solutions that might not be that John Deere part every time. Um, but also making it easy. It's so easy for a customer to go online and compare pricing. Um, if you're already doing that, checks shop.dear.com. If you're already doing that, going online anyways, right? See what pricing's out there for you because it is actually perspective, is everything, right? Yep, absolutely. Um, it is more comparable than you would think. And then when it does get tight when it comes to that pricing, give us a call and see what kind of solution it can come up for. Yeah, absolutely. Yep. Um last topic uh before we wrap up with top after hours. Yep. Um, what is it? How does it work? Parts and service has it.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

Yeah, absolutely. Um, I I'm not gonna cover the service side of it just because they they um they're there for you if you need them. Um, but as far as the parts go, um, what that basically is is um anything we we we close the doors on the building at five o'clock, but anything from five o'clock to I believe it's ten o'clock is when we turn the the phones back off um for the evening hours, and then uh I believe it's six o'clock to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday as well. So uh that is for any of these guys that are in emergency situation, you know. Uh a couple examples I can think of is planting season, um, chopping corn in the fall, that kind of stuff. Um, I again time is money, you know. I I don't mean to keep hammering that one, but uh for these guys it's it's a matter of uptime and how can we best and most efficiently keep these guys up on going. Um I there is a um I don't know if we want to touch on it, there's a little bit of a fee that's associated with that after hours parser call. Um, but in the grand scheme of things, for most guys, it's it's it's nothing compared to the amount of time they lose by missing a day.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Yeah, business doesn't stop just because research and shnell is closed at five for the day. We understand that you know, when it comes to short windows and happening to get planting season, it's already April. Yeah, that's all it's right around the corner. You know, it's it's gonna be here extremely fast. Um, so how does how does a customer get a hold of after hours? Yep.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Um, real simple. Um, so the the phone number for your local Restur and Channel store, whichever one that might be. Um, I believe everybody's doing it aside from the Nino location being just lawn and garden. But if you need some, you just call the Hortonville store and we'll we'll take care of you. But um, at the end of the day, you just call the Hortonville number or the store number. You're a local store. Yep, you don't want every location to you. Well, let me let me you're a go-getter, so I understand. Let me uh I should clarify that right. Call your local store, uh, whoever that might be. They will uh it's the same cue when you call in any other time. You'll press one for parts, one for service, or two for service, rather. Um, and um it's just a matter of letting it ring until the guy answers. Most stores are uh very good about making sure that it gets answered immediately. Um, and again, I think most and I I can speak for most of the other parts, guys, that I think everybody's got a passion for what they do and keeping guys up and moving. Um, I think that on the weekends and evenings, most guys are keeping track of their phone very closely because they do care and they do want to make sure that you guys are taken care of. So that's the um that's the big thing there. But yeah, just call your local store. Um, you'll you'll end up getting to somebody, and then it's just a matter of figuring out if we got it in inventory. Um, but to tie it all back together with the shop.deer, in a lot of cases, at least my situation last year, um, most of the guys that called in already had their part number, already knew if we had it. They just said, Hey, can you go put it on a ticket for me and set it outside so I can pick it up later on tonight?

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Limit's full circle makes it so easy for everybody. Absolutely. This is so nice, you know. Yep. Um, so I guess really if you had to take one action item out of today's conversation if you're a customer, you know, what what would that be? Put you on the spot.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Yeah, right. I guess I I didn't prep myself for this one, Trevor. Um, the action item to take away from us. I I think that or a good something. Yeah, right, right, to tie it all together. Um, you know, it it's the world's ever changing, as you mentioned. The parts department is evolving, it's constantly changing. There's a lot of moving parts. Um, no pun intended. But there is uh probably bad bad dad joke. I'm sorry. Um, at the end of the day, it's it's all about uptime and keeping everybody moving. So you we have these tools or tools available to these guys. Um please utilize them. Uh that they are in place. I guess that would be my kind of takeaway. Is we we have uh GiveShot Bed Dirac, come and try. Absolutely. Um we've got equipment mobile. Yeah, um, we've got the after hours, we've got you've still got wonderful folks working the counters and answering the phones in all the departments.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Um versus aftermarket. Let us find a solution that makes sense for you. Absolutely. We're we're willing to help. We want to help. Um, we if we would love the business, and I guess with that, we'll wrap up by saying thank you, everybody, for past business. We very much appreciate that. Looking forward to helping you out in the future. So absolutely. I guess with that, Marcus, thanks for all your help. Yeah, appreciate everything you do for us as well. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

We're your John Deere dealer coming through for you, Roosterer Ranch now.