Stotz Equipment of Avondale, Ariz., has been chosen as the 2013 “Dealership of the Year” by Farm Equipment magazine.

Farm Equipment presents its “Dealership of the Year” awards annually to farm equipment dealerships in two categories: one for those with annual sales revenues of under $50 million and one for dealers with more than $50 million in annual sales revenues.

Stotz Equipment owns and operates 23 John Deere dealerships in eight western states, including in Cortez, Colo. Greenline Equipment, a divsion of Stotz, is located at 12978 Highway 491 in Cortez. Contact them at (970) 565-0814.

Cortez Greenline Equipment manager Mike Trennepohl credits the dealership success to a dedicated core group of employees, their expertise, and an excellent product line.

“It is a combination of that and the fact that we are a family owned business, which breeds consistency in our values and ways of doing business,” Trennepohl said.

Greenline is a full line dealer of Stotz Equipment, offering everything from lawn and garden equipment to 500 horsepower tractors. Excellent parts, service, financing, and sales support from 17 employees at the Cortez location make it a customer favorite.

“We have a lot of experience and knowledge and our customers appreciate that. We offer the best solution for your agricultural equipment needs,” he said.

In addition, they also carry a wide range of shortline equipment to serve their customers’ varied needs.

Stotz Equipment earned the distinction in the “over $50 million in annual sales revenue” category this year not only for its outstanding financial and operating performance that resulted in significant growth over the past 3 years, but also for its demonstrated commitment to the local communities that is served by its 23 locations, as well as its renowned customer service.

The dealership was chosen for the award by a panel of renowned farm equipment experts. In their selection of Stotz Equipment as Farm Equipment’s Dealership of the Year for 2013, the judges noted:

“This 23 store dealership has been growing rapidly in the last three years. Acquisitions have fueled the growth with the addition of two locations in 2013, seven locations in 2011, and they recently added two more. They employ 380 people who generate over a quarter of a billion in total sales. Stotz has the second highest absorption rate at 82.7 percent and the third highest ROA at 15.2 percent of all nominees. One of the most impressive stats was a three-year growth of over 120 percent. Again, acquisitions over the last three years aided in this growth. They do a lot with DOT in several states. In fact, they set up Stotz Mower, which mowed state highways last year.”

The judging panel included Dr. W. David Downey, director, Center for Agricultural Business, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.; David L. Kahler, retired CEO of the Ohio-Michigan Equipment Dealers Assn., Dublin, Ohio; and Charles Glass, president, Glass Management Group, Arlington, Texas.

The dealership was originally founded in 1947 and has grown to 380 employees across its 23 locations. Stotz Equipment places a strong emphasis on employee training, having created 12 internal 20 Groups, where they gather people with similar responsibilities from across the company twice a year for training and sharing best practices.

“We are heavily focused on our employees. We track job satisfaction through employee surveys and the number of employees who leave for another job,” says Jason Behrend, ISG/new business development manager. “This year we hit an all-time high on our employee surveys, and an all-time low on employees leaving the company. Despite all the changes, we only had eight people leave us out of 380 in the past 12 months.”

Stotz is also heavily involved in their local communities, typically supporting programs their employees are interested in from big projects like building homes for Habitat for Humanity to smaller ones like supporting local parades and school events.

Stotz Equipment’s selection as 2013 Dealership of the Year is featured in the July/August issue of Farm Equipment, which can be found at www.farm-equipment.com.

Farm Equipment magazine, based in Brookfield, Wis., serves more than 12,000 farm equipment dealers, wholesalers and distributors throughout North America. It’s also the publisher of Rural Lifestyle Dealer magazine, Farm Catalog, Ag Equipment Intelligence, No-Till Farmer and the Conservation Tillage Product Guide.