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 Jun. 15, 2026
Farm Equipment magazine reports: Former dealer association exec John Schmeiser, former Chief Operating Officer of the North American Equipment Dealers Association (NAEDA) provides a "behind-the-curtain" look at manufacturer relations, warranty wars & meetings that saved the industry from hundreds of lawsuits. Editor's Note: After reading John Schmeiser's candid new memoir, If Boardrooms Could Talk: The Pivotal Work No One Sees in just two sittings, Farm Equipment requested permission to share an excerpt of the book's content with its subscribers. What follows is Chapter 17 from Schmeiser's newly released book in its entirety and in his own words. The 428-page book is available for sale for Kindle, hardcover or paperback via Amazon. The first time I sat across the table from senior OEM executives in their boardroom in 2004, I remember thinking one thing very clearly: this feels a lot like politics. Not because there were cameras or reporters outside the door. There weren't. Not because anyone was running for office. They weren't. But because the room had that same energy -- that mix of tension and courtesy, smiles that didn't always match the body language, and the unspoken understanding that every sentence mattered. We were sitting in a boardroom that could have belonged to any global corporation: polished table, perfectly staged chairs, coffee ready to be poured, and in this setting, pictures of their farm equipment on the walls. Add a couple of people in the room wondering whether this meeting was really worth their time. We weren't there for NAEDA. We weren't there as spectators. We were there on behalf of the equipment dealers we represented -- real dealers who took real risks. People who owned stores, employed people, carried inventory, fought weather, fought cash flow, fought customers who wanted miracle fixes in half an hour, and fought manufacturers who sometimes forgot that dealers were the ones carrying the brand on their backs. And there we were -- dealer representatives -- showing up with real-world issues like: warranty reimbursement that didn't cover actual costs, dealer agreement language that was basically a contract of adhesion, parts supply problems, product quality issues, policies that seemed written by someone who had never signed the front of a check, and the latest ratings from NAEDA's Dealer-Manufacturer Relations Survey. I was still relatively new to Canada West and manufacturer relations issues when I attended my first such meeting. NAEDA didn't let just anyone into those early sessions -- only the most experienced and respected managers. For good reason. When I was in the family dealership (Schmeiser's Garage, which I grew up around from 1968-1988), there didn't seem to be much tension between us and our major manufacturers -- White, Massey Ferguson or New Holland at the time. Maybe there was, but it wasn't noticeable to me. When the "blockman" showed up, he stayed for dinner. White had gone through two bankruptcies. Massey Ferguson needed a government bailout. My perception then was that the manufacturer needed us as much as we needed them. That stuck with me. When I did get invited to my first manufacturer meeting after joining Canada West, I did what I always did in unfamiliar rooms: I sat quietly, listened, and tried not to look like I didn't belong. That's when it hit me: this wasn't just association work. To read the entire article click here. Tweet |
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