Photo courtesy of 4Rivers
John Shearer
John Shearer, CEO of 4Rivers Equipment and current AED chairman, took a less than traditional path to his leadership role in the equipment industry.
After serving in the military as a technician in the late 1970s, Shearer returned from overseas to a tough job market.
"I was not able to find work as a tech, so I took a job trimming trees for a few years," he said. "Finally, in 1984, I was able to get a position with the John Deere dealer in my hometown of Lebanon, Pa.
"I started at the bottom but took all the training I could possibly take and learned as much as I could," he added. "Eventually, they put me out in the field in a service truck."
Shearer worked his way up to service manager of Plasterer Equipment in Pennsylvania and then relocated to Virginia and accepted the same position with James River Equipment, where he would eventually be named vice president of product support. He served in that capacity for 13 years at which time he moved to 4Rivers Equipment in Colorado.
At 4Rivers, Shearer began as general manager of construction and forestry equipment. He was named COO in 2019 and then, CEO in 2021.
He was named AED board chairman at the beginning of 2024.
CEG recently spoke with Shearer about his 40-year career in the equipment industry and how the lessons learned along the way helped prepare him for the leadership positions he currently holds.
CEG: What did you like about being a tech at an equipment distributor?
Shearer: Plasterer was a very small dealer at the time with only two locations, and they operated a little differently than most dealerships. As a tech, we rotated to the parts department on Saturdays. We actually opened our own repair orders, and then pulled the parts from the parts department. Once I got into the field and had direct contact with customers, that really helped a lot. In the shop, there is no direct communication with the customer. Out in the field you do communicate directly and get to know their pain points and how important it is to get a machine back up and running. That's when I started to understand what customers needed and what their concerns were. I really enjoyed that part of the job.
CEG: How did that help prepare you for your role as a CEO and ultimately, as chairman of AED.
Shearer: Eventually at Plasterer, the time came when we had to become computerized, and the service manager at the time threw up his hands and said, "I can't do this, I'm not going to make the transition to a computer." So, they asked me if I wanted to be service manager. That's really when things started to click. Deere would run these Mark of Excellence contests. You had to meet all kinds of criteria. At that time, service managers were just required to get things fixed, without much thought about making money. The sales department was where all the money was made. Our job was to keep the customer happy. The excellence program taught me about margins, about absorption rates, how to keep expenses in line, and how you could make money in service. I began to learn the economics of a dealership. That really started to prepare me for the role I ultimately ended up with.
CEG: Did you have your sights on running a dealership one day?
Shearer: Running a dealership wasn't anywhere close to my mind. Plasterer's owner would ask me what I wanted to do, and I always said I wanted to be a salesman. Once I became involved in the management of the service department and seeing how a dealership operated, it made me forget about being in sales.
CEG: What message would you send to young people considering a career in the industry?
Shearer: If you look back, being a tech was not a glamorous job, or one where a person saw a lot of upward mobility, but that has changed with all the technology we have today, such as the automation being built into the machines and the fact that the dealers are branching out to more than just servicing a machine … now we are helping map out a job site and helping the customer make money. The idea of a tech being up to his elbow in grease and working with a sledgehammer is a thing of the past. In reality it is working with laptops.
But I definitely would tell them to learn how a dealership operates, how it stays profitable. If you learn those things, you have the opportunity to do anything you want to do in the industry. I think the door is now open for advancement on the support side of the business. The business is becoming "how are we taking care of the customer after the sale?"
CEG: What traits are dealers looking for in young people in the service end of the business.
Shearer: Well, certainly someone that is not afraid of hard work. Of course, we look for a person that scores well in aptitude tests. Back in the day, it was the guy that couldn't do anything else, and that has certainly changed. I like to see curiosity, preparation and now we look for an outgoing personality, as well. They need to be able to ask questions, comprehend and follow a procedure to get to the finish line.
CEG: Aside from recruiting, what are the major issues facing equipment dealerships over the next five years.
Shearer: One would be the speed at which technology is coming at us. Is the dealership nimble enough to accept it, and then figure out how to use it to benefit the customer? It is amazing today, because of the shortage of operators, how much customers are demanding the machine do on its own. For instance, what safety devices are there to protect the machine against an operator that is not very good?
The other thing we need to be concerned with is the Right to Repair legislation.
That's a big issue. If the government wanted to help with downtime and getting contractors and farmers up to speed quicker, they'd help us with the work force.
This all started at the state level here in Colorado and other places, where it did pass. Now, there has been a bill introduced on a federal level.
While we don't have any issues with customers fixing their own machines, we do have a problem with customers modifying their machines and disabling devices on the machine. There is probably an in-between, but typically the government is not very good at finding the in-between.
Officially, the position of AED is that we fully support customers being able to fix machines, we do not support customers being able to modify machines.
And then there is the uncertainty around taxes. First, we have 100 percent depreciation, then it goes away, then it comes back. It makes it tough to manage around day-to-day.
Today, dealerships work on thin margins; everyone has a lot of improving and consulting to do. So, we look for help from other places, such as AED (Associated Equipment Distributors). Financial planning and leadership training are two things that got me involved in AED.
The AED serves as a valuable resource for equipment dealers. They support the heavy equipment market by offering a variety of services and business development opportunities to their association members. Members can take advantage of tools such as webinars, seminars, certification tests to enhance your employee development. CEG
Today's top stories
