By Brian Ethridge
In the outdoor power equipment industry, great products alone rarely guarantee strong sales. Dealers also need skilled salespeople who understand their territory, build relationships with contractors and confidently put equipment in front of customers. Sales training plays a key role in that process. Many of the most effective techniques focus on proactive engagement — from structured prospecting to hands-on demonstrations — rather than waiting for customers to walk through the door.
To explore how dealerships can strengthen their sales approach, OPE + spoke with Tom Healy and Josh Whittaker of the North American Equipment Dealers Association (NAEDA). The organization works with equipment dealerships across North America, offering consulting and training programs designed to help dealers improve operations, develop stronger sales teams and grow their market share.
According to Healy and Whittaker, the fundamentals of equipment sales remain straightforward: get equipment into the field, create visibility and build relationships with customers.
“If you’re waiting for it to happen, you’re going to be waiting a long time because it’s just going to trickle in slowly,” Healy said. “You got to force feed it.”
For dealerships representing brands such as Stanley Black and Decker, The Toro Company, Walker Manufacturing Company and Wright Manufacturing, strong recognition within the local community is essential.
Healy said contractors and municipalities should immediately associate a dealership with the brands it represents.
“The community needs to hear the name of the dealership and know exactly who you are and what you sell. They shouldn’t have a question in their mind. If you’re a Toro dealer or a Walker dealer or a Wright dealer, they should know it because you are so well represented in your territory.”
Building that recognition often requires involvement beyond the dealership itself. “In order to get there, you have to become involved in community events. You must have your product at community events. I’d love to take my machines and my mowers and let the townships or high-profile areas in our community run those machines. Just let them demo them. And then, all of a sudden, you know people are driving by in their vehicles and they see the township is mowing their lawn with their brand new Toro mowers. That gets people to start talking about it,” Healy said.
Allowing local municipalities or organizations to temporarily use equipment can create organic exposure and spark conversations among contractors and property managers.
For Healy, those moments of visibility are an important step in building long-term trust in the dealership and its equipment lineup.
While digital marketing and online research play a growing role in purchasing decisions, hands-on demonstrations remain one of the most effective ways to convert interest into a sale.
Healy said dealers should actively bring equipment to potential customers rather than waiting for contractors to visit the dealership.
“Let your landscapers borrow things. Let them try the equipment — get it in front of them. Don’t just wait for them to come to you.”
One of the most effective strategies, he said, is demonstrating equipment directly at a contractor’s jobsite.
“Go out where they’re at with a truck and trailer, drop off your new Toro mower and tell them, ‘hey, run this for the rest of the day’ and then we’ll meet for dinner tonight and hear their input on the machine.”
Healy said giving contractors the opportunity to run equipment in real working conditions can quickly lead to purchase conversations.
“Put them in front of people and start forcing them to consider trading their stuff in and buying your product line.”
Dealers who rely only on passive sales strategies risk falling behind, he added.
“You can’t just wait. If you’re waiting for it to happen, you’re going to be waiting a long time.”
Whittaker said dealerships often see the greatest success when sales teams actively seek out new customers instead of relying only on existing accounts.
“All of the more successful people in the dealerships that I managed were constantly demoing.”
Many dealerships host organized demo days where contractors can test multiple machines at once, giving sales teams an opportunity to connect with potential buyers and introduce equipment to new prospects.
“We would have demo days, like Tom had mentioned, but the other thing is getting outside your normal book of customers and prospecting.”
Whittaker said consistently expanding beyond your existing customer base is critical for long-term growth.
“Constantly be looking for new customers,” he said.
Artificial intelligence is also beginning to influence how dealership training is delivered, though Healy said the technology is still developing.
“There are AI tools that are very specifically designed for every challenge that we’re up against and they are coming into the industry fast, extremely fast,” Healy said.
He said some training programs are already experimenting with AIgenerated instructors that can deliver educational content on demand.
“We’re starting to utilize AI in our industry to develop some of the trainings that we do,” he said. “We’re giving AI the material and it is putting it together. It creates an on-demand video of a person delivering the training.”
In some cases, he said, the AI-generated presenter can appear nearly indistinguishable from a real instructor.
“If you watch some videos, you wouldn’t know it’s not a real human being. You’re going to watch it and it’s going to look, sound and act like a real human being giving the training.”
The technology could eventually reduce the need for instructors to travel across the country to deliver courses in person, though Healy said dealers should approach new tools carefully.
“It’s not 100% there yet and dealers need to be very cautious about what they spend their money on when it comes to AI,” he said. “There’s a lot of no-noes and avenues that you don’t want to go down because you would just be throwing money away.”
Sales training programs across the outdoor power equipment industry increasingly emphasize practical, real-world strategies. Topics often include demonstrations, prospecting, territory development and relationship-building skills.
NAEDA offers a range of professional development programs designed to help dealerships strengthen those skills. Courses cover sales, parts and service operations, management training and dealership leadership, giving employees opportunities to grow throughout their careers.
One of the organization’s core offerings is its Mastering Sales training program, which focuses on helping dealership salespeople develop territories, prospect for new customers and use demonstrations as a closing tool.
“There’s really not much that isn’t discussed in that program that wouldn’t help develop a salesperson,” Whittaker said.
For Healy, however, the most important lesson for dealership sales teams remains simple: put equipment in front of customers and let the product prove itself.
“You got to have confidence in your product and you got to put it in front of people — that’s the biggest thing,” Healy said.
For more information about NAEDA membership, visit www.naeda.com/membership. Questions can be directed to jwhittaker@ naeda.com.