Regiers celebrate 40 years of business

Ron and Lorie Regier are celebrating 40 years of Regier Equipment being in business.

The farm equipment shop in Madrid, which first opened in 1980, was a dream of Ron’s. He thought it would be challenging and interesting, and over the years he found he was right.

When Regier Equipment was first up and running, the economy was not in a good place. Ron finds this to be a benefit for the business in hindsight, because he was able to start off learning to run a business during “the worst of times,” and it taught him to be careful.

“If things are really good when you get started and things go bad, usually you can’t adjust fast enough,” he said. “It taught us how to be careful and handle things when it’s really, really tough. You always have to be careful.”

Since then, Regier has evolved and grown as agriculture itself has changed. Ron describes the business when he first started as being very mechanical and manual, whereas now, most things are handled by computers and technology.

Over the years, Regier has acquired sales contracts with White New Idea, Gleaner, Massey-Ferguson, Hesston and Challenger. Other lines include BushHog, Hardi, Crustbuster, Unverferth and parts from various vendors. They have also been with AGCO for a number of years.

The family-owned small business has made a name for itself, Lorie says, because people prefer working with a local business rather than a large corporate business.

At the shop, Lorie manages the business’s accounting needs. She handles the general ledger, all the accounting functions and financing and overseeing the dealer excellence program. 

Ron can be found doing whatever is needed in the shop, handling sales, working with those in the service department, and generally overseeing the day-to-day happenings at Regier Equipment.

He is most dedicated to customer service and satisfaction. Lorie says her husband will “bend over backwards” to help a customer, and describes him as very passionate about customer service.

“He will do everything he can to make sure they go away as happy as can be, as contempt as could be,” she said.

“If we’re failing them, then we’re failing,” Ron added.

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