Collin Conte
Sales Specialist out of the Ohio location. Three years on the counter, hometown of Kimbolton, and a methodical approach that's made him one of Broken Tractor's busiest reps.
Collin Conte got into the parts business because he wanted to get into sales. The first piece of heavy equipment he ever ran was a Case 450 — a tracked dozer most operators learn to respect quickly — and the brand stuck. Three years later, his line at the Ohio sales floor is one of the busiest in the company.
His approach is straightforward and a little understated. Ask the right questions, narrow down what the customer actually needs, and don't quote until the picture is clear. It's the kind of patience that doesn't make for flashy customer-service stories — but it's the reason customers keep calling extension 124 by name.
What he covers in a typical week
Collin's book is heavy on Case backhoes and John Deere construction equipment, but the work is wider than the specialty list lets on. In a recent stretch he's been quoting head gasket kits for Case 590 Super L Series 2 backhoes, sourcing rebuilt shuttle and torque assemblies, working Ford 555D torque converters through multiple suppliers, and chasing a JD 544K fuel cap diameter mismatch a customer ran into with a different parts vendor.
He also does a fair amount of dealer-account work — customers like Southeastern Equipment, Joseph Equipment, and Turbo Terminal Tractors call him directly because he's consistent. Quotes go out fast, BOLs go out the same day, and when something goes sideways with a vendor, he's the one who calls the customer first instead of waiting for them to ask.
How he runs a parts call
Collin's answer to the most common parts-call problem is one line:
"Ask more questions."
It sounds obvious. It isn't. Plenty of reps want to quote fast to keep the call moving — Collin slows it down on purpose, because he's already learned the hard lesson that the cheapest part to ship is the one that fits. He'll ask which part of the machine the customer is working on, what failed, what symptoms they saw before it failed, and what the data plate says before he so much as opens a parts book.
The mistake he sees most
Customers ordering a part because it looks like the one they need.
"They're going off of looks and not descriptions."
Two parts can look identical and not interchange. The same Case 580 backhoe came in dozens of variants over its production run — different cylinder sizes, different fitments, different serial-number breakpoints that change which part the parts book lists. The fastest way to get the right part the first time is to read the data plate, write down the full serial, and call before you order. That's the whole pitch.
If he had to pick one to own forever
Without hesitation: a Case 580SL. The 580 backhoe is the machine that built Broken Tractor's catalog — it's also the machine that defined Collin's career on the counter. The L-series in particular sits in that sweet spot of "old enough to be everywhere, modern enough to actually fix." Spend three years answering parts calls about them, and you start having opinions.
Working on a Case backhoe or a John Deere construction machine?
Collin's the right call. Three years on the counter, a methodical approach to every quote, and a vendor network built around the parts that don't live on a shelf.
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