“We knew we had to get people into seats,” says Adam Reid, marketing manager for the Versatile brand.
From the inside, North America’s farm machinery industry feels like it’s under intense competitive pressure.
Sure, there’s only a handful of companies left, which sometimes makes farmers feel they’re trapped by having so few choices. But in many ways marketing today is even more perilous than it was just after the First World War, when the continent had some 250 tractor makers.
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The challenge is, how do you get the right people to actually consider buying your machines?
Winnipeg-based Buhler Industries, owner of the Versatile brand and Canada’s lone remaining tractor builder, thinks it has the answer. It’s to identify farmers who are in the market for a replacement model and get them to sit behind the wheel of a new Versatile. Then, let them rip up some ground.
The plan is: get them to love what they see, hear and feel as the tractors dig in and go to work.
“We wanted to put guys behind the wheel in a pulling situation,” says Reid.
Hence the company’s 2009 “Heavy Metal Tour,” widely seen as marking the birth of a new era of intensive hands-on machinery marketing. The company’s heavy-metal lingo was also clearly intended.
This is Versatile, after all, and while the company used its eight tour stops across the Canadian Prairies last summer to show off its complete tractor lineup, it was the heavily muscled, articulated models with up to 525 horsepower that were clearly the star performers.
Although this was Versatile’s first attempt at extensive field demonstrations, another Canadian company, MacDon, a windrower manufacturer also headquartered in Winnipeg has been using this marketing strategy since the mid-1980s, punching it up in 2007 with its “Cut Across America Tour.”
According to Gene Fraser, MacDon’s director of marketing, the company had to delve into uncharted territory when it started its tour, and a few wrinkles needed to be ironed out as the program evolved. “We followed the 4-H motto, learn to do by doing,” Fraser says. And even now the tour continues to see refinements.
Initially, because of a shortage of available units, the company had to transport equipment from region to region for each field day. It added considerably to the cost, but Fraser says that is no longer necessary. “The big difference in 2009 is we have equipment at most if not all dealer locations.”
MacDon turned to tours for the same strategic reasons as Versatile. “We felt strongly that showing equipment was the best way of selling it,” says Fraser. “It is very hard to show the productivity of the equipment if you do not run it for a bit of time.”
Until recently, Versatile had been relying primarily on traditional practices including advertising, brochures and its website. But they had one drawback. They weren’t
Should You Get Behind The Wheel?
“If you-drive” tractor demonstrations are going to get more popular, how can you get the most out of them? Here’s advice from some of those attending Versatile’s 2009 Heavy Metal Tour.
“We bought a new high-clearance sprayer a few years ago, and getting a test drive (before buying) was the best thing we ever did,” says Grant Mac-Dougall, a farmer near Craven, Sask. “Finding out about the specs and features would help you decide ahead of time which model to look at.”
“Find out where the sweet spot is for running the tractor under load to maximize fuel economy,” says Dan Sebastian, sales rep with Cummins Western Canada.
“Ask questions,” says Rina Blacklaws, public relations specialist with the Versatile Heavy Metal Tour. With so many experts and factory reps on hand, she says, a demonstration event is the perfect place to learn about a machine’s design.
“Just show up,” says Brent Bogue, territory manager for Versatile. Whether you’ve had a chance to do some homework on the brand or not, an opportunity to operate a tractor or other machine before you buy it is a rare one, Bogue believes. A few hours of your time invested in attending a product demonstration may pay big dividends later when it comes time to purchase, even if you buy another brand.
And Gene Fraser, MacDon’s director of marketing associated with that company’s Cut Across America Tour, offers this advice. “Go over the machines to see all the features and benefits before running each one in the field. Make sure you know how to program the onboard monitors to get the information you require. And take it on the road to see how it handles that aspect of operation.”
“ Find out where the sweet spot is for running the tractor under load to maximize fuel economy,” — Dan Sebastian
being integrated with the kind of “in the driver’s seat” experience that Versatile had come to think it needed in order to convert farmers into true believers.
Of course, logistics had to be controlled. Ideally, farmers would prefer to try a new tractor on their own farm, hitched to their own implements, but hooking up today’s sophisticated electronics could take a full day before a tractor was ready for just one demo.
Versatile’s public relations team came up with a more practical idea to let farmers raise some dust, and the tour was born. When farmers arrived at the eight sites, tractors were already attached to implements and ready to roll, making efficient use of everyone’s time.
According to Brent Bogue, Versatile’s territory manager for Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, and one of the Versatile “roadies” who ran the tour, farmers liked the opportunity to make a tractor pull, rather than just drive it around a dealer’s parking lot. “They want to lug it down and make it work,” Bogue says.
But even driving a tractor around a dealer’s lot before committing to buy it is a luxury few get these days. With many dealers keeping little or no inventory on hand, some purchasers may not even get a first-hand look at a tractor before placing a factory order.
The opportunity to crawl over the tractors and see how they perform under load seemed to go down well with most of the producers who showed up at the tour stops. “I think it’s a great idea,” said Gary Orthner, a producer from Raymore, Sask. who attended the Regina event. “You get an opportunity to see what’s out there before you purchase anything.”
Orthner believes putting a tractor through its paces can make or break a deal. “In the past, there were some tractors I haven’t bought because of the way things are situated in the cab,” Orthner says. But in the driver’s seat of a model 435 tractor, Orthner liked what he saw. And he wasn’t alone. The try-it-before-you-buy-it strategy seems to be paying off for Versatile. The tour reportedly generated sales after only a few events, although it is too early to tell how cost effective it was overall.
With sales of high-horsepower tractors still brisk in North America, few manufacturers are bothering with the expense of giving farmers a chance to see a tractor perform in the field.
The Lesson For Farmers? Know Your Suppliers’ Marketing Strategy. Then Take Advantage
But for Reid, the tour was about more than giving farmers a chance to test Versatile equipment. It was also about building the Versatile brand.
Reid believes it was an ideal opportunity for Versatile to stand out from the pack, even though the company is a relatively small player compared to the major manufacturers. The tactic let this David take on the Goliaths and get noticed. “We want farmers to know we’re a different kind of company,” Reid says. “We care about doing business with them.”
While MacDon has stayed with its Cut Across America program, Versatile hasn’t yet decided if the Heavy Metal Tour will reappear next year. The company wants to evaluate the results of this year’s activities first. “We can track the results and see how this translates into sales,” says Reid.
To rate the tour’s overall impact on sales and to find out what farmers thought of it, Reid says he can follow that up right from the factory in Winnipeg. “Because of the size of our company, there’s no red tape. I can get on the phone and talk directly to a customer.”
But if initial results are any indication, there will be pressure from producers and dealers for a repeat performance in 2010. Rina Blacklaws, a public relations specialist with Woodruff Sweitzer, the PR firm that organized the tour for Versatile, notes the comments from those who participated in the events were positive.
“We want to get growers into the seat of a Versatile tractor so they’re aware of the rebirth of Versatile,” Blacklaws says.
That’s our business. We want to sell tractors.” CG
The Lesson For Farmers? Know Your Suppliers’ Marketing Strategy. Then Take Advantage
But for Reid, the tour was about more than giving farmers a chance to test Versatile equipment. It was also about building the Versatile brand.
Reid believes it was an ideal opportunity for Versatile to stand out from the pack, even though the company is a relatively small player compared to the major manufacturers. The tactic let this David take on the Goliaths and get noticed. “We want farmers to know we’re a different kind of company,” Reid says. “We care about doing business with them.”
While MacDon has stayed with its Cut Across America program, Versatile hasn’t yet decided if the Heavy Metal Tour will reappear next year. The company wants to evaluate the results of this year’s activities first. “We can track the results and see how this translates into sales,” says Reid.
To rate the tour’s overall impact on sales and to find out what farmers thought of it, Reid says he can follow that up right from the factory in Winnipeg. “Because of the size of our company, there’s no red tape. I can get on the phone and talk directly to a customer.”
But if initial results are any indication, there will be pressure from producers and dealers for a repeat performance in 2010. Rina Blacklaws, a public relations specialist with Woodruff Sweitzer, the PR firm that organized the tour for Versatile, notes the comments from those who participated in the events were positive.
“We want to get growers into the seat of a Versatile tractor so they’re aware of the rebirth of Versatile,” Blacklaws says.
That’s our business. We want to sell tractors.” CG
