A Heavy Equipment Company Success Story

How Cohesive, Strategic Planning AMPed Up a Business

4 Rivers Equipment is a multi-million-dollar company that sells and services John Deere heavy equipment to both the agricultural and construction markets. At the time, they had 10 locations in Colorado and Wyoming, but they were acquiring four new locations in Texas and New Mexico.

The Business Challenge

When Nicole Glover started working with 4 Rivers Equipment, it was operating under three different names across 10 locations in two states. The names it used were Colorado Equipment, Colorado Machinery, and Wyoming Equipment. The company had revenues of $125 million but had the potential to greatly increase that figure. This was the situation:

• The name of each of the company’s 10 locations depended on its target market and state. Locations that catered to both agricultural and construction clients used two different names on their buildings and both names for marketing and documents. The various names confused customers and created artificial divisions within the company. The company was planning to expand into Texas and New Mexico which promised to compound the problems they were having by using multiple names.
• There were three distinct logos and no consistent look and feel. Marketing collateral was not recognizable as belonging to the same company, and neither was the fleet of over 150 vehicles.
• There were two outdated websites, one for each target market. Marketing outreach did not have a consistent direction across all locations and messaging was also inconsistent. There was one junior marketing person at headquarters, but admins at each location made their own marketing initiatives with little direction and independently of the other locations. No goals were set for marketing ROI.
• Without a strategic plan, the sales and marketing departments were leaving money on the table.
  • Sales did not proactively sell under 90-horsepower lawn and agricultural John Deere equipment, simply assuming customers would be unwilling to pay, because they could get cheaper equipment from other manufacturers.
  • One location was challenged because very few customers brought their machinery in for service during the winter. However, come the spring and harvest time, the company was deluged with service requests as heavy agricultural seasons began. The demand was often so intense that it resulted in severe backlogs, unhappy customers who were waitlisted, and stressed service employees working 90-hour weeks.

The Solution

The company hired Nicole Glover to revamp their marketing. She analyzed the marketing, sales, and customer service efforts, and developed a plan to meet the company’s short-term challenges and position them for long-term growth.

The plan addressed

• Cohesive marketing and sales practices
• Cohesive branding
• Recognizing market opportunities and implementing steps to expand revenue

Cohesive Branding and Marketing

Nicole Glover took control of the marketing and stopped the practice of local admins doing hodge-podge marketing initiatives on their own. In order to create unity in the company and strengthen branding to the market, she:

• Ran strategic marketing initiatives in all locations with consistent messaging targeted to specific markets.
• Carefully analyzed success metrics.
• Renamed the company under one name instead of three. This not only created one front to the markets in Colorado and Wyoming but also a naming issue as the company expanded into Texas and New Mexico. The company was now named 4 Rivers Equipment.
• Combined two websites into one that directed people according to their needs. The new website looked polished and professional as well as giving customers updated, useful information.
• Replaced three logos with one and developed a consistent look and feel. This look and feel was carried into all of the company’s marketing materials, and also on the branding of their fleet of over 150 vehicles.
• Developed new clothing with the company logo for everyone in the company, not just the service staff.

The Result

By following the plan Nicole developed, the company increased its revenues from $125 million to $300 million, more than double, in just a few years. (we can keep this here, but I moved it lower)

Nicole implemented a complete rebranding, including logo, marketing initiatives, vehicle fleet, storefronts, uniforms, and websites across all locations of the company in just five months. This positioned the company for a $125 million merger and the acquisition of four more locations in Texas and New Mexico.

The new name and company clothing created a team atmosphere. The employees began to work

together and collaborate more than they had in the past. John Deere saw so much merit in the new employee uniform program that Nicole implemented, that they offered the branded clothing program to other John Deere dealerships.

Seized Opportunities

A Previously Neglected Market

Despite some internal resistance from the sales department, Nicole Glover set up comprehensive marketing campaigns aimed at the under 90-horsepower equipment market in conjunction with a program to motivate salespeople to sell to this market. Nicole developed TV and radio commercials to reach customer segments that would be interested in the light equipment. This demographic was new to 4 Rivers: significant disposable income, over 50 years old, and living in areas where many people had two to 50 acres of property.

The Result

The focus on the under-90 horsepower equipment increased sales in that category by over 300%, increasing market share from 3% to 7%. Driven by targeted marketing, customers flocked to the 4 Rivers stores to buy lawn tractors and other small equipment. Salespeople had wrongly believed that nobody would pay for John Deere lawn tractors, because there were much cheaper choices on the market. They were shocked to find that the new customers didn’t even want to negotiate the advertised price, unlike their agricultural customers who always wanted to bargain.

An added plus, by reaching John Deere’s required level of sales in the under 90-horsepower lawn and light agriculture market, the company became eligible for six-figure bonuses for its substantial equipment sales.

Seasonal Sales That Become Year-Round

Nicole solved the issue of service departments laying almost dead during the winter months by developing a business-to-business marketing plan complete with promotions and loss leaders that were a win/win for the company and its clients.

The Result

The off-season promotions motivated people to bring their equipment in for service during the off-season, to take advantage of special offers. While customers might come to a location for basic service, they often ended up buying additional maintenance packages once they were there. The locations that were struggling to get any work over the winter months saw an increase of over $400,000 in the off-season.

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