It was just about a year ago that MT Solutions wrote about Monroe Tractor (MT) being pleased with the way its plan to provide added service to its customers was working. As a matter of fact Chris Felosky, MT’s product support manager, was quoted as saying “Everybody loves it when a plan comes together.”

At the time “everyone” included the three MT branches in Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse and their growing list of customers spread across central and western New York. A scant year later the picture has changed dramatically.

The fall edition of MT Solutions introduced a major contributor to Felosky’s continued exuberance – the acquisition by MT of S.C. Hansen, Inc., headquartered in Horseheads, NY. At first blush, this acquisition could look like the sole reason for the company’s continued growth. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

When the newly acquired branches came on board the fact that they were in the same industry was understood but the value of the synergy the acquisition would create would prove to be the driving force in its recent growth. With the opportunity created by the addition of new branches in Albany, Binghamton, Elmira, and Hornell, Felosky immediately realized the need to introduce one of MT’s power suits – the MT Advantage Program.

This program, well entrenched in MT’s original three branches, is all about the dealer’s determination to provide the best customer service in the marketplace, he’ll tell you. MT Advantage provides a systematized focus on better pricing, higher quality, and more choices.

“Like everything else in a competitive industry,” says Felosky, “you can’t just develop a program on paper and expect big things. People make it happen.” That’s the same thing you’ll hear from Kim Lindh, a product support representative (PSR) at MT’s newly acquired Albany store.

When the acquisition was finalized, the “new stores” weren’t familiar with the MT Advantage Program. “And,” Felosky admits, “we weren’t staffed to bring the program to the marketplace. Lindh was the first new product support rep in the post-S.C. Hansen era. As she came on board Lindh readily recognized the program as one of the prime tools in her customer service tool bag.

She had some 18 years of experience in customer service in both the heavy truck and auto industries, so she was a quick study. From a strictly sales perspective, Lindh approaches each day the way she has for nearly two decades, doing her homework and trying to build strong customer relationships. “Every good sales person appreciates the value of customer loyalty,” says Lindh, “and we know that loyalty only comes into play after you prove your value to your customer.”

That’s why she was so quick to understand the value of the MT Advantage Program. “It’s all about providing the customer with options,” she notes. “Everyone talks about the weight of the struggling economy and many people use it as an excuse for slumping business. At Monroe Tractor we take a different approach. With a tough economic climate we feel more compelled than ever to attack one of the key challenges our customers have – keeping costs in line. The MT Advantage Program does just that,” she says. “It gives our customers other sources for products they need every day and with really good price tags attached.”

She’s also quick to point out that the program is one of the reasons she has been able to bring two paving companies, a refuse collection company and a pipeline construction company on board in the short time she’s been with MT. “By showing them how they could save significant dollars on consumables that they need every day – oil, filters, equipment parts, cutting edges and bucket teeth just to mention a few.”

The program can also be a stepping-stone to more significant customer relationships. Consider, for example, the pipeline construction company Lindh brought on board. She was driving her six-county territory one day when she noticed construction equipment and materials being unloaded in a vacant lot in Renneslaer County, east of Albany, NY.

“I decided to stop by and meet the people, maybe learn what was up. If I know what’s going on, I’m better positioned to be helpful,” she says. “Where there’s construction equipment, there’s someone we can help.” It turned out that the contractor was part of a huge national company with several different companies under one umbrella across the country. It was also a family-owned and operated company like Monroe Tractor, so there was some immediate synergy.

The MT Advantage Program seemed tailor-made to its situation and Lindh was immediately able to demonstrate bottom line value. That led to the rental of a Case 580 Super M backhoe. Lindh hopes this rental (along with the benefits her company is already realizing via the MT Advantage Program) will be just the opening she needs to grow the new customer relationship.

For a program that’s not yet two years old, Tom Rizzo, the Rochester branch PSR, is an old hand. “I came on board with MT just before the MT Advantage was launched,” he recalls. The fact that Rizzo and his fellow PSR’s can deliver tools for any OEM product in their market is a great opening salvo that he uses often. In one recent transaction Rizzo’s customer needed a cutting edge for a five-yard loader. With the MT Advantage Program he was able to deliver the part for more than 30 percent savings.

The cutting edge and other consumable parts (MT branded batteries for cars, light and heavy trucks as well as construction equipment) are relatively low cost items. Consider things like steel undercarriages or rubber tracks for excavators and skid steers. “We can provide OEM quality replacement parts at a considerable savings” says Rizzo.

A customer can recognize quickly that the program is broader than it might first appear. Take a customer’s filter needs as an example. An MT PSR will take the time to profile the customer’s needs. All the equipment the customer has in place will be inventoried and then the inventory will be maintained to match the equipment. A PSR will show customers what their true cost of filters really is, for example, and then show them how the MT Advantage program saves them both time and money. When the customers see the advantage in black and white they will normally agree to use Monroe Tractor for all their filter needs and that’s when their PSR begins tracking their inventory and keeping it adequately stocked.

Lindh’s story pretty much repeats itself at MT’s new operation in Binghamton, where Jason Rice welcomed the opportunity to work in the construction industry. Rice accounts how his father “worked in the construction industry for 25 years and for Case equipment for 13 years. “So, I already had a desire to work in the industry and I knew about the quality of the Case product line,” he recalls. When the opportunity to sign on as a customer support rep with a respected, 58-year old company presented itself . . . it was pretty much a no brainer.”

Rice notes his previous experience as a parts and service rep often meant “one sale and goodbye because we could only sell OEM products.” With more than a little glee in his voice he boasts that the MT AdvantageProgram “gives us the opportunity to earn a customer’s business. With 11 locations across upstate New York there’s always a way for us to get the parts or other aftermarket products our customers need to them quickly. And, because we’re not locked into one manufacturer’s line, that quick delivery is likely to come with a smaller price tag, to boot,” he says.

Another product that has become an important mainstay of the MT Advantage program is oil. “Totes,” 275-gallon plastic oil storage containers, encased in steel cages for safety purposes, enable PSR’s to set up their customers so that oil can be delivered in bulk quantities as low as 200 gallons. The totes are free to the customer and even the delivery is free as long as the minimum of 200 gallons is delivered. That minimum can be achieved in a combination of products (100 gallons of engine oil and 100 gallons of Mobil 424 hydraulic fluid for example) being delivered at the same time.

“Of course we don’t want to give short shrift to the customer with smaller needs,” says Felosky. That’s why we continue to make oil available in smaller quantities and customers can look to us for their single filter or battery needs as well. For example, Case, Mobil, and Exxon oil is always available in quarts, gallons, five-gallon pails, or 55-gallon drums,” Felosky says noting that “these are the same quality, national brand named items we’ve always offered and they are stocked at each of our branches.”

The MT Advantage program also offers batteries, headlined by the newly branded MT Batteries. “These are top quality batteries manufactured by Johnson Controls. Johnson manufactures 67 percent of all batteries sold in the world. Through the MT Advantage program customers are able to stock batteries at more than a 30 percent savings.

Rice looks forward to 2009. While it sometimes seems that everyone he talks to is in the dumps over the incessant clamor about the economy, he’s noticing that the pace of activity at his customers’ businesses is virtually non-stop. “They just don’t have time to take a break, not to mention to shop around for the best prices on oil, filters, batteries and other products that keep their business moving. With the MT Advantage Program, we can walk in and save them both time and money. It’s a huge advantage.”

Richard (Rick) Dennison is the new MT PSR at the Elmira branch. As with Lindh and Rice, he joined the team after the S.C. Hansen acquisition and brought years of experience with him. “That’s one of the things that attracted me to Monroe,” says Dennison, “I like being able to help anybody and everybody, regardless which manufacturer’s equipment they might be operating. Once we’re in the door with MT Advantage,” says Dennison, “we provide a level of service that motivates customers to say ‘hey, let’s take a look at them again’ because we can always service their needs. Most important, I can reduce their cost and help them increase their bottom line.”

Dennison knows that with MT he can readily offer “small wins” to his customers and he bets that will lead to bigger opportunities for both his company and his customer. “We arrive on the scene with a multidimensional outlook – looking at our customer’s whole business.

“I approach every customer with the understanding that one expense they dread the most is the costly situation when their equipment is not operating. I know that I can see to it they never have to endure the costs related to unnecessary downtime. In any business, today, the person who wins the business is the one who provides the service and commitment to their customer. The MT Advantage Program gives us that capability,” he says.

For more information visit www.MonroeTractor.com
or call the Monroe Tractor sales office nearest you:
Henrietta, NY: 585-334-3867; Buffalo, NY: 716-681-7100; or Syracuse, NY: 315-452-0000.

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