Schäffer has picked up a top award in the inaugural AgriMachinery Trade Excellence Awards – also known as the ‘People’s Awards’ as they reward and recognise the people who are making a real difference in the industry. The award was based on nominations and feedback from dealers and recognises outstanding service in the area of Sales and Technical Support.

Schäffer made an increased commitment to the UK market when it moved from using an importer to a new direct sales approach in early 2015. With Paul Gower heading up operations in England and Wales, and Colin Gilbert covering Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland, the German company, renowned for its high build quality and bespoke solutions, has made a real impact in the last two years.

“We’ve had a phenomenal couple of years growing the Schäffer business in the UK and Ireland, and bringing on a lot of new dealers. We’ve all worked incredibly hard so it’s just great to receive this recognition for our sales and technical support,” says Paul Gower, UK Sales Manager.

“Schäffer has always had a reputation for the highest quality machines, developed with our end customers in mind. We put a lot of energy into supporting our dealers – they are presenting the whole Schäffer package to customers; the attention to detail and build quality plus the service and support that follows. To hear dealers talk about us with every bit as much confidence and enthusiasm as we do shows that our partnerships are really effective – and that’s been demonstrated in the growth of Schäffer in the UK and the many new happy customers.”

Paul and the team have worked to build their dealer network, bringing on board a number of new dealers whilst delivering improved service to existing dealers: visiting them regularly, working with them on demonstrations and providing service and technical training. This has been supported with advertising and marketing activity, a new UK website and Facebook page, events and exhibitions. Discussions with dealers show that their sales have increased dramatically with this approach, as has the level of service they now experience working with Schäffer.

Peter Swales of Brockhills says:

“Schäffer are a very easy company to deal with. We’ve found them very accommodating – they offer bespoke options and we know that we can work with them to find the right solutions for our customers. You know 100% that it will be built correctly by people who know what they are doing and care about it. We can speak direct to the people who build the machines, and their parts delivery service is better than some we deal with in the UK! If you haven’t got back up, you haven’t got anything. I know with Schäffer we have the back up.”

Suzanne Johnson of Peter Johnson Agricultural Engineers says:

“We’re engineers and we know our machines well. Our partnership with Schäffer is brilliant as their technical knowledge is excellent, and they are happy to work with us to deliver exactly what our customers want. We’ve sold Schäffer machines since 2009, but we’ve seen a big difference in the last year or so due to the UK-based sales and support.”

Norman Duppa of Morris Corfield says:

“We’ve sold Schäffer machines for the last 8 or 9 years – they are the most reliable we sell. The engineering and build quality are excellent. When people see them, they want to buy them. We’ve seen a considerable improvement in sales since having a direct local sales structure. The partnership is strong – Paul visits at least once a month, and is very supportive of our demonstration days and events. It’s made a difference to get the name out there too – the advertising is working; more people are hearing about Schäffer and our sales have improved.”

Find out more about the AgriMachinery Trade awards here: http://agrimachinery.trade/trade-excellence-awards/