BAGMA Cover: Kalehurst
As part of my ongoing partnership with the team at BAGMA, I completed the most recent cover story with Kalehurst Garden Machinery.
Take a read below of the interview! Great company!
Kalehurst is a family-run business and that continues to the present day. Current owner Neil Taylor’s father Bob, started the business in 1982 at a site in Aylesbury. With a mechanical minded approach, he was passionate about focussing his attention on the workshop and ensuring they provided top quality service, something they remain passionate about today. Over the years Bob got to a point where he no longer wanted to continue with the business and so that is when Neil stepped into the driving seat in the late 1990’s.
Bringing a more sales focussed background, Neil wanted implement more of a sales strategy to grow the future business. Kalehurst Garden Machinery has been in Newbury, Berkshire since the late 1980’s and over the years the site compromised a garden centre as well as 6 other businesses. Today, Kalehurst Garden Machinery and Hillier Garden Centre are the only two businesses operating out of the site offering customers a complete answer to their garden needs.! Today, Neil and his wife Gill run the business with their team, they remain passionate about offering the best service around for sales and back-up and that has resulted in a very loyal customer-base within the area.
1. How have the last few years been for business with COVID?
“The last few years have been a big shock for us all. No one could have anticipated the events that would take place and we have had to adapt and overcome the constantly changing situation. In terms of business, we did think that COVID could mean shutting the doors for a long time. But it has ended up being good for business, it all went a bit mad! Our showroom was shut in total for 3 months and we have always promoted Kalehurst as having the ‘largest garden machinery showroom in the area’ so, for us to have to close was a worry. When we found out we were still allowed to operate without the showroom open, we quickly made changes to ensure that we could still do as much as possible. We got a mobile card machine, put up sheep fencing out the front and we served people from the gates. It worked well, and surprisingly we had our best March ever in 2021 with the doors closed! When we were allowed to open the showroom, we were probably over the top with safety measures; we implemented a one-way system, put up screens, stickers on the floor and lots of hand sanitiser. We were strict but we wanted to ensure everyone was safe and I believe the customers wanted to see that.”
“During COVID we realised the demand for stock was high and we had to become very organised when it came to acquiring parts and machines. Before COVID, we could order a machine and it would arrive within days, but with the rapid rise in demand we had to look almost every other day at our future stock needs and get things ordered far in advance to keep up! With stocking levels continuing to be strained across the country today, we are still trying to keep on top of things, but unfortunately with recent events the stocking issue is getting worse.”
2. Have you found the support from manufacturers?
“Support has been varied, some have been good at communicating throughout the pandemic, whereas some have been very poor and still are. During COVID customers were still wanting answers and we were responsible for giving them, but unfortunately that wasn’t always possible. Even now, with less working from home and things being mostly back to normal, we still aren’t receiving the communication we need. I have instances now where I have no area manager for the brands and that has hindered things, we still want to see the reps and we still need their support. We need better communication across the board between us the dealer and the manufacturer. For example, we have had instances of remote machine updates that we haven’t been aware of, then when the customers ring with an issue, we don’t know what’s happened. Sometimes I feel that there’s an element of trying to bypass the dealer and the manufacturer wanting to implement activities to communicate direct to the customer. But, at the end of the day the dealer network performs an important role for them!”
3. What areas do you sell in to?
“We span approximately a 25-mile radius of our site in Newbury and that is purely to ensure that whatever machine we sell, we can back it up! In the future I would like to gradually push that boundary, but I will only do that if we have the right service team to support it! Each year, we are planning to put another van on the road so naturally the business will grow with that. But the business must justify that investment, so watch this space!”
4. How does internet selling affect your sales?
“The internet does affect the price we sell at and has dragged down margins in the past, one positive over the last two years is that we have been able to retain better margins due to the stock and demand situation. We have no Ecommerce presence but have still have good and growing sales results. In 2009 we did decide we wanted to venture into Ecommerce, however, a week before the site was due to launch, I stopped it. It just didn’t feel the right decision! If we were to go down that route, we would lose the important relationships that we have with our customers. I was also conscious that I didn’t want to just sell a machine without making sure it was absolutely the right piece of equipment for the needs of the customer. Every single piece of equipment we sell, we make sure that it is right for what the customer is using it for, and we make sure we run it up and go through its functionality before they leave, you wouldn’t get that with the internet. If we are going to look at this route in the future, we would probably consider a more local approach by implementing a click and collect feature instead. We did do ‘Call and Collect’ during covid and it worked really well. If we had made that decision in 2009, our business would be a very different to what it is today.”
5. How have you found business since being able to open your showroom again?
“Very good! We certainly did not expect it to be as good as it was under the circumstances. We have always prided ourselves on having a large showroom with a great variety of machinery, although we did very well serving customers at the gate it was a lot of extra work dragging machines out of the showroom to show them. When we first opened back up customers were still very cautious and didn’t really linger, but things seem very much back to normal now.
6. How do you maintain such a loyal customer base?
“Like I have said, since my father started the business, we have always wanted to be known for good service. Whether the customer buys a spark plug or a £7,000 lawn tractor, each person is treated the same and they are important to our business. We don’t ask for customer reviews, but we always get good comments and people are happy with the service.”
“Our customers will buy from Kalehurst because we look after them and give them the right machine for the job, word of mouth is where a lot of our sales come from and that’s a huge compliment. They aren’t necessarily buying because of the brand of machine but the Kalehurst brand that promises a quality experience, giving them the right machine for the job, at the right price and with good back-up. Maintaining a loyal customer base will ensure the longevity of the business and I want to be here in another 20 years!”
7. There seems to have been a big shift into robotic equipment in the last few years, how would you say this affects your workshop income?
“There is the misconception that there is no service work in robotic machines, we have not found this to be true. With our robotic machines, we offer service packages and emphasise at the point of sale the need for service due to the huge amount of hours they do in comparison to petrol machines. We should service over 300 robotic mowers this winter, which is a high percentage of what we have sold and that is plenty of work for our service team. So, workshop income is certainly not affected, if anything it’s increased this part of our business and there are plenty of add on services with robotic mowers."
“We have also changed the structure of our servicing now and only offer service and back up for brands that we have sold and prioritise the customers we have sold to. This is because we were getting so many people buying online and then turning up wanting us to do the warranty work or deal with problems and it just became too much as we were letting our customers down. Our customers are our priority over anything else and this change has been a positive change for us.”
8. You have a big following for robotic mowers, how is this business for you? Have you found you are dealing with a different type of customer with these?
“The robotic mower market is becoming a much larger and more important part of our business each year. Its good business, our customers love them, there has been good margin to be made and they get us lots of word of mouth recommendations. There are also plenty of after sales opportunities. We installed our very first auto-mower in 2001 when things were very new and back then, machine issues were a lot harder to diagnose simply because of the small numbers about and lack of knowledge. Now, we have a lot better understanding of the product which makes everything a bit easier."
“Our sales team has really focussed on growing this side of the business and we find we are dealing with the same type of customer as before, they are simply demanding a different way of mowing mainly due to friends recommendation and the results the robotic mowers give."
9. How do you find training and staffing within the dealership and the industry?
“Training within our part of the industry is a problem, there is a lot of pressure on the dealer to deliver quality service and when you are a smaller dealership like ours, without sufficient and regular training it isn’t always possible. The equipment we repair is becoming more complex requiring new skills to diagnose. 20 years ago we rarely saw a circuit board and software was only on our Computers, now it`s on most of the equipment we sell. Before COVID we had sporadic manufacturer training, but it was very basic with patchy availability and often at our busiest time of year.
So, with that we have had to learn a lot of the information as we go, we are implementing our own things such as troubleshooting lists for common problems, but the manufacture should be doing things like that.”
“It has always been a common problem getting decent technicians and I do not think Brexit has helped that. Do we need to make it a more attractive industry to work in? Yes. It isn’t the most glamourous job, but we need to encourage and educate the younger generation of the benefits and the resilience of working in machinery. I sometimes feel the industry focusses more on agriculture over ground care because of the larger items but I love that I get to deal with lots of different customers and sell large volumes as opposed to relying on a small number of customers who may just buy one big ticket item.”
10. You are in the process of a big move of premises, where are you moving to and what was the reason for this?
“We are still based at the same site but in a new improved building and it was all because of necessity more than anything else. Our old premises is no longer functional, the roof leaked over the machines and generally it was becoming unsafe. Standing in here today makes you realise how desperately we needed to move and time really was of the essence. There are parts of the roof falling in and I am so glad we have managed to get into the new building finally! The move has been on the cards for the last 3 years but due to everything going on and general setbacks, we have only just managed to move in June 2022, typically in our busiest time of year! It’s always the way, isn’t it?!”
“Our new premises is slightly smaller in size but a lot better in terms of the work areas. More importantly, it is so much safer and more professional for when our customers visit.”
11. What have been the main frustrations with the move and what are you most looking forward to?
“We have had a lot of delays and have put off a lot of things we have wanted to do until we moved, which kept getting put back. I am really looking forward to getting settled in, refocussing and looking ahead.”
12. How do you find being a BAGMA member?
“We have been a BAGMA member for a long time and they are a great industry body to help and support us. Over the years we have used different services like the insurance, card processing, vehicle loans, Health and Safety and employment law. Last year it was great to have their support with COVID guidance. With the rules changing so frequently, we found that it wasn’t clear on how we could operate, but BAGMA found out a definitive answer for us and guided us on what was allowed as well as the ways that we could ensure safety.”
13. Talk us through the next five years for Kalehurst Garden Equipment, what’s the plans?
“That is a hard one, if you asked me 5 years ago the same question no one would have anticipated COVID and a war in Ukraine! So, it’s a hard one to project. But we do want to launch a form of e-commerce platform with more of a local focus as opposed to further afield.”
“We want try to be ahead of the game all the time, auto mowers came along and we got into that, battery powered came along and we got into that, so what is the next thing in this industry? I don’t know yet but with our new premises we have the focus back on sales and ready for whatever it may be!”
14. Do you have any hobbies outside of the business?
“Riding Motorbikes especially trips to Portugal and Europe, the more remote the better!"