The Peacock & Binnington branch at Louth, first set up in 1973, has bucked the trend in the country, and seen substantial growth over the last few years. P&B Louth looks after farmers from the east coast across to Market Rasen and from Immingham in the north down to Horncastle, covering a huge area of Lincolnshire’s prime agricultural land.

Derek Blow, MD of Peacock & Binnington, is delighted with the way the business has developed at Louth across all departments, sales, service and parts, and was particularly keen to put it down to the quality and combined years of experience of the staff there. He felt it most appropriate that the key people at Louth give their side of the story.

The Sales Team at Louth - Andrew Whiteley, who leads the sales team at P&B Louth, explained, "Our aim is to increase our market share and to continue the increases we have made over the last few years. We have really benefitted from the heavy investments made by AGCO in product improvements in their MF tractor range, including reliability, comfort, ergonomics, and particularly the reductions in cost of ownership, plus sales of their other brands, Challenger and Fendt have been very good around here."

"We also have other top quality franchises including, JCB, Simba Horsch, Kuhn, Welger. And we have seen increased sales in all these areas that demonstrates the confidence in the quality and the value for money of all these products."

"This area has a good mixture of types of farms, from the huge arable estates to smaller livestock farms and so the demands for machinery covers the full range, from the biggest high horse power machines and associated kit to more compact tractors. And it shows a level of confidence in the agricultural industry, to invest in new and good quality used machinery, even on the smaller farms."

"But this business is not just about the machinery, it is still a people business and it is as much about the way our customers are looked after by the salesmen, the technicians and parts staff that is so important to our success. This is Michael Peacock’s philosophy and it has stood the test of time very well!"

Andrew Whiteley has been at P&B for 13 years, having started as a sales trainee at Market Rasen and then became an Area Sales Manager at Brigg. He had a 3 year sabbatical to see some of the world, particularly India, and has now been at Louth for 3 years. He covers sales in the area south of Louth and Andrew Walker, who has been at P&B nearly a year, covers the area north of Louth.

Andrew Walker explains his role, "My father was in the grain and seed industry in Louth all his life so we were involved in the agricultural way of life from an early age. I did my degree at University in Agriculture and then mainly worked on the arable input side of the business, from grain merchanting and seed cleaning, to agronomy and advising on lime and fertiliser applications, working all over the country. 18 months ago I started in the machinery side of agriculture and am really enjoying working more locally, especially as I know many of the farmers in the area already. My product knowledge is improving all the time, with some specialist training from our key franchises, and I find my agronomy knowledge is an added bonus when talking to farmers. Having worked in some national businesses it is a real pleasure to work in a family business, where there are no barriers. Everyone talks to each other from Chairman Michael Peacock and MD Derek Blow, to the servicing technicians, parts department and salesmen. Everyone is equally involved and the vast experience that is here at Peacocks is shared to the benefit of the farmers."

Andrew Whiteley added, "P&B have invested in a lot of stock, especially pre-ordering tractors to reduce the problems of supply experienced previously. One of the things I am trying to change is to improve the display of our products on our prime location on the Grimsby Road. Because of problems of theft and vandalism we are reluctant to leave anything out on display so it looks as though we don’t have anything in stock. Once we have installed security fencing at the front of the showrooms we will put on as good a display as possible to reflect the range and quality of our product line up and stock availability."

The After Sales Team - The After Sales side at the Louth branch is headed up by Kevin Gladding who has been at Peacocks since he left school 31 years ago starting as an apprentice at the Laceby branch, becoming Service Manager at Louth in 1989, and Branch Manager when Derek Blow moved to Brigg as MD of the whole company. His vast experience of both the Servicing and Sales side of the business is vital to the job but Kevin feels it is the quality of the technicians that is the key to the success. "We have a first rate team here, including senior technicians, with upto 35 years experience along with recently qualified young ones and we also continually look for potential apprentices to keep the cycle going. The length of experience we have adds up into the hundreds of years and that accumulation of knowledge is vital when you are out in the field attending breakdowns. With the machinery becoming more and more sophisticated, we are committed to attending on going product training to maintain the high level of service which we offer. With the business expanding and changing so much, becoming more to do with computers than spanners, we have established a number of specialist technicians to concentrate on the main categories of our business - MF tractors, combines, Fendt tractors, Challenger products. For example Jim Cooper has just been on a 4 day course at Beauvais in France (1 of only 6 or 7 from the UK to attend) for training, ready for the new MF8600 coming out. Michael Daff has completed specialist training on Challengers and so we now have the expertise to carry out engine repairs at Louth for the first time."

"We further invest in the aftersales department in the purchase of special tools to carry out repairs efficiently, along with a fleet of well equipped vans to enable the technicians to work either in the field or back in the workshop."

"In the busy season we are committed to working a 7 day week and this seems to start earlier and earlier each year with farmers wanting to get everything ready in time. This doesn’t just affect the service department, each department is equally dependent on each other," added Kevin.

The Parts Team - Ian Smith, who has been at P&B Louth for 25 years and Parts Manager for 21/2 years, explained his department’s role, "We have to be kept as up to date with advances in the machinery as the technicians, so experience combined with thorough training is just as important to us. Les Harris has worked here for 30 years or more, Jamie Drury joined as an apprentice 5 years ago and is now an experienced part of the team, plus James Grebby, who specialises in the Nissan side of the business, has been with us about 16 months. With the increases in sales of new machinery and a wider range of franchises our side of the business has certainly expanded and the company has recently installed a new computer system that helps us to ensure balanced stocking of parts at our four branches."

"But as with all the other departments, it’s still a people thing. It is how well we get on with our customers and liaise with the technicians that makes the difference," added Ian.

Andrew Whiteley concluded, "We aim to continue to expand the business by retaining our good customers through the quality of our overall service and to gain new customers by getting opportunities to demonstrate the quality and advantages of our products."

The team at P&B Louth, from left to right, William White, Ken Crawford, Andrew Matthews, Peter Benson, Simon Oliver, all workshop technicians, Jill Jacklin, Service & Parts reception, Jim Cooper, technician, Jamie Drury, Parts, Kevin Gladding, Customer Service Manager, James Grebby, Parts, Ian Smith, Parts Manager, Les Harris, Parts, Andrew Walker and Andrew Whiteley, Area Sales Managers, Tony Drew, Garden Machinery and Horticultural technician, now retired.