CLAAS dealers offer strong customer support
At the end of 2016, CLAAS and HORSCH set a new world record by drilling 448.29 ha in 24 hours with the Maestro 24 SW drill and a Xerion 5000 Trac tractor. The natural synergy of two well-respected premium German brands working together was built upon in 2017, as HORSCH UK and CLAAS UK announced they would begin selling and servicing HORSCH products through their dealers.
Today, CLAAS UK own 3 of its 10 dealers that cover the UK; MANNS, CLAAS Eastern and CLAAS Western, which operate from 18 locations from Yorkshire in the North to Kent and Dorset in the South. Although all HORSCH products are available throughout the dealer network, each dealer made its own determination if the HORSCH products suited their customers.
UK sales have grown strongly, backed up by an impressive parts and service offering to support customers. Richard Vaughan, Director of Retail Operations at CLAAS UK, sees huge benefits for both brands and their customers through this strong working relationship.
Meeting the needs of arable customers together
“We are the UK market leader in sales of combine harvesters and self-propelled forage harvesters, as well as being one of the leading tractor manufacturers. We have a very wide and strong product range. If you look at the area covered by our dealers, this accounts for more than 75% of combines sales and 50% of tractor sales opportunities in England,” highlights Mr Vaughan. “It’s clear that professional arable operations are one of our key customer groups.”
Supplying and supporting HORSCH cultivation, seeding and crop-protection machinery has complemented the dealers’ operations perfectly. CLAAS has a comprehensive product range and adding these specialisms, without overlaps, gives the dealers an extensive product offering.
“That enables us with very minimal other franchises to meet all the needs of the arable customer. This is a huge benefit, as with just two brands, we can supply 90% of the machinery requirements, whether they are a large-scale contractor or a small family farm,” adds Mr Vaughan.
Ongoing service is an essential part of the dealers’ relationship with customers and CLAAS has invested heavily in HORSCH aftersales support, too.
Parts and Service vital to support customers
The CLAAS dealers have invested the time and resources to become specialists in HORSCH products. Alongside its own products, there is a prominent promotion of HORSCH at the dealers’ location and very evident branding on their service vehicles.
“We’re not diluting our time and training resources over many franchises. We can invest heavily in product training so that sales, parts and service staff can offer customers the best advice and support. You can’t hope to do this with a long list of brands. And, of course, this allows for a deeper product knowledge and operational skills that are shared across the group for the benefit of the customer,” says Mr Vaughan.
More than 130 service technicians and apprentices are employed across the three dealers. “All our technicians follow training pathways that last up to three years and combine technical training and practical experience,” explains Thomas Hancock, After Sales Director at MANNS. “This includes training from experts at HORSCH UK so that we have at least two HORSCH specialists at each retail location. In addition, we’ll have sprayer specialists at key locations and, of course, those skills are available across the group.”
Special HORSCH-supplied, fast-response kits are available at each location. “We have a full range of seeding and cultivation kits, such as one for Maestro, for example, and three for sprayers. These sets of key parts are held at each dealer to help technicians quickly deal with an issue. They can also be drawn from if required, the first priority is always getting the customer working,” adds Mr Hancock.
CLAAS UK is continuously developing its dealer workshops. “As machinery is growing in size and complexity, we are creating facilities that can service machines not just now, but 15 years in the future. Our new workshop at MANNS Saxham, for example, can take a HORSCH Leeb 280 PT self-propelled sprayer with its 36m boom unfolded, has a 5-tonne overhead gantry and plumbed oil. Our technicians can work safely and efficiently, and it offers greater capacity in terms of size and number of machines.”
Once a HORSCH machine is delivered, the specialists provide an installation service to ensure customers are familiar with their new machine. This helps users achieve the maximum potential of the machine and the maximum return on investment. The specialist ensures customers understand the machine including daily maintenance, accessories, parts and modifications available to achieve the very best performance.
“Knowing that these products are a prominent group offering, we can invest in the training to become HORSCH specialists and we have attracted highly knowledgeable staff keen to work with the brand,” says Mr Vaughan. “As products become more sophisticated and technology moves further into our industry, specialists will be a key factor for us – go-to people with specific parts and service expertise for each category.”
CLAAS UK is developing its site at Saxham, including a new central parts warehouse that is three times larger than the existing one and will provide parts to the whole of the UK.
The Parts Inventory Management system is being enhanced to administer CLAAS, HORSCH and other suppliers’ parts. The system uses machine learning to predict the required parts stock levels and supply all frequently used parts to the dealers. Less frequent items would come from HORSCH’s UK parts operation while rarely required items would come from Germany.
There is a comprehensive parts stock holding across the group with the aim to meet more than 85% of parts requests off the shelf at each dealer. There are spare parts that a single business would struggle to justify stocking, but the CLAAS dealers can do this from a group point of view and make the level of parts and service commitment to the customer.
In addition to the larger machines, both brands have a wide range of products for the smaller operation so they are able to support a wide customer base. 
There are sprayer specialists at key locations and those skills are available across the CLAAS group.
Opening up new opportunities
Mr Vaughan says that the CLAAS dealers and HORSCH have common business goals. “Our strategy is to be number one with the franchises we have by offering the customer the best products backed up by the best service. We carefully evaluate all the brands that we work with. They must be market-leading, professional and they must have a proven record of product innovation, which HORSCH certainly has.”
Although the larger machines often get the limelight, Mr Vaughan is keen to point out that both brands have a wide range of products for the smaller operation. “We have sub-100hp to 500hp-plus tractors, for example. HORSCH also has 3m to 12m cultivators and drills, so we are able to support a wide customer base. With no duplication in our product line-ups there is no restriction to growth.”
“Investing in strong partnerships allows us to offer greater value to the customer and build a closer relationship with them, so that they only need to deal with one professional organisation for all their needs. As a group, we are able to work very closely with HORSCH. For example, putting together the new contract service packages for sprayers that further enhance the support we give to customers.”
Mr Vaughan emphasises the need to have the right products for UK farmers, developed to meet their needs. “HORSCH has done this and made a substantial investment to have its own UK operation at Peterborough and have good spare parts availability.”
Both brands have the same clear commitment to providing the best support to customers. “Modern farming is a tough business with large capital investment. Our customers want to invest with the least amount of risk and that means working with a dealer that has invested for the future, is flexible and understands the challenges facing both professional and family farmers.”
“We employ great people and supply products and solutions we believe in. Working with CLAAS and HORSCH allows us to sell professional, durable and well-supported products that offer great value for money. It’s a strong partnership with a positive future.”