A DAY WITH... Rich Morgan – Agricultural Area Sales Manager Bibury Branch
When I was at school, selling wasn’t on my original list of career choices, after a decade working for an agricultural contractor, I was looking for a change. I saw an advert for a sales position and thought that it was something that would make use of my agricultural machinery knowledge. I’ve now been an agricultural salesman for 9 years, joining TAG in April 2019.
Over these past 9 years I have really enjoyed building a trusting relationship with my customers. It can be a very rewarding role and I get a lot of job satisfaction when I help a customer choose a machine with the knowledge that it will perform well for them and make their life easier and more productive.
The sales role involves so much there isn’t really a typical day, customer visits, demonstrations, supplier training in the UK and Europe and setting up and support shows all makes for a varied life. Most days I leave home at 6.40 and travel from Dursley to Bibury, once in the office I check my emails and follow up on any outstanding queries. I always try to complete my paperwork by 11, leaving the rest of the day free for customer visits.
The first scheduled meeting of the today is with a customer who has a John Deere 855M Gator, after several years of faithful service they are looking to upgrade. I go through the differences between the older 855M and the new 865M, arrange a follow up meeting and leave the customer to mull over the options.
The second meeting is a parts drop off with a customer who has been dealing with TAG for many years, but they’re new to me. Dropping off a service kit is the ideal opportunity to introduce myself.
On my way to my third visit I stop to check emails and pickup voice mail messages (The layby conveniently had a burger van!) I update my notes on the first two visits and take the opportunity to refresh my memory on the proposal for my next visit.
The third visit of the day is to discuss a proposal for a new John Deere 6215R, we’ve already had two previous meetings to decide on the specification and to customise the tractor for the customer’s requirements in this final meeting I am hoping to close the deal. I come away happy after shaking the customer’s hand. It gives me a great buzz to win a deal like this, particularly on a tractor like a 6215R which I know will be a fantastic machine with some great features such as AutoTrac guidance which will really help the customer.
On the way to my next call I call into to see a customer who is considering changing his mowers, although they weren’t going to be in, they’d told me where their old mowers were. I was able to get details and send some photos over to our Used Equipment manager for a valuation.
My fifth visit was a follow-up call to a customer who’s older tractor was starting to give some problems, and he is looking to change it for a second hand John Deere and wanted to know if we have any tractors which would suit his requirements. We go through a couple of options and agree a sale on a tidy 5075E.
By the time I finish my last call, it’s dark, I have one meeting left before heading home to a cold beer! A followup following the delivery of a new KT357 Kramer handler. I want to make sure the customer is satisfied with their new machine and that are no outstanding questions. The customer is very happy with the machine and I pass one query on the machine’s seat onto Darren in our workshop. Happily, he was able to sort this out quickly. It’s great to know that I have the backup of the workshop and parts department to help whenever needed.
With a busy day now done, I travel home, and do a quick check of messages, the paperwork can wait until the morning - Now for that beer!
