For Alta Equipment sales representative Aly Rego, selling construction equipment is less about taking an order and more about understanding what a customer is trying to accomplish.
Rego, who has been with Alta Equipment for nearly three years, recently transitioned into a territory sales position covering much of southern New Hampshire and southern Vermont. Her territory includes Sullivan, Hillsborough, Merrimack and Cheshire counties in New Hampshire, along with portions of Vermont.
The move builds on Rego's previous role with Alta, where she spent approximately two years handling governmental and municipal sales throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire. That position gave her experience working with municipalities, state agencies and the public bidding process before an opening in Alta's Concord, N.H., territory provided an opportunity to move into a broader sales role.
While Rego is relatively young compared with many longtime construction equipment sales professionals, her background in machinery and the trades began well before she entered equipment sales.
Rego graduated from Bristol County Agricultural High School in Massachusetts, where she studied diesel technology and was exposed to several areas of agriculture and the trades. The school's programs included large and small animal science, landscaping, agriculture and related fields.
“I came from a blue-collar family,” Rego told Construction Equipment Guide. “I came from a blue-collar work ethic.”
Initially, she envisioned becoming a mechanic or welder. After high school, however, she went to work for a small-engine repair business, performing basic service work on equipment. When the company added a commercial mower line, Rego had an opportunity to try her hand at sales.
She quickly discovered that she enjoyed it.
“I absolutely fell in love with it,” she said.
Looking for an opportunity to advance into the construction equipment industry, Rego moved into inside sales with a Caterpillar dealership. That experience eventually led to an outside sales position, giving her the opportunity to work directly with contractors and equipment owners in the field.
Eventually, Rego connected with JCB and Alta Equipment, beginning the next stage of her career.
One of the things that attracted her to Alta, she said, was the company's emphasis on customer service.
“Alta Equipment is very big on customer service, which is really the heart and soul of what drives me in sales — customer relationships,” Rego said.
She also had become familiar with Alta before joining the company by encountering its customers while traveling her previous sales territory.
“Customers that worked closely with Alta had nothing but great things to say about the company as a whole,” she said. “I think that really piqued my interest.”
Rego said she particularly appreciated what she saw as Alta's customer-first philosophy — listening to equipment owners, responding to their needs and continually looking for ways to improve the customer's experience.
Today, she represents an Alta product lineup that allows her to work with customers ranging from contractors and municipalities to landscapers, hardscapers, golf courses, farms and property owners.
Among the equipment available through Alta in her territory are JCB, Avant compact loaders, Vibrotech screening equipment and Toro Dingo compact utility loaders.
Rego is particularly enthusiastic about the versatility of the Avant line, which can be equipped with a wide variety of attachments.
“I call it a Swiss Army knife of a machine,” she said.
With approximately 250 attachments available, she said Avant machines can be adapted for landscaping, hardscaping, property maintenance, agricultural work and golf course applications. Their design also makes them particularly useful when minimizing ground disturbance is important.
Rego also sees considerable growth potential for JCB's larger construction equipment.
Although JCB has long been closely associated with its backhoe loaders and compact equipment, Rego pointed out that the manufacturer offers machines extending well into the heavy equipment market, including the JCB 370 excavator, an approximately 80,000-lb. machine.
“JCB is definitely a player in the market for heavy equipment, and we're here to stay,” she said. “I would definitely love to see more heavy equipment in the JCB line being sold.”
The manufacturer's wheel loader lineup also extends into larger machines, including the 457, while Rego said the 427 is among the larger loaders she commonly encounters in her sales efforts.
Another product she sees generating opportunities is JCB's Hydradig 110W wheeled excavator. The approximately 24,000-lb. machine can be particularly well suited for municipalities and applications where contractors need an excavator capable of moving quickly from one work area to another.
Pairing a wheeled excavator with a Steelwrist tiltrotator can further increase its versatility, Rego said.
Regardless of the machine involved, Rego believes successful equipment sales begin with accessibility and service after the sale.
“If my customers aren't happy, I am not happy,” she said. “Without them, I wouldn't have a job.”
That philosophy means answering calls quickly, spending extensive time on the road and making herself the customer's first point of contact when a problem arises.
“If their machine goes down, I'm first in the parking lot picking up a loaner to bring it out to you,” she said.
Rather than simply directing customers to another department when they need assistance, Rego prefers that they contact her and allow her to help coordinate the solution.
“I say, 'Call me directly if you have an issue,'” she said.
That approach also extends to the initial equipment purchase.
Rego said customers sometimes contact her already convinced that they know which machine they need. Instead of immediately providing a price, she frequently asks more questions and, when appropriate, visits the customer's operation.
A farmer moving hay bales inside a barn, for example, may think he needs a particular skid steer. But if the machine doesn't fit through the barn, purchasing it isn't going to solve his problem.
“Why don't we have a deeper conversation?” Rego said. “Let me come down to your farm and see what your setup is like.”
Her agricultural and mechanical background helps with those conversations. Friends and former classmates have gone on to careers in arboriculture, landscaping, excavation and farming, giving Rego firsthand familiarity with many of the industries she now serves.
That diversity fits particularly well with Alta's equipment lineup, she said, because there is no single type of customer or application.
For Rego, that is what makes equipment sales interesting — and why she views her job as something more than selling iron.
“There's a lot more to sales than just selling something,” she said. “There's understanding your product, understanding your customers.”
Ultimately, she believes the salesperson's role is to identify the customer's problem and match that customer with the equipment best suited to solve it.
“You're really being more of a problem solver and coming up with a solution,” Rego said. “You need to really understand your product, understand what your customers are looking to achieve and guide them in the right direction. You're not just an order taker.”
