It’s been quite a rookie year for Atlanta JCB.
Just a year ago — Nov. 1, to be exact — it started out as the first stand-alone, factory-supported JCB compact equipment store in North America.
On June 1, that drastically changed when it brought on the full JCB line.
That big move came just a month after Bob Kirschner passed the company’s reigns over to Denver Weinstiger, who is currently the president and general manager.
To complement Weinstiger’s efforts, the company also brought on Sales Manager Steve Judkins and Senior Salesman Larry Welch, who specializes in mid-range and heavy line equipment.
Together, Weinstiger, Judkins and Welch boast more than 60 years of combined experience in the heavy equipment industry, most of which was with large JCB dealerships. The company is in a growth mode and is still actively recruiting more staffers.
The current location is in the Northwest Atlanta area. To better serve the customers on the Northeast side of town (and in keeping with the company’s growth mode) an aggressive search for a place to locate a second facility is well under way. With the addition of the heavy equipment line, management of Atlanta JCB is already seeing a need to expand its present facility or to potentially add another stand-alone location near its facility to serve as a JCB heavy equipment sales, service and parts location.
“We’re going to continue to build this into an organization that is known for service and support. There’s a lot of competition out there and we realize the importance of having a strong support organization. Not just parts and service strength, but from one end of the building to the other,” Weinstiger said.
The company will remain true to its primary manufacturer.
“Our business model and long term plan is comprised of strong financial support for being a JCB-focused distributorship. The significance to the customer is that we sell, rent and service JCB, and that’s it. This should translate into a higher level of commitment and support for the end user, especially in this market. I can’t speak for JCB, but we’re looking toward being a model distributorship for the future of JCB,” Weinstiger said.
Atlanta JCB also carries the Proline and Towmaster trailer lines. But the company stands true to the JCB line and has no intention of taking on any other competing heavy equipment lines.
“If something came along that was a non-competing type product, we’d certainly look at it. But only if it was a product that did not distract us from our mission as a true JCB dealer. With over 140 JCB models available for us to sell, and more to come, we’ve already got a very wide product range to go to the market with,” Judkins said.
This is the first time the management team in place at Atlanta JCB has worked for a dealer that has focused on only one manufacturer. The staff members in the past have worked for multiple product line distributorships where they were responsible to many manufacturers, each with a different way of doing business. Atlanta JCB feels that this one manufacturer approach will make the job of training highly skilled sales, parts, rental and service personnel much easier.
Atlanta JCB rents equipment, however it has no intention of becoming a rent-to-rent operation.
“We’re not here to compete with other rental houses that buy JCB equipment for their rentals. Our goal is to partner with them to provide them with the machines, parts and service,” Weinstiger said.
The proximity to the JCB factory in Savannah, Ga., is a big asset to Atlanta JCB, and provides it an opportunity to take its customers and prospects to the plant to see how the machines are built. It also affords them quick and easy access to parts, service and sales support.
“We just want to be a true one-stop-shop for our customers and JCB is making it easier for us to do this,” Weinstiger said. “They are transitioning their products to incorporate the new JCB high tech diesel engines as well as continuously engineering and producing more and more innovative new niche products to meet all the customers needs.”
For more information, call 678/594-5400. CEG Staff
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