Beard Equipment Company hosted a customer appreciation lunch at its Jacksonville, Fla., location on Oct. 5. Approximately 200 guests, dignitaries and Beard staff members were in attendance, as well as Sam Allen, chairman and CEO of Deere and Company.
While guests enjoyed lunch in the hospitality tent, Drew DeLaney, Beard Equipment’s general manager, introduced guest speaker Sam Allen and the entire group of Deere executives that made their way to the event.
DeLaney stated that Beard was honored to have in attendance the Deere executive team, including the leader of the sales and marketing team Domenic Ruccolo; Mike Mack, president of construction and forestry division; as well as Allen. DeLaney stated that it was very rare to have Allen as a special guest at their dealership because of his vast responsibilities.
“We were lucky to have had Sam come visit with us in the past as president of the Construction and Forestry Division and especially now as chairman and CEO of Deere and Company,” Delaney said.
In his remarks to the crowd, Allen stated,
“To the employees of Beard Equipment, I want to say thank you. In the end, to the customer, we’re not John Deere, you’re John Deere. You’re the front line. It’s each and every day with what you do whether it’s how you approach that customer, whether it’s your responsiveness from a product support standpoint if you’re a technician, the way you end up rebuilding a product or fixing the problem and doing it well. That creates the total John Deere experience and we greatly appreciate what you’re doing. And I want to give you a thanks for the future because I just know it’s going to get even better under the leadership of the Beard organization.
“For both Beard and myself and the team, to the customer I want to say thank you as well.,” Allen continued. “Because in the end what we fully understand is without you, there is no Beard and there is no John Deere. Our job is to do the best we can to earn your trust, earn your business day in and day out. The number one test is always to have the person that’s loyal John Deere feel like we’re still trying to earn your business every day and not take it for granted. I hope you both find that today and I know you’ll find that even more so in the future with the combination of John Deere and Beard Equipment.”
Melissa Beard stated that the company made a substantial investment in upgrading the Jacksonville facility for the Deere executive visit and first customer event at the branch.
“Upgrades that were originally planned for an 18- month span of time were fast tracked and completed in two months. We had the opportunity and good fortune of having the Deere executive team request to visit Jacksonville. In planning our first customer event with the executives at this branch facility, it was important to us that the planned facility upgrades be made quickly for an impact on both our valued customers and Deere representatives. We wanted everything to look perfect.”
Upgrades to the exterior of the facility included the placement of new aluminum decorative fencing, additional concrete in the equipment yard at the rear of the shop, Beard signage put in place and having parking areas milled and repaved.
For the Jacksonville branch’s interior, the upgrades included having the “sit down” parts counter completely upgraded to a “stand up” counter.
Melissa Beard explained that, “this was done to provide a more professional, work-friendly parts environment, where parts representatives are standing ready to greet our customers for their parts needs. This approach is our theory on the most productive and pleasing way to serve our customer’s parts needs.”
Because the structure is more than 30 years old, Beard ownership did extensive repainting and everything but the shop area was either re-tiled or re-carpeted. New upgraded computer systems, computers, printers and phone systems also were included in the upgrades. And an adjacent office and warehouse building on the property that had been virtually unused was also renovated. CEG
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