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The Numbers Along with asking “ why ” dealers come to this meeting , I asked people “ how ” the year has been . Peter Kim , CEO of Kioti Tractor USA provided Kioti ’ s answer during the event ’ s final banquet and awards ceremony . “ Together with your quick responses to the market and unwavering support for our focused sales strategies ,” said Kim to the crowd of dealers , “ we grew our market share from 1.1 % last year and 1.3 % this year , outpacing all of our competitors . Meanwhile both Nos . 1 & 2 lost their market share significantly .” He added , “ in 2023 , the industry had 11 percent overall market decline , but Kioti grew 4.8 percent . So let ’ s get excited about 2024 .”
Kim stressed that the company ’ s success allows them to continue growth and development . “ Our business this year has been outstanding while the market is down , and that comes with significant improvements and exciting developments . We ’ ve expanded into compact construction equipment , a confirmed Canadian warehouse expansion , and are launching a new ecommerce platform , all of which will further strengthen our dealers and enhance our capabilities .”
He added to Kioti ’ s own to-do list . “ To compete as the best one in compact tractor and construction equipment industry ,” said Kim , “ we need to work on future product roadmap , improve credit line availability , improve parts supply , provide utmost impressive customer service and stand behind our product .”
Still People First As Kim addressed the dealer group and congratulated the award-winning dealers the company announced that night , it was clear that the company ’ s “ It ’ s about people ” theme starts at the top . The dealers see it too .
“ I always wondered why Larry defaults to Kioti all the time ,” said Quintin Aune , speaking of Larry Corona , the owner of the three-location Montana dealership . “ Now I see it . They are a family . It ’ s about people , not corporate structure . They take care of people .”
“ It ’ s part of the culture ,” said Corona . “ They are big on face-to-face and relationships . And we ( Kioti ) are on the move up . During the ride and drive , Kioti leaders were out asking us how we liked everything and what we thought . And they were dressed just like us , not executives in suits . It ’ s all about people .”
Peter Kim answered my “ why attend the meeting ” question best when he spoke to the dealers at dinner . “ The best part ,” said Kim , “ is that we see each other every year and renew the bonds of friendship and collaboration that have been the foundation of our partnership .”
DEALER LOSES CAR , FINDS GREAT IDEA “ A few years ago , I was walking around a parking ramp because I couldn ’ t remember where I parked my rental car ,” said Ryan Dodson , president of American Pride Power Equipment in Zanesville , Ohio . “ As I was looking for my car , I kept thinking about how many mowers you could fit in here .”
He ’ ll soon know exactly how many mowers will fit . Because Dodson has the fi- nal inspection this week on American Pride ’ s new parking ramp - for lawn mowers . “ When I got home from that trip , I talked to an architect and we made a plan for a parking garage ,” said Dodson . “ Yes , construction costs kept going up the whole time , but we couldn ’ t stop the project part way .”
Dodson and American Pride now have a four-level parking garage for mowers . “ Even before it was finished , the new garage gained a lot of attention . It will pay for itself , from a marketing standpoint . It ’ s like half of it is working space and half of it is marketing .”
Dodson ’ s power-equipment dealership sits on a 3.5-acre lot , and he said they were always running out of space . “ So we went up instead of going out wider ,” he said . The new garage makes more sense , he claims , than the “ wildly inefficient ” rental space he ’ d been spending money on .
“ In this parking garage , we can store the units ,” said Dodson . “ It ’ s not a service workspace , but it does allow us to better use our existing warehouse space to keep crated units , and it ’ s much better flow overall .”
American Pride performs about 3,000 mower tune-ups during the winter , about 30 a day from November through March . “ We used to mail postcards to market these tune-up services .
But that made planning more difficult . So now we put people on a tune-up list .” Dodson sends messages to those on the list , and they can say “ Skip ” if they don ’ t want a tuneup this year . They get about 85 percent participation ; that gets them to the 3,000 or so . “ Customers get a free mower blade plus free pickup and delivery ,” he said . “ They get spoiled because the unit comes back clean and serviced with a new blade .”
This is not a big profit center for American Pride . “ It ’ s minor for profit ,” he said , but for all the staff benefits and the customer relationships , it ’ s well worth
8 OPE Business December 2023 www . OPEBusiness . com