THE face of machinery dealerships as professional businesses was underscored last week with the official opening of multi-franchise dealership Boekeman Machinery's newly-built Dowerin branch.
The original asbestos building has been demolished and in its place is a two-storey office complex which reflects the confidence Boekeman Machinery has in the Dowerin community and the farm mechanisation industry.
It's an important investment with a message of employment opportunities and positive growth in the town.
According to Boekeman Machinery dealer principal Stuart Boekeman, the investment was three fold-fold - a need for modern premises, the need to "raise the bar" for customers and the need to provide staff with a more professional environment in which to work.
"We would like to send a message to customers and the community that we want to build our business and be an attractive avenue of employment opportunities," Stuart said.
Dowerin branch manager Peter Crippen echoed Stuart's comments saying the complex would enhance staff and training facilities at a time when industry was demanding more from machinery dealerships.
"The pace of technology hasn't let up and our customers look to us to assist them in their multi-million dollar investments," Peter said.
"We, in turn, are investing to ensure we have trained staff with the required product knowledge and an attractive professional working environment that also gives our customers confidence in our commitment to them."
The office complex also includes a new parts warehouse, apart from specially-designed offices for sales, service, administration, industrial-grade kitchen and a dedicated office for precision farming technology.
"This has been a needs-based decision because the industry has moved to a more professional footing," Peter said.
"It might be a case of out with the old and in with the new but what hasn't changed is our attitude of face-to-face relations with customers.
"That has been the hallmark of good business relationships between dealers and customers from the get-go and we're only going to get better at it."
Peter said technology was at the fore, especially during this time of adhering to social distancing.
"The Boekeman Machinery group has developed its own app to assist customers with queries about their machinery," he said.
"So far we have 23 support guides covering tractors, headers, sprayers, balers, tillage gear etc, along with precision farming, providing 'how to' information.
"And we're constantly adding to it.
"It has proven a winner with customers with feedback generally related to how fast problems can be solved and the positive impact on down time.
"We also have developed an Agri Sync app which simultaneously diverts a customer's telephone call to five staff mobile phones.
"A ticket is automatically produced for that customer to track our response and resolution to the query and it also can be generated by a text from the customer.
"At the end of the month we can spreadsheet the data from customers and that helps us develop an overall picture of service and parts needs.
"It also reduces wait time for customers and takes the pressure of service technicians who in the past might be stuck at their desk constantly on the phone."
Boekeman Machinery celebrated its 50th year in business in 2018.
The business was started by Bill and Pam Boekeman, who attended last week's event to celebrate the company's successes with their three sons, who now manage the company.
Its major franchises are Case IH, JCB and Ausplow with its headquarters in Wongan Hills.
Apart from Dowerin, it also has branches in Northam and Dalwallinu.
