July 17, 2020 - Turf Matters

Don’t settle for less, settle for more: Toro and its UK distributor Reesink Turfcare have announced two new industry-first cashflow friendly finance schemes specifically designed to support customers in 2020-2021 and beyond.

The two companies have combined to offer a ‘buy now pay later’ at zero percent interest finance option and also a lease hire option, both of which include welcome lengthy payment holidays.

Don’t settle for less, settle for more

Alastair Rowell, national accounts manager – grounds for Reesink Turfcare, says: “These two finance deals react to the current times. Together with Toro, we wanted to show support to our customers. We understand that cashflow is, and perhaps will be for some time, uncertain, yet machines are still needed now to maintain courses to the best possible standards. Now, more than ever, the focus has to be on retaining and increasing memberships.”

These two industry-leading options both offer a six-month payment holiday, one requiring a single payment and the other offering reduced payments to reflect industry leading residual values.

The ‘buy now pay later’ option is a familiar product but is an embellished deal in response to the COVID-19 landscape. Customers can order any time between July and December 2020 with the deal at zero percent interest, with a single payment required 7 May 2021.

The second option is a lease hire option with a six month pause period followed by either 60 monthly payments or five annual payments, according to each individual customer’s cashflow requirements.

Alastair says: “This option provides longer term financing in conjunction with very competitive finance terms. There is a six-month payment ‘holiday’ and the residual value of the machines are maintained at a strong level to the original cost. It provides a big benefit at the beginning of the term and leverages strong residual values to keep payments down.”

“What’s new is that these two plans provide clubs with options to suit their likely financial position from the middle part of 2021”, Alastair explains. “The point we kept coming back to when thinking about how best we could support our customers during this time was how uncertain it all is.

“Offering these two repayment plans will enable clubs to then focus on maintaining their courses so they look beautiful and play great, and to keep existing members happy while attracting new ones”.

In addition to these two plans, there are many other repayment options that clubs can consider, including the popular three, four or five year monthly or annual options.

Let’s look at how this would work on an investment of £50,000.00 plus VAT, for a club looking to opt for the lease hire scheme with 60 monthly payments. This would result in repayments of £814 plus VAT per month, commencing six months after inception of the lease. Under the terms of the lease hire option, the assets would be returned at the end of month 66.

Trevor Chard, national accounts manager – golf for Reesink Turfcare, continues: “There has never been such a cashflow friendly finance offer like this before and what we hope we’ve done by introducing these two options is provide customers with a welcome choice taking into account the current situation. It will hopefully remove an element of financial pressure and allow clubs to benefit from buying quality machinery in a hugely cost-effective way so they can focus on what matters most – keeping players happy.”

Both deals are available on all Toro fine turf and grounds machinery, and also includes TYM tractors when bought as part of a Toro fleet deal. Finance is subject to credit acceptance.

To talk to someone about the finance options available and how the Toro range would suit your club, call 01480 226800.

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GGM Groundscare announces new jobs: Award winning specialist tractor and grounds maintenance machinery dealer GGM Groundscare has announced it has expanding its team with the appointment of two new service engineers both recruited during the lockdown and created positions for three NEW apprenticeships , in a bid to support continued business growth and offer job opportunities in both Colne and Haydock.

The group employs 39 staff across two sites, and as the nation has suffered the impact of the Coronavirus crisis, Managing Director Chris Gibson wanted to continue his commitment to customer support and offer jobs opportunities in line with its long-term business growth strategy.

GGM Groundscare announces new jobs

Andy Crabtree and Chris Sumner, [pictured] have both joined the business as field service engineers based at the Haydock depot to support the increasing level of business from the site and both bring a wealth of valuable experience to the company.

GGM Groundscare are also currently recruiting for three new apprentices to help three young local people into a new career. This follows the Government’s announcement of an “apprentice bonus scheme”, when from August to January, any firm that hires a new young apprentice aged 16 to 24 will receive a £2,000 grant, while those that hire new apprentices aged 25 and over will be paid £1,500.

Last year, the company become an accredited Living Wage Employer and is committed to ensuring all its staff receive the training and development they need to develop their skills so they can progress through the business.

Managing Director Chris Gibson explains more:

“While many businesses have struggled hugely over the lockdown period, at GGM we’ve managed to maintain a steady flow of business, thanks to the hard work of our dedicated team, particularly for our customers in local authority grounds, sports clubs and hospitals. We decided to recruit for these roles to help the local job market, as well as to facilitate business growth. It’s particularly important to us to support the next generation and we welcome the government’s new apprentice scheme.”

GGM has always had a key focus on employee engagement, corporate social responsibility and customer service and holds the ISO9001 quality standard and is rated as a Gold service dealer by tractor manufacturer Kubota, a standard which it has held for a number of years. It has also committed to a second year’s sponsorship of Greenfingers, a charity which builds therapeutic gardens for children’s hospices. Earlier this month, Chris, and members of the GGM team completed a socially distanced fundraising bike ride and walk to raise over £4000 for Greenfingers as well as supporting local charities St John’s Hospice Lancaster and Pendleside Hospice in Burnley.

The company has spent time over the lockdown period enhancing its customer offering in preparation for life to return to some form of normality. Over the last few months when others have been quiet, GGM have produced a number of new initiatives including a comprehensive new brochure featuring its extensive hire offering, and a new service agreement package providing customers with a tailor made service solution as well so showcasing some of its golf and fine turf customers in a new case study brochure.

Chris Gibson concluded:

“We feel very fortunate that our business has continued to grow over this testing period and we’re thrilled to be able to offer these new opportunities to local people, as well as helping our customers provide services as they get back to business”.