Tag Archive for: Service

Service from George Browns seals the deal

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Service from George Browns seals the deal: The installation of a fleet package by George Browns Limited at Links Golf Club in Cambridgeshire is proof positive that it’s sometimes about who you know, not always what you know!

Taking delivery of a fairway mower and brace of Baroness greens mowers, together with a L-1452 and G-261 from Kubota marks a first for the Newmarket-based course, with Head Greenkeeper Simon Corrigan citing that it was the outstanding service and support received from the George Browns Area Sales Manager that helped to seal the deal.

Service from George Browns seals the deal

Service from George Browns seals the deal

Simon has overseen the maintenance of the 18-hole heathland course for the last five years and is currently supported by a team of five and a vast array of equipment and implements. “Historically we’ve been quite loyal to certain brands and, like most clubs, we’ll hold onto them for a good number of years” he explains. “We had a visit from Will Montgomerie of George Browns approximately 18 months ago and it was at a time where I was looking at new machines and open to trying different makes and models.”

“Right from the start of the process, George Browns were proactive in working with me to find solutions that would work on our site. They brought lots of equipment in for us to try meaning that, by the time we made our decision, we could be confident that we’d thoroughly explored all of the options.” Simon continues, “The package was competitively priced and delivery times were good which was another big plus.”

Delivered in August 2023 was an LM551 fairway mower and two LM315 triple greens mowers from Baroness, a Kubota L-1452 compact tractor and a G-261LD ride-on mower for quick and effective cut and collect on some of the courses more delicate areas. “I hadn’t used a Baroness mower for about 20 years but as soon as we demonstrated them, we agreed that we liked the cut quality and the user-friendly controls and set-up. In terms of tractors, we have other brands, but felt the Kubota gave us comparable quality at a better price and, at 45hp, will be an incredibly versatile addition to the fleet.”

Simon explains that the service received over the last two years from Will and colleagues at George Browns has been second to none. “From bringing in all the various demonstrator units, through to answering our many questions before and after delivery, nothing has been too much trouble. We received service and spare parts packages from Baroness to keep the mowers in top-flight condition, while George Browns will continue to support us and work with us on regular servicing on the Kubota products through the ‘Kubota Care’ five-year warranty scheme. It’s been slick and simple, and we couldn’t be happier.”

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Reesink’s aftermarket service scoops award

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Reesink’s aftermarket service scoops award: Reesink’s purchasing, sales processing, service and training team have won Toro’s International Aftermarket Achievement Award for 2022. Up against fellow Toro distributors, Reesink impressed on an international scale with its dedication to Aftermarket care.

Michael Hampton, parts manager at Reesink Turfcare, says, “Winning this award puts into perspective all the hard work that goes into taking care of our customers beyond the initial purchase period. Part of what makes Toro machines so great are their long lifespans and helping customers to get the most out of their investments is always our aim.”

Reesink's aftermarket service scoops award

Reesink’s aftermarket service scoops award

To achieve this award, distributors needed to have demonstrated superior parts business growth, which includes three main factors: exceeding parts sales goals, attaining high parts fill-rates, and successfully executing parts promotions. The distributor has to complete product reworks – repairing products in accordance with Toro’s inventory standards – in a timely manner and achieve excellence in service training too.

Michael goes on to say: “It’s vital that our customers know the importance of using genuine parts in their machines so that they can run to the best of their ability. Part of this is educating them through our team’s expertise and promotions.

Lee Rowbotham, service manager at Reesink UK adds, “Our training courses and ReeAssure maintenance plans are also key components of our Aftermarket offerings. In particular, the Turfcare Mechanics course has gone a long way to equip customers with the fundamentals they need to service and maintain their Toro machines, while the ReeAssure scheme provides customers with manufacturer’s routine maintenance and scheduled servicing, giving that extra peace of mind. I think that’s what sets Reesink apart, that extra bit of attention afforded to all of our customers even down the line. Being recognised for that and winning this award means a lot to Reesink and especially to our incredibly hardworking aftermarket team – it’s a real honour.”

To learn more about Toro parts or machinery maintenance advice, customers can get in touch with their local Toro Genuine Parts dealer or service centre or contact Reesink via reesinkturfcare.co.uk.

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ICL products and Agrovista service deliver

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ICL products and Agrovista service deliver: Stuart Hogg, Course Manager at The West Lancashire Golf Club, believes that ICL’s products and Agrovista Amenity’s service help to keep course standards impeccably high.

Founded in 1873, The West Lancashire Golf Club in Liverpool, is one of the 9 oldest clubs in England. It is currently ranked 28th in Golf World Top 100 in England; 49th in Golf World Top 100 Links GB & Ireland; and 23rd in National Club Golfer Top 100.

ICL products and Agrovista service deliver

ICL products and Agrovista service deliver

The West Lancashire has also recently been selected by The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A) as one of four renowned golf clubs to stage final qualifying for The Open.

Stuart, who has been at the club since 2015 and manages a team of seven members of staff, underlined the importance of keeping up standards at such a highly regarded club.

“It certainly puts pressure on us to deliver,” he admitted. “As a business, we have grown massively, and so has the reputation. We have to keep standards high and constantly need to deliver high-end surfaces and to do that we need to rely on proven, quality products.

“For example, when we first started using ICL we quickly realised that the products being developed and launched were matching where I wanted to go, and they were making it easier to achieve our goals.”

Stuart sources all his ICL products through Agrovista Amenity – an ICL distributor, and he has recently reported excellent results from Qualibra wetting agent and Sportsmaster WSF SMX 20-0-0 – a beneficial nitrogen source in the form of ammonium sulphate coupled with SMX – an effective and sustainable seaweed concentrate.

Commenting on his use of Qualibra, Stuart said: “We’re now using Qualibra across the whole course because over recent years we’ve developed a huge amount of trust in the product. The standards and expectations here are so high that I need to be using market leading products. I like the fact that its widely tank-mixable with other products and I can buy it in bulk, ensuring we keep within budget.

“We always make sure that we get plenty of applications of Qualibra throughout the course by the end of May, so we are prepared for any further dry spells ahead of us,” he continued. “I like to do a simple test when I’m concerned about the soil accepting any rainfall or irrigation and that’s to simply pour some water over the treated area to see if the water is absorbed or just sits on top. This tells me that everything is in place to accept any irrigation or rainfall. I am currently very happy with the results this product gives me and can’t see any reason to change currently.”

On SMX, Stuart said: “After some trial work with ICL we started to incorporate WSF SMX 20.0.0 into our programme and it has been a great product. I like the makeup of it because it is environmentally friendly, and it is in line with traditional greenkeeping. It’s delivering sufficient nutrition and helping mitigate stresses on the turf which is hugely beneficial because we are quite a stressful site.”

As well as being impressed with the products, Stuart underlined the importance of working with both the manufacturer and distributor.

ICL products and Agrovista service deliver

ICL products and Agrovista service deliver

“Ask anyone – Agrovista Amenity and ICL provide the same level of service to the local club down the road as they do to some of the biggest sporting clubs in the world. Both companies’ values align with my own values.

“I buy the products through Agrovista Amenity, and I have their support, but I also have the back up from ICL. I believe all Course Managers need to trust the companies they deal with in product deliveries, and I have never had any issues at all.

“Having two of the industry’s biggest companies working in partnership together helps our golf course – that’s for sure. There is absolutely no reason to move away from ICL and Agrovista when everything works incredibly well for us.”

Please contact ICL on 01473 237100 or visit www.icl-growingsolutions.uk or www.icl-sf.ie if you are in Ireland.

For more news and insightful views, you can follow ICL on Twitter @ICL_Turf

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Customer service at the heart of Reesink awards

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Customer service at the heart of Reesink awards: Each year Reesink UK highlights its dealers who go above and beyond in providing exceptional standards of customer service, goals and considerations with its Aftermarket Dealer Awards.

Lee Rowbotham, service and training manager at Reesink UK, says: “The relationship between distributor and dealer is vital to the success of both businesses. In many cases Reesink’s dealers have that all-important customer facing contact. We appreciate how vital that role is and feel strongly about strengthening our relationship with our dealers wherever possible. That’s one of the reasons why the Aftermarket Dealer Awards came to fruition.”

Customer service at the heart of Reesink awards

Customer service at the heart of Reesink awards

The awards recognise an overall Dealer of the Year for Excellence in Customer Service, alongside outstanding performance in three key areas: Service, Parts and Skills. For the first time this year, Reesink also recognised its dealers that showed the greatest improvement across all key areas in a brand new award.

The new award is designed to reward dealers that showed the biggest step up across all sections of its KPI scoring: service, parts and skills with Devon Garden Machinery scooping this inaugural award.

Steve Dommet from the company says: “This award recognises the efforts our after sales team has put into raising standards and improving the service we provide our commercial customers. As this is a new award it was a pleasant surprise when we found out we’d won.”

Dealers are scored across all three key categories in keeping with Reesink’s Service Level Agreement. The dealer that achieves the highest combined score across categories is awarded the overall Dealer of the Year for Excellence in Customer Support. This year that award went to Reesink Turfcare South East who also won the gold award for Excellence in Skills. Tom Clark, branch manager of Reesink South East says, “Receiving these awards is a proud achievement and recognises our staff members doing a good job. It shows customers we’re a trusted brand as an award winner in what we do to be recognised as one of the best in the field.”

The runners up in these respective categories were Lloyd Limited and Oliver Landpower, who both took home silver awards.

When it came to Excellence in Parts, Revill Mowers took the gold award, with Gammies Groundcare taking silver. Stan Grewar, parts manager at Gammies Groundcare, says: “We’ve got a young team and this award reflects their hard work. I’m very proud of them, I know that the company and the parts department are in safe hands with them.”

Excellence in Service saw Cheshire Turf Machinery win gold while Redtech Machinery took silver.

Mark Woodward, service director at Cheshire Turf Machinery claims: “We are continually investing in our customer service and the excellence in service award is our eighth award since 2017. All of our staff have been brilliant in maintaining and improving standards since the Reesink service level agreement was introduced.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate one of our service technicians, Chris Hester. He’s our first technician to successfully complete the prestigious Toro Master Tech course.”

Lee concludes: “Reesink has always prided itself on delivering fantastic after sales service and the Aftermarket Dealer Awards recognise those dealers who do an exceptional job at upholding this customer service standard. We’d like to thank them all for their continued hard work and incredible work ethic, it’s a real pleasure working with them year in and year out.”

To learn more about Reesink’s aftermarket offerings including genuine parts, machinery servicing and maintenance advice, customers can get in touch with their local Toro Genuine Parts dealer or service centre or contact Reesink via reesinkturfcare.co.uk.

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Reesink announces Master Service Technicians

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Reesink announces Master Service Technicians: The Master Service Technician award, the highest training achievement Reesink Turfcare and Toro Commercial has to offer, has been awarded to four more technicians.

Chris Hester from Cheshire Turf Machinery, Ian Hill from Oliver Landpower, Stuart Barrie from Reesink Scotland and Michael Dixon from Lloyd Limited (Newcastle branch) have completed one of the most stringent and comprehensive training courses in the industry and are now able to offer the highest level of service in the UK.

Reesink announces Master Service Technicians

Reesink announces Master Service Technicians

The Master Service Technician (MST) programme is specifically designed to provide the most thorough training for Authorised Dealer Technicians, ensuring their skillset is updated and meets the demands of the industry’s continuous evolution.

With the rapid development of electric and hybrid technology, it’s important that the skills and knowledge in those areas progress at an equivalent rate so that technicians and dealers can better serve their customers and the Toro product.

Stuart confirms this is very much the case: “As engineers we need to keep up with industry progress and development. We all know about climate change and the move from petrol/diesel to electric power in the car industry. Not so well known is our industry is going through the same changes. This course makes sure all engineers are adequately trained to carry on with day to day repairs and requirements as the changes happen.”

When considering the advantages this will bring for customers, Ian says: “The MST course provides the opportunity to train to a standard that’s not widely available in the industry. In a customer facing role, it’s an advantage to be able to give the best level of support and advice to customers and ensure high standards of service on hybrid and all electric systems.”

Michael agrees: “Completing the MST training has meant that Lloyds as a dealer has also benefitted, receiving better warranty return rates and boosting the dealer standards score. It has not gone unnoticed by the company that my efforts have had a positive impact on the business.”

And it’s not just customers who benefit from Reesink setting the standard and offering this course as Chris explains: “For a start, it’s a huge achievement to pass the interview process and be accepted onto the course; that in itself is a worthy addition to the CV! But most of all, it’s recognition for the dedication and hard work you’ve put into your career and with it being similar to a degree in this sector, it’s a big deal.”

Summing up the benefits having a qualified MST in the business, Sean Trotter, service manager from Lloyds, says: “This training gives the engineer the recognition they deserve for their skill set and abilities. It’s an industry recognised qualification held in high esteem with our customers in the golf industry and brings financial benefits with warranty reimbursement and a contribution towards the training once qualified.”

The course has been set up with further benefits for the qualifying technician too as Michael explains: “There’s a trip to America to get a first hand insight into the goings on of Toro and where it all comes from. For someone who works for a dealer this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and trips like this rarely come around.”

Further courses run throughout the year to keep the technicians up-to-date with evolving products and technologies and with all qualified Master Service Technicians hailing from different dealers, it means there’s a good chance customers across England and Scotland now have access to this higest level of service and support.

But there can never be enough, so for dealers wanting to recognise their technician’s talent and ambition, and for technicians wishing to further their careers, call Reesink on 01480 226800 or go online at reesinkturfcare.co.uk/resources/training-courses.

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