It’s 4 a.m. and you get the call a customer had a fan motor go bad. Your day is full and now you must stop what you are doing to figure this out. Unfortunately, the stores don’t open for a while so what do you do?
When QC Supply’s Vice President of Sales Stephanie Nicholson approached Nick Wenger of M&N Ag Systems about putting a consignment warehouse on his home farm site, it was easy for him to say yes.
QC Supply will stock the various equipment they need at M&N Ag Systems, making it easy and efficient for Wenger and his father and co-owner, Mike, to take equipment directly to a barn job site instead of having to place an order and then have to pick it up from the dealer.
“We get a lot of inventory from QC because we have many customers that use AP and we put in a lot of AP equipment,” Nick Wenger says. “Those bigger companies don’t want to wake up early in the morning and go get us a part out of their warehouse. With the travel times, having the ability to go out there, grab a motor at 4 a.m. and get it going by 5 a.m., and still have a full day of doing other things is a big aspect of it.”
Less Hassle, More Hours of Work
Nicholson says this is a unique opportunity for some of their customers.
“We have a couple other satellite warehouses with customers,” she says. “Our methodology is we come to you. We don’t expect you to come to us. I’m all about how can I make your life easier in doing your business and helping you be efficient? When they walk out the door, I want to have everything in their warehouse that they can pick up and take for the day.”
Mike Wenger thinks it will improve their efficiency.
“I was buying pallets of motors and parts, and that was all our money up front,” he says. “Then we had to wait for stuff to sell. QC approached us and said if we set up a building, they would supply it with the equipment we think we need and send somebody over once a week to take inventory and restock.”
They are using an existing 200-head nursery building as the warehouse. Mike Wenger says getting billed for what’s getting used is more convenient and provides a greater service for their customers, too.
“Having supplies on hand means we don’t have to order or wait to get delivered — that is one of the big things,” he says. “We try to keep on hand what we need. This just takes a bit of the hassle away when you’re trying to do so much.”
Or course, customers can still purchase online, but Nicholson says when a part breaks on the farm, getting it fixed immediately is important.
“In this model, we already know what they’re going to buy,” she says. “Now we can have those things at their fingertips to be able to make those repairs quickly.”
Return on Investment
With many great brands in the marketplace today, Nicholson says a lot of this is about choosing who you want to do business with now.
This relationship with the Wengers positions her to keep them updated on what technology is coming and where the industry is going. She wants to help them use the best technology and equipment to create the best environment for the pigs in the barn and the people working in the barn.
“Relationships matter,” she says. “When you build a relationship over time with a customer, you’ve worked to learn what’s best for them. I’m going to bring the return on investment to the products they use every day.”
Nicholson says she values her partnership with the Wengers.
“We understand each other,” she adds. “That’s a big part of it. Our relationship helps me know what’s most important to them at the time and into the future so we can start anticipating things that they will need and how we can work together.”
She admits it’s easy to support people who work hard every day and prioritize their customers.
“That work ethic is true to the core of who I am,” Nicholson says. “I was taught that no one’s going to hand you something. You have to go earn it yourself. Our work ethics definitely align so it makes fun to partner with them in this unique way.”
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