CONNECTING WITH DEALERS

Laurence Gale, feature writer, Service Dealer reports . . .

Husqvarna have been holding a series of Dealer Days around the country to inform their dealers of the latest products on offer and what work has been going on behind the scenes to improve communications and the services they offer to their customers.

I visited the Hawkstone Park GC event in Shropshire yesterday (2nd March 2023) that targeted dealers from all over the Midlands and Wales. Well over 90 attendees took part, representing more than 60 dealerships and businesses.

The day began with an introductory talk by Husqvarna UK sales manager, Stephen Irvine, who outlined some of the recent challenges the company has faced and what plans they have for 2023 to improve customer services.

He said like most companies they had experianced difficulties in getting hold of certain materials and parts for their products, coupled with some logistics issues concerning warehouse space, phone services, aftersales and recruitment of staff.

Stephen emphasised that their priorities during 2022 and coming into 2023 was to rectify these issues and put in place a plan to deliver a range of better services, including developing a new team structure within the company, the recruitment of more staff and to improve customer service support - whilst at the same time developing a wider range of products.

Stephen was keen to speak about the potential of selling more robotic mowers stating that the UK, compared to other European countries, was lagging behind on the potential sales of these products. 

He explained how the company is bringing to market this year new products including the Aspire range of domestic gardening tools that includes a robotic mower. They also have launched two new models of Automower; the 320 NERA and 430X NERA 430X that feature GPS technologies.

The rest of the day saw delegates split into groups to view and demo the new product ranges. The dealers were able to get hands on and try out the new machines out for themselves, while learning about their features and benefits. They also had the opportunity to speak directly to Husqvarna representatives and get answers from us to help them before the season starts.

I was able to catch up with several dealers who told me they were excited about the year ahead and were confident that Husqvarna’s sales would be strong this year. I also heard that customers were, in general, more confident in investing in robotic mower technologies.