WHO SHALL SELL THE AGRIMOTOR ?
Page 14
Page 15
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
An Opinion in Favour of the Agent for Commercial Motor Vehicles.
WHO is the. best distributor of the agrimotorthe motor agent or the implement dealer ? The question has been raised so often that one would imagine that an answer could, long ago, have been given. But, as with most prelims, the solution comes easier as experience lengthens, and therefore it has been necessary to wait and secure the requisite knowledge.
And experience, again, has shown that there are complications and side issues that had not been apparent when the plain blunt question first came, through force of circumstances, to be framed. The chief side issue may be said to be the need for differentiating between the agent for motorcars and the agent for commercial motor vehicles.
We have taken opportunities which have recently offered to discuss this matter with prominent producers of agrimotors and those who in this country represent American makers, and the outcome of one such conversation may be reprodncedihere, as exemplifying a line of thought that is followed in many influential quarters.
The question that may be said really to have opened the discussion was whether it was likely to be necessary to encourage the creation of quite a new type of agent, one who would come between the meter agent as we now know him and the agricultural implement dealer.
"Net necessarily," answered one interviewee, who is a well-known commercial vehicle dealer on whole sale lines, concentrating on vehicles-British-made and also imported of which he has sole control, not only in this country, but in many foreign lands. He has been connected with the sale of motor vehicles from the very inception of the movement and is familiar with every phase of the trade.
One Agent for the Agrimotor and the Commercial Motor.
"My strong opinion," continued he, "is that the handling of the distribution and maintenance of the farm tractor will go hand in hand with that of the commercial motor vehicle.
"Ask the agent who is really qualified to handle the commercial motor side of the business if he thinks the agent who is accustomed to what I will describe as the pleasure car trade, is temperamentally suited to the commereial vehicle trade, and he will, unhesitatingly, say 'no,' and he is right. And the same man cannot handle the tractor unless he is prepared virtually to throw himself heart and -soul into the other side of the business—in other words to hand over the pleasure car portion of his trade to a partner, or manager, and himself to concentrate on what iS going, by far, to be the more important section." " You realize, then, that the greater developments in the motor industry, in the near future will be in the direction of transport and haulage? " Sure," replied he, " we have scarcely touched the fringe of the application of the commercial motor or of the tractor, and the developments in that direction, during the difficult years that immediately face us, must, because of the greater economy and efficiency which those vehicles provide, and permit, far outstrip the development in individual road passenger traffic.
"I consider that the next few years will see a wonderful expansion in the use of motor power by the farmer. He will actually be doing what we have hopefully forecasted : he will realize our anticipa is36 tions, and will use the motor for most of the purposes for which he has used the horse. lie will increase his own mobility, he will move his raw materials and handle his crops and his produce in a vastly more efficient manner and thus he will—I do not hesitate to say it—become the biggest user or commercial motor vehicles."
"Then the technical advice on motors which he will require will be of a highly specialized order ? "
"Of course. The agent for pleasure cars will not be (as a general rule, mark you, forit would be palpably unfair to say there could be no exception) prepared to do all that the farmer would require of him, lie would, with a good repair shop, be able to tackle repairs and adjustments, but the farmer will want more than that.
Information Wanted by, the Farmer.
"Remember this, that, in nine case out of ten, farmers have only had horse experience. They will learn that tractors offer certain advantages—will hear tales of certain savings and, from that point, will want real help in selecting the machine to suit the soil and character of the land, and the plough to suit -the tractor. He will need to be told how to drive the tractor, how to hitch the plough on how to get the line of draught. All the farmer will know is that he wants a certain job done—the land ploughed to a certain depth with a certain width of furrow, and w the agent ho is affecting to advise him must be able to show him exactly how to secure the required result.
lot of skilful guidance will be necessary right at the start, because it is almost certain that the tractor and impleznents will be obtained with ploughing as the first thought. If a good ploughman be put on, he would put all the side strain on the tractor, and, if a good tractor man be employed, he would throw the draught on to the plough, each doing harm in his way. With expert advice, the correct line of draught would be obtained and trouble of an unnecessary character averted.
"In other words, the dealer in tractors must know his field work and must know how to set a plough. You see you cannot experiment much, or the field will be spoilt. "'Again, a good knowledge of the speed at which a particular soil should be ploughed to a given depth and width with a given plough is absolutely essential, and the farmer will not know this, but will require to be told."
"There is, of course, an immense amount to be learned about ploughs and other implements. But how long a schooling should be necessary before a keen agent may be expected to become qualified to give advice?" "I should say about a couple of years, and I think that the man who, temperamentally, makes a good commercial vehicle dealer is the man who would pick up the knowledge the quickest. He must study the subject of farming, learn the numerous uses and applications of motor power on the farm, so that the farmer can be shown how to utilize his purchase to the best and fullest advantage, and he must establish an organization for providing service and maintenance, which would be equally good for the commercial motor as for the agrimotor. ' "And in what way could the motor agent, the one handling the pleasure ear, get into the business?" "Well,' he would have to alter his point of view. The pleasure car sells itself very largely because the demand is created by the makers through a unique Press. To sell commercial motors and agrianotors, the agent must have made a close study of their possibilities, their suitability for local circumstances and he able to discuss comparative costs of working, all of which calls for keen interest and dose concentration —far more interesting, by the way, once the knowledge has been acquired, but calling for the acquirement. Then, he must gain his field knowledge and must be prepared to provide the all-essential service."
"The agricultural implement dealer, who exists in large numbers throughout the country and to whom the farmer is accustomed to look for advice in the purchase of his equipment—not to mention financial accommodation. Surely he will be a powerful factor? "
" Yes, if he is prepared to engage motor mechanics, and to learn the motor side himself, to instal the plant necessary for repair and overhaul, and to eyeate the necessary motor organization for dealing rapidly with faults and breakdowns, then he should be the kind of man who would be ,quite capable of doing what is best for the user. He would have the field knowledge and would have to gain his motor knowledge. in the case of the commercial motor agent, it is the other way about, and I fancy that, in his case, the road to knowledge is the shorter, "My own feeling is, as I have said, that the possibilities of a rapid increase in the employment, in connection with agriculture, of• the commercial vehicle, will give the commercial vehicle agent just that one extra chance to get in on the tractor business, and that this is going to be worth having was emphasized the other day by a man who has got the situation particularly well sized up, Mr. S. F. Edge, who said that, in the next few years, 50,000 tractors would be put into use in this country."