Left to right: Tim Hyland, Bill O’Keefe from SENNEBOGEN, Eric Marburger (Sales Manager), Barry Talley (Territory Manager), Pat Sherwood (Executive Vice President) from Midlantic Machinery, Constantino Lannes and Erich Sennebogen from SENNEBOGEN.
Las Vegas, NV – At this year’s ISRI Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas, Midlantic Machinery was announced as Dealer of the Year by SENNEBOGEN LLC President, Constantino Lannes. With five branch locations supporting SENNEBOGEN in eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware, Midlantic may not be the largest distributor in SENNEBOGEN’s nation-wide network. However, according to Senior Vice president Pat Sherwood, the firm’s winning sales record in 2017 can be attributed to nothing more complicated that the old saying: “Plan to work and work the plan.”
“When we became the SENNEBOGEN distributor in this territory, in 2009, there were only a few SENNEBOGEN machines in the field. We didn’t have a large territory but have been steadily building our base. This year, when our Regional Sales Manager sat down with us to discuss a business plan for the region we were anxious to get started. They recommended an optimum inventory we should stock, given our territory and potential. I think that’s a big reason why we were so successful.”
Each branch is staffed by a sales specialist who had been trained in material handling applications at the SENNEBOGEN Training Center near Charlotte, NC. “We had our staff take the training before and have decided this year that we’re going to send them to SENNEBOGEN again for a refresher. All our mechanics go down there regularly, as well. The factory training and facility are first class.”
To complete the plan, each branch is well-stocked with SENNEBOGEN service parts, ensuring immediate delivery for customers’ most common needs. According to Pat Sherwood, sales branches are equipped with flexible financing and lease packages from SENNEBOGEN Capital, to help seal the deal.
Sherwood notes that sales and service for SENNEBOGEN customers is a team effort. Along with working together to develop the business plan, SENNEBOGEN specialists join Midlantic’s sales staff to meet with the customer, review the application and make a recommendation for what the customer needs.
“As SENNEBOGEN’s top dealer today,” Sherwood explained, “Midlantic will continue to ‘work the plan’ to top 2017’s performance. That’s our goal.”