Reps from across the country recently converged on the Marriot Hotel & Convention Center just outside Montgomery, Ala., for Bush Hog’s 58th annual national sales meeting. This year’s meeting had a slightly different flavor: Day one was a joint meeting with sales reps from sister company Rhino for product and sales training on the Quicke line of loaders.

Earlier this year, Alamo Group and Alo-Quicke formed an alliance where Bush Hog and Rhino sales forces represent Quicke loaders in the US marketplace. This annual sales meeting was an opportunity for the Alo product team to conduct extensive product training with both the Bush Hog and Rhino sales teams.

Rick Pummell, executive vice president and general manager of Alamo’s agriculture division, viewed the first joint meeting of the sales teams as a time for many industry veterans who knew, or at least knew of one another, to get together and share ideas while also building camaraderie.

Here Pummell shares his comments on the Alamo-Alo alliance and what it means for the dealer market:

After a thorough introduction to the Alo-Quicke product line, day one ended with attendees being treated to a hot night at the ballpark to catch the minor league Montgomery Biscuits in action.

The remainder of the meeting returned to a more traditional feel and was targeted solely to the Bush Hog reps. Company President Jerry Worthington addressed the team to talk about the current state of the organization as well as its plans for growth. “Our strategy cannot be the same as anyone else,” Worthington said. “We have to differentiate ourselves in the marketplace.”

Areas of emphasis for Bush Hog in 2012 and beyond will be:

  •  Focus on performance metrics. Specific goals for
    • Return on sales
    • Return on assets
    • Inventory turns
  • Employee wellness
  • Process productivity and product quality
  • Inventory management

The Bush Hog reps received product training for a new Flexwing rotary cutter and some new compact attachments including tillers, post-hole diggers, economy box blade and more. The new R52650B residential zero-turn mower equipped with a 26 horsepower Briggs engine, 50-in. deck and both mulch kit and grass collection kit options were also unveiled at the meeting. In this video, Marc Ivey, product development manager for Bush Hog, walks through the rest of the new product offerings from BUsh Hog for 2012-2013:

Attendees were also introduced to the new “Build My Bush Hog” online tool for dealers, which will eventually be available for end users. It basically follows the model of auto manufacturers where customers can build various configurations of Bush Hog products and request quotes, place orders, or just browse. Bush Hog expects the tool to be available later this year.

To wrap up the event, the sales representatives were present for the unveiling of Bush Hog’s 2013 All Star Pre-Season Program. They received training on the program features and will begin to roll it out to dealers starting in early July.