04
Staying Abreast of the Field – The Heart and Soul of Kubota’s Construction Machinery Business

West Palm Beach, Florida, a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area some 100km north of downtown Miami. Located in this warm tropical city is Florida Coast Equipment (FCE), one of the leading dealers of Kubota’s construction machinery, with three additional locations in southern Florida. Founded in 1985 as a dealer of madein-Japan tractors, FCE became a dealer for construction machinery as well by the latter half of the 1990s. Having started as a dealer for both agricultural and construction machinery manufactured by other companies than Kubota, they steadily increased their share of Kubota-branded products, and today, 100% of their offerings are from Kubota. FCE President Todd Bachman recalled that the decision to go with Kubota was made solely because of their unwavering confidence in product quality.
“When we started, we used to carry other brands of construction machinery. As we gradually shifted to Kubota, however, we became convinced of the exceptional reliability of Kubota products. Take compact excavators as an example, which we consider to be our core products. Their superior operating efficiency adds to productivity without question, not to mention they don’t easily fail. Our users are truly taken with their high durability.” (Bachman)
Behind FCE’s brisk sales of construction machinery are economic growth in the U.S. and the inf lux of people into the State of Florida, but it is not just such social circumstances that boosted their performance.
“What we take extra care to do is to retain the current customer base while simultaneously pitching to users of other brands. You could say that our sales team is active both in defense and offense. The key to this approach is after-sales service, as it will eventually differentiate us from competitors. We are hoping to further expand our user services with support from Kubota.” (Bachman)
On top of the unwavering support, Bachman is looking forward to Kubota’s next action. “There is no denying that Kubota’s construction machinery line is renowned for its high reliability, but we want to see their new offerings that satisfy the market demand. For instance, competitors have already launched high-tech construction machinery that employs IoT (Internet of Things) smart sensors to prevent problems and failures. The combination of high reliability and cutting-edge technology would provide us dealers with renewed sales opportunities.” (Bachman)

Based in Blue Ridge, near Atlanta, Georgia, Mason Tractor Co. is among the top dealers of Kubota’s construction machinery. An 80-year-old dealer of agricultural and construction machinery, they cater to the northern central part of Georgia, where they have four locations, including their head office. Their business with Kubota started in 1977 with—like many other dealers—agricultural machinery, making them a longstanding Kubota dealer of more than forty years. In 1999, they began trading in construction machinery from other manufacturers, but they gradually increased business with Kubota from 2005, when Kubota expanded the selection of its offerings. Company owner Bill Mason explained why.
“We have dealt in Kubota’s tractors for many years, during which we have been able to foster a partnership with mutual trust. Our customers place a lot of faith in the superior quality and durability of Kubota’s tractors. We were thus confident that Kubota would deliver excellent construction machines, just as they do for agricultural machines. Also, Kubota’s diesel engines enjoy considerable acclaim from our customers. The fact that a machine comes with a Kubota engine is a big plus for our sales. For these reasons, we decided to switch to Kubota’s construction machinery.” (Mason)
Mason Tractor began their dealership with agricultural machinery, but now nearly 60% of their business comes from construction machinery, with Kubotabranded machines accounting for 100% of their compact construction machinery business. They have had a remarkable track record of sales thus far, and Mason attributes this success to their “being aggressive.” “Kubota has been aggressively expanding their product line these days, and in step with their growth momentum we at Mason Tractor are taking an aggressive stance on sales, advertising strategies, recruitment of talented people, and employee skill building programs, all of which, I believe, underpin our strong sales. Another thing that swells the number of Kubota fans is the high regard that users have for Kubota’s diesel engines and aftersales services and follow-ups.” (Mason)