Published by Farmers Guide, June 2006.

With 34 years’ experience of selling John Deere tractors and equipment, Chilbolton, Hampshire-based R Hunt could well be considered a safe pair of hands to take over the brand’s franchise in South Wiltshire; and judging by the company’s initial performance in the new territory, it has thrown itself wholeheartedly into boosting Deere’s profile and winning sales.
From a brand new branch at Tilshead, which sits half-way between the two previous John Deere outlets at Devizes and Wilton, R Hunt is already reaping the rewards of its investment.
“Officially, we took over the territory on January 1, although it’s only in the past couple of months that we have finished work on the Tilshead branch,” R Hunt Managing Director Tim Hunt told Farmers Guide. “Sales are already going well and we’re looking forward to developing the John Deere brand in the new area.
“Tilshead has the potential to be bigger then Chilbolton, which is currently our best performing branch, but it will take some doing because of the level of competition we face in Wiltshire.”
In the week that Farmers Guide visited (May 17), the branch had sold four tractors, with Mr Hunt keen to add that none of the sales was linked to the Single Payment Scheme cheques arriving through farmers’ letterboxes.
R Hunt was fortunate to secure a roadside site for its new branch on the outskirts of Tilshead. Consisting of a reasonably modern grain store, a derelict dairy building and an old Dutch barn when it was bought in November 2005, the site did come with planning permission and work to turn it into a modern agricultural machinery dealership was able to start right away.
“We demolished the Dutch barn, and turned the grain store into our workshop,” Tim Hunt said. “The dairy building has been fully refurbished and now houses the stores, sales offices and a good sized display area for work wear and general farm supplies.
“Outside we have erected a security fence around the whole site that leaves us plenty of space for displaying new and used machinery, while we also have access to another 15 acres to the side and back if we ever want to expand in the future.”
Tilshead is the fourth R Hunt branch to be opened and expands the company’s John Deere territory to cover an area from the Isle of Wight in the South to the M4 in the North, and from the M3 in the East to Chippenham in the West.
As well as the Chilbolton branch, set up by Mr Hunt’s parents, Roger and Faith (who remain involved in the business) back in 1961, the area is also served by a branch on the Isle of Wight, which was set up 24 years ago, and the company’s Basingstoke branch, established 10 years ago.
To mark the official opening of the Tilshead branch, R Hunt held an open evening on May 17 to invite new and existing customers to come and meet the team, which currently consists of eight staff members but is likely to grow quite quickly.
“The branch manager is Jay Fisher, who has more than 20 years experience of working with John Deere machinery on the service side,” Tim Hunt said. “Jay will also be selling machinery at Tilshead, along with Tom Windel, while Richard Neat is Storesman and charged with looking after the parts department.
“The workshop at the new branch has five John Deere trained staff, with Service Manager John Kitley joined by Simon Evans, Paul Shadwell, Martin Chalk and Garry Rawlins.”
As R Hunt was completely new to the area, a lot of time and effort was put into collecting the names and addresses of potential customers so that invitations to the opening could be sent out.
“We were amazed at the response, with 280 farmers replying to say that they would be attending,” Tim Hunt said. “And in the end more than 300 people turned up on the night.”
As well as John Deere, which was represented by five product specialists and had a comprehensive range of machinery (including every series of tractor, a combine, telehandlers, mowers, balers, and sprayers), equipment and representatives from Kverneland, Kawasaki, Richard Western, Spearhead, Twose, KRM, AW Trailers and Farm Force were also in attendance.
“In just six months, we have established a full blown John Deere dealership with a comprehensively stocked parts department and a fully staffed workshop and mobile service team,” Mr Hunt said. “We also have a full demonstration fleet and will share a demonstrator with our other branches to make sure customers are able to make the most of the features that John Deere equipment gives them.
“This is an exciting time in our company’s history and we would certainly consider expanding again if we had the opportunity.”