Episode 63

THE HIRE AND SALES MIX with Max Pearce

Do hire and sales mix - or are they different business models?

Dealers often stock a few specialist machines to hire, or loan machines to cover breakdowns.

However, they tend to view hire as time-consuming and risky with excessive paperwork to cover health and safety issues. They also believe hire takes away sales opportunities.

Max Pearce sees things differently. He runs a plant hire company in Southampton and recently bought a local garden machinery dealership - and now runs both businesses side-by side as one company.

He tells Chris Biddle about the benefits of an additional, and complementary, income stream - and of providing a valauble service to the cruise ship sector.

Chris first reflects on the way firms like Cazoo and Cinch have disrupted the established second-hand car market - and wonders whether 'disruptors' might have an impact on the agri-turf machinery sector

Exsel Plant Hire

About the Podcast

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INSIDE AGRI-TURF
The farm and grass machinery business

About your host

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Chris Biddle

Chris is an experienced journalist specialising in the farm and grass machinery market. He has worked for a major tractor manufacturer and been a managing director of a farm and grass machinery dealership in the West Country.
In 1988, he launched trade magazine, Service Dealer followed by TurfPro in 1998, selling both titles to Land Power Publications in 2015.
He was editor of Landwards, the professional journal of the Institution of Agricultural Engineers (IAgrE) from 2008 until 2019 and is the recipient of the 2020 IAgrE Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Land-Based industry.
Chris lives in Salisbury with his wife Trish, and is an avid cricket fan and member of the MCC for over 55 years.