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The Huron Expositor, 1966-10-06, Page 222--114 WSON EXPS:ISITOR OAFORTH ONTv OCT, 6 19 Gordon Megavin, who is co- chairman of the local conunittee responsible for ..'the details in- volved in arranging the 1966 In; ternational Plowing Match also finds time to operate a success- ful farm implement business as this story in the Canadian Farm Equipment Dealer indicates. (By Ian Carruthers m the Cana- dian Farm Equipment Dealer) In a 1907• public school in Walton, Ontario, is one of Nuf- field's most . successful dealer- ships. Local residents were amused when Gordon. and Steil McGavin, both born and raised in Walton,, bought the school three or four years ago. Then to their surprise the schoolhouse was converted easily into a farm equipment dealership. The service shop is in a basement classroom; the counter, display area and parts department are all in the large main floor classroom; and the teacher's offices have been turned into two comfortably small business offices. By comparison with their former site at the main corner in Walton, the school - „house has provided a large amount of frontage and space, and an enviably small over- head. Few farm equipment dealers have been candidates in a fed- eral election. Gordon McGavin is one. who has. Up until 1963 he had been on the local school board for 16 years. At that time he was asked to run fed- erally ederally by the Liberal Party in Huron Riding. His Conserva- tive' opponent had held the seat for 25 years, and to com- plicate omplicate matters, was a friend of long standing. In spite of his defeat, Mr. McGavin is sure that his experience in politics has benefited his dealership. Being involved in the_commun- ity is one of the keys to suc- cess in any local business. Mr. McGavin has found that those who come into his shop to chat about politics and pick up a part, are Conservatives as often as Literals, though the Conser- vatives are apt to make sly wise- cracks. It's all good for busi- ness though. in ear Dealet 1,5 a Saleable Equipment Discovered At Plowing Matches When Gordon' McGavin start- ed selling machinery in 1936 in Walton, he was a Cockshutt dealer. At the 1946 Victory Plowing Match, of which he was president, he saw farmers taking a great interest in New Holland balers, and took a con- tract with New Holland., Singe that time he has been adding to his long list of shortline items. Gordon McGavin's associa- tion with. the International Plowing Match has been a long and. important one. It was back in 1925 that he won his first plowing match in Huron Coun- ty. In later years he was dir- ector, trip manager and presi- dent. This year when the Inter- national Plowing Match meets in nearby Seaforth, he has re- sponsibilities as Parade Mar- shal and member of the exec- utive. Through the Plowing Match Mr. McGavin has made acquain- tances among many other deal- ers and manufacturers. Even more important, he finds that the interest that farmers and dealers show in certain pieces of display machinery at a match, indicates to himr what will sell best. At the 1955 Match he saw that he would probably do an excellent business in Smoker elevators. 'The next year he sold 42 of .them, more than any other dealer in Canada. The re- sult was an expense -paid two- week trip to Cuba. His shortline sales were im- portant enough in 1959 that Mr. McGavin was forced to give up his Cockshutt franchise of 23 years standing. The previous year he had seen Nuffield trac tors at . the World Plowing Match at Stuttgart, Germany which .he visited as trip mana- ger for the Canadian entry. The result was a Nuffield dealer- ship, and according to Nuffield, one of their best. In 1965 Mc- Gavins' Farm Equipment sold 27 of their new tractors. Nuf- field sent Gordon on a trip to Europe in 1965, and Neil went to England with them this year. Shortlines Skyrocket .in Mixed Farming Area The Walton location is super- bly suited to a shortline dealer. With the variety of mixed farming that goes .on in the area, every type of machinery has a prospective market. Last year McGavins' Farin Equipment did $32,000 of busi- ness in Turner forage wagons, forage boxes and grain boxes. Bale stockers and tossers, grain dryers and augers, New Idea forage boxes and Wheel rake are all key shortline sellers.,Al- together McGavins' Farm Equi- pment deals with 19 shortline companies. There is no reason, says Gor- don McGavin, why a dealer could not handle $100,000 worth of shortline business in his first year if he opened up in a well-chosen town where there were no competitors. As for personnel in a new business, the first "must" for Mr. McGaMin would be a good bookkeeper. He has solved this' problem himself • with a girl who has been with the firm for six years. Next in importance to Mr. McGavin would be his servicemen. Of the . four who work for.him, three have been with him for 15, 7 and 5 years. Although he does not over -pay his staff in order to maintain smooth relations with other loc- al businesses, he does pay bon- uses based ,on the year's busi- ness.' The salesman for McGavins'' Farm Equipment falls into a different category.. He is Neil McGavin, Gordon's son, who followed his father into the business 'after his graduation from Ontario Agricultural Col- lege. Ife is a–aAtural salesman, according to his father, and is responsible for almost all the sales made. Ingenious Promotion Methods In its time McGavins' . Farm Equipment has used a number of solid and ingenious promo- tion devices. In 1937, the year after going into business, Gor- WATCH FOR TH. BIG Visit Our Tent i Plowing All Productson t • SALE n the Tented City at the Match Next Week he Fall Sale Will be on ,display Place Advanced Orders for Products on the Fall Savings Sale at your 1' Cboey's 22 single or repeater rifle and shells Pacemaker Automatic Dryer and 'Washer with free electric blanket Viscount Delux thin-wall chest freezer G.E. Floor Polisher or Vacuum Cleaner Delux Square tub, Wringer Washer Viscount Automatic Electric Range Torcan', Slimline Baseboard Heater 'Air King' portable Fan Forced Heater G.E. Steam and Dry Iron 16' Aluminum Ladder 24' Aluminum Extension Ladder 8' Aluminum Step Ladder Bell No. 10 Hammermill 2 H.P. and Yi,H.P, Electric, fan cooled, totally enclosed motors Sta-Rite Convertible Jet Pumps and Pressure Tanks Aluminum Combination Doors Black & Decker 71/4" Saw Kit Black & Decker Jig Saw • Snow Tires and Regular Tires Battery Charger 12 Volt and 6 Volt Batteries don McGavin began advertisipg on the ,local radio station in Wingham. In those days. the rate for three ads Was $1.25. Now they have a regular year-round spot Monday. mornings follow- ing the sportscast. Mr. ZYlcGavin feels that most famers have a transistor with them in the barn, and will catch up on the weekend sports news Monday morning. Certainly radio adver- tising has proven effective. An ad for a piece of used equip- ment can bring in a purchaser the same, day. Then prosPective buyers later in the week who awe disappointed by the gaiek sale can be steeled toweds an alternate piece of machinery.. The McGavins also advertise in local newspapers. At one time they tried the London Free Press, but felt that their ad was lost in a large paper. Several times a year the ;Mc- Gavins hold haying and plow- ing demonstrations. For extra interest, they occasionally run contests with prizes „fon .the winner. Last year they poured one gallon of fuel into a Nuf- field tractor, and asked those at the demonstration to . guess how long it would idle. They were both pleased and embar- rassed to find, that the tractor ran for 5 `hours and 7 minutes, long after the demonstration was planned -to finish. But it still aroused great interest' among their captive audience who lingered hoping to collect the prize. Appropriately enough in their old schoolhouse, the McGavins also hold school nights when they ask manufacturers to show films while coffee and donuts are served to the audience'. Kongskilde, New Holland, Nuf- field, New Idea and McKee Harvester have all participated at one time or another, sending reps to show the company film and answer questions. Reasonably Priced Servicing Pays in Reputation For Gordon McGavin, one of the distinct advantages of dis- tributing for a shortline manu- facturer of all lines tends to be slower and less efficient in delivering parts. In the school- house they have built up a parts inventory worth $8,000. For every tractor sold, they add $50 in parts to their stock, and for every baler $30 worth. Altogether there are four men employed full time for servicing, one of .whom works exclusively on balers. As a rule, equipment to be serviced is brought into the shop by truck., Here a two-way radio- telephone is useful–so that the man out on call canbe in touch with the shop. It was ten years ago that the McGavins first in- troduced the radio=telephone, and are . completely convinced of. its value.. The McGavins believe in keep- ing the cost of servicing rea- sonably low. First rate servic- ing helps build the reputation of any dealership. Then through the servicing and used equip- ment sales Neil gets to know thosefarmers who have old equipment, and will be poten- tial customers in a few years. The volume of used equip- , m•ent sold last year at McGavins' Farm.- Equipment was $47,000, a remarkably smallpercentage of their total sales volume. It's policy not to tie bp a great deal` of money in used equip- ment. But they find that used tractors with three-point hitch and hydraulics' will sell as fast' as they get them. Many of the' older trade-ins are wrecked for used parts. In some cases this is particularly useful when the manufacturer discontinues a line of -parts. They will extend credit to a farmer only if he is accepted for a farm equipment loan. This is by no means a liberal policy, but it is a sound one. Gordon McGavin noted that five dealers' in Brussels, a few miles north of Walton, have gone bankrupt in the past two years, especial- ly because of mishandling ere- dit. With the McGavins' juri- cious credit policy, they have never •had to reposses a mach- ine. Their consciousness of good public relations is reflected in their dealings with customers who can't . keep _ up payments. Either they will resell.. the ma- chinery for the customer, or make a rental arrangement un- til the farmer can make a pay- ment. The respected reputation of McGavins' Farm Equ,�'.wmnent in the Walton area has–been the natural result of their involve- ment in IocaI polities and the plowing match, and good cus- tomer relations in promotion, service and credit. All these contributed ' to a whopping $426,000 sales volume last year. Remember! It takes but• a. moment to 'place an Expositor Want Ad and be nioney pocltet• To advertise, just Dial Seefottl 62`1`,4200 1-14 Tented City where more than 300 exhibitors will show the ,latest in Agricultural Machinery. This picture ,is of the Tented City at the 1964 Match 1� roin n Hoff • 1966: Huron County, the site of the 1966 International 'Plowing Match, has a proud history of progress ,since the first white settlers arrived through the virgin forests nearly 140 years ago. It was John Galt, the , founder , of the . Canada Company, who, in 1827, conceived the Huron. Road whieh cut.across what was to become Huron Coun- ty, and on to Lake Huron at Goderich. The new road encouraged settlement,, and among those first settlers were those 'who cleared the area which this year is the site of the International Plowing Match, in McKillop Township. The first wheat to be harvested in the district was that planted a short distance west of Seaforth by Col. Van Egmond, the builder of the Huron Road, now No. 8 Highway. The settlers early realiz- ed the necessity of developing and sharing their agricultural knowledge, and within a few years had organized associations to this' end. Typical is the report of a plowing match held 101. years ago, about three miles from Scott Farms, the site of this year's International, which appear- ed in an issue of The Canadian Farmer, dated February 18, 1866 and which appears elsewhere this issue. The names of many of those mention- ed in that early report are to be found today among those Huron people who are acting as hosts to the 1966 event. "While Huron has a mainly agricultural econ- omy, there are a wide variety of manufacturing en- terprises, and in recent years the -county has* be- come one of Canada's main sources of salt. Most of -the farms—there are over 5,000 farms in Hur- on—are engaged primarily in livestock, with about 33 per cent in dairy operations. Huron has the most cattle and plultry of any county in Ontario, valued in 1965 at over $35 mil- lion. Cash crops are increasing •tepidly in volume and value, and now total in' excess of $1,000,000. Huron farmers are mechanized to a high degree, with more than 96 per cent using electric power, and 90 per' cent with tractors and automobiles. With nearly' a hundred 'miles of shoreline along Lake Huron and with a variety' of scenery and pic- nic facilities, Huron each year is the mecca of an • increaging number of tourists. The International Plowing Match is the largest outdoor agricultural event of its kind in Canada , —if not in the world — and each year attracts daily attendances of up to 50,000 people. Located in McKillop Township, on the 'northern limits of Seaforth,' activities are centred on the 400 - acre Scott Farms - and adjoining °farms, a total, area of ne•ly 1,000 acres being reserved for match activities. The Tented City, featuring nearly 300 exhibi- tors, will occupy nearly 100 acres. Laid out in ful- ly -serviced streets, the Tented City will feature displays of every conceivable type of farm machin- ery, as well as all sorts of farm supplies. In addi- tion, the Tented City will include Match headquar- ters' and catering facilities for the thousands of visitors. THE McKILLOP MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE. COMPANY. Office — Main Street SEAFORTH Insures: • Town Dwellings • All Classes. of Farm Property - • Summer Cottages • Churches, Schools, Halls Extended coverage (wind, smoke, water danfiage, falling objects, etc.) is also available. AGENTS: James Keys, RR 1, Seaforth; V. J. Lane, RR 5, Seaforth; Wm..Leiper, Jr., Londesboro; Selwyn Baker, Brussels; Harold Squires, Cliqon; George Coyne, Dublin; Donald G. Eaton, Seaforth. Read the Advertisements — It's a Profitable Pastime! • WANT ADS BRING QUICK RESULTS: Dial 527-0240 1-0 things go better. TRADE MARK REG. Both Coca-Cola and Coke are registered trade marks which identify only the. product of Coca-Cola Ltd. •4., compliments of ESBECO (Huron) Ltd. Authorized Bottlers of Coca-Cola