Business View - May 2015 121
uct – whether warehouse by warehouse or application
by application – and there’s expertise in those areas.
(We have a) fairly large service department compared
to a lot of the other forklift companies, which may have
more equipment sales than us. That really is our se-
cret sauce. That’s where we lead.
“The equipment itself is very competitive. We feel like
we can beat most at the service itself. Taking care of
the customer after the sale is really where we shine.”
Online avenues like MachineryTrader.com are key in
the company’s increasing push toward getting the
word out about its services, which has begun gener-
ating more traffic alongside the traditional building of
face-to-face sales relationships with customers. The
sales approach will always remain vital, Holmstrom
said, because rapport must be created regardless of
how initial contact was made.
And going forward, simplicity will always be a go-to.
“Keeping it simple is sometimes the easiest thing,” he
said. “Looking at appropriate geographies to expand
our services is an opportunity for us, as is finding the
appropriate manufacturers to work with that fit within
our core competencies of what our service providers
and technicians can do. When we add a manufacturer,
it has to make sense with what service we can provide.
When we move to a geography, it has to make sense
with whether we can provide good technicians in that
area.
“The simple thought is that we can expand our busi-
ness just by moving some geography, going to some
good markets and doing some business there.”
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