In 1969, Wayne Schnelle and Erwin Hedeman began selling grain bins and buildings to fellow farmers during nightly sales calls from the kitchen table.
Now, 43 years later, S&H Farm Supply is a nearly $50 million business that’s branched out to include customers who aren’t full-time farmers, and the kitchen table has been replaced by four stores across southwest Missouri.
“They took a big risk investing $500 apiece in the business,” says S&H President Eric Schnelle about his father and uncle.
Even more than four decades later, the risk is still paying off. Its $49 million in 2011 revenues were up 13 percent from $44.3 million in 2010.
The younger Schnelle remembers when the kitchen table operation expanded into an attached garage, where he rode his bike in circles. In 1974, the company grew large enough to move into its Lockwood store. By then, S&H was selling and servicing farm equipment, which it still does with the help of three additional locations. The Rogersville store opened in 2005, and its locations in Mountain Grove and Joplin both opened in 2008.
Schnelle credits a wide in-store selection, knowledgeable sales staff and an in-house service program with much of S&H’s growth through the years.
“We want to have the full package. You can go to a big-box store and buy a lawn mower, and that’s it. We can offer finance and delivery. We have a sales manager who knows the lawn mower. We furnish parts,” he says. “We make sure we have the full package and then we promote it.”
Promotion have targeted the rural lifestyle customer who lives in the city and has a place in the country, or perhaps commutes into the city for work, or someone who pursues the dream of rural living in retirement. These customers own between one acre and 20 acres and need machinery, but usually not at the same level as a full-time farmer, Schnelle says.
That’s where the Kioti Tractor, a compact machine for the rural lifestyle customer, has helped fuel S&H’s growth. Kioti had been courting S&H for several years, and the company finally decided to carry the line in 2011 after supply issues with another company created customer-service headaches.
“When one of our customers come in, we want to say, ‘Yes,’” Schnelle says.
Adding Kioti increased S&H’s sales of compact and utility tractors 30 percent last year compared to 2010 sales, and the company was named the 2011 National Rural Lifestyle Dealer of the Year by Rural Lifestyle Dealer Magazine.
Offering a large selection that customers can peruse and often take home the same day has long been a practice for S&H, even though it costs money to house more than 100 brands, says Kenny Bergmann, corporate sales manager and 21-year employee.
“We have worked hard at having what you need, not what we think you should have,” he says, noting that all locations offer repair services – a value that’s beyond the piece of equipment.
“That’s really what S&H is about,” Bergmann says. “You can never emphasize enough it’s a people business. What makes us successful is listening to the customer.”
Having the customer listen to the company doesn’t hurt either. The rollout in 2010 of a new marketing campaign with TV, radio and print ads – “You’re in S&H Country!” – has helped the company increase its market share of rural lifestyle equipment by 20 percent in 2011 over the previous year, Schnelle says.
S&H also has invested time in enhancing its Web presence and learning more about social media.
Overall, Schnelle is optimistic about S&H’s prospects in 2012, but he acknowledges that the weather – with another drought possible this year – can influence sales. He believes, though, that Springfield and the Ozarks remain a great market for business.
In addition to Kiota, the company’s other brands include New Holland, Ford, John Deere and Kubota.
“We always boldly go forward. You’ve got to plan to succeed,” Schnelle says. “We’re pretty confident in the brands we have. I think we have a good mix.”
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