2015 Business Class Honoree: S&H Farm Supply Inc.

At the heart of the American heartland are farmers. They’re also the heart of S&H Farm Supply Inc.’s customer base, which brought in 2014 revenues of $71.75 million.

For President Eric Schnelle, the success of the business is grounded in father and S&H founder Wayne’s reminder: a 100 percent customer-funded company must demonstrate its value through service.

“Our team members are the core of our business,” Schnelle says of S&H’s business philosophy. “Any business is only as good as the people face-to-face with the customer.”

Schnelle says S&H is committed to training its service technicians both in-house and at vendor factories to ensure they are knowledgeable about products and the needs of the customers at all four of the company’s stores in Lockwood, Rogersville, Mountain Grove and Joplin.

“It’s an investment,” Schnelle says, adding the business spent $140,000 on employee training last year.

“It’s costly for us to do that, but the payback is obviously excellent for customers and us both, because training is an investment and it pays every day.”

Schnelle calls service, parts and sales the legs of the stool on which his business stands.

“There’s not that many places that will have $5 million in spare parts to keep people going, but on our side that’s part of our business,” he says. “You’ve got sales, parts and service – those are all equally strong legs of the stool, and you’ve got to have all that.”
The constant battle is finding quality employees.

“Our customers expect continuity, and they expect trained people,” Schnelle says, adding S&H has developed working relationships with local vocational and technical schools and FFA chapters to build a homegrown talent base. “We don’t want somebody that is just average. We set our standards pretty high, and it becomes hard to find that overachiever.”

Community involvement is part of building the S&H brand. Schnelle says in addition to local agriculture education, the company actively supports such groups as little league sports, 4-H, the Missouri Cattleman’s Association and the American Cancer Society of Southwest Missouri’s Cattle Baron’s Ball.

“Small communities, especially like ours here, need that corporate support,” he says. “That’s where businesses can partner.”

Within a few years, Schnelle says S&H customers can expect to see new technology in the form of telematics, which can wirelessly transmit diagnostics on a customer’s piece of equipment. He compares it to OnStar for the agriculture business.

“We can help them keep track of oil changes, services, what it’s doing and even alert them to something they might not know is going on,” Schnelle says, adding he sees the technology expanding into the commercial lawn mowing industry where some product lines are already Bluetooth equipped.

“I can see a lot of it going that way no matter the equipment you buy, it just depends on the cost,” he says. “But there will be a lot more interaction.”[[In-content Ad]]