Valtra dealer Edwards & Farmer, based in the U.K, has activated 47 Valtra Connect subscriptions and now enjoys the benefits of staying close to customers virtually. The dealership is able to resolve customers’ issues faster with remote viewing of machine data, troubleshooting before sending a technician, and giving customers visibility to error codes through the Valtra Connect app.
Edwards & Farmer Ltd. serves the area of Shropshire, surrounding counties and mid-Wales. Farm types are predominantly dairy and arable, but there is a good mix including forestry. To date, Edwards & Farmer has connected 47 tractors, allowing them to monitor the machines in Valtra Connect. At the dealership, 7 technicians support the owners who range from single tractor owners to large estates.
“We as a dealership can look after customers with confidence and help them in times of need and to a high standard,” says Olly Mycock who has been working at Edwards & Farmer, based near Shrewsbury, UK for 2 years as Product Support and Sales Specialist.
Olly takes a keen interest in Guidance and Technology products, and when it comes to getting subscriptions activated, he says, “I usually start with explaining to the customer that Valtra Connect is a telemetry-based system.
“The customer can monitor their own tractor and the workshop manager is able to see any error codes that may have been generated from their machine. The workshop manager can also monitor any error codes from the comfort of his office and make contact for more urgent cases.”
With this information, “an available engineer can be scheduled leading to quick service times and shorter down times benefitting Edwards and farmer as a business and them as a customer and operator.”
It is now standard procedure to look on Valtra Connect if a customer has reported an issue to tie the error codes with what the customer is describing and allowing the workshop manager to organise parts and a service technician accordingly. The technician will have a better understanding of what he may be dealing with, so he can prepare himself. This saves time and the number of trips out to that customer.
Using Valtra Connect to collect the necessary information about the machine is less tedious than calling the customers in need of support. Technicians can pull up VINs, error codes, and machine locations for activated vehicles in Valtra Connect.
Olly also finds that some customers are serving themselves in the Valtra Connect app before calling the dealer. “Time is money and customers can look at any error codes on their phones and make a relatively informed decision without always having to phone the dealer” Olly continues.
For Olly himself, he is able to monitor the status of the Demo fleet, ensuring any error codes are managed, maintaining the fleet at 100% and all customers receiving a demonstration have the option of seeing the tractor’s performance in Valtra Connect.
The process of Connect activation is now becoming a routine practice during PDI with the customer being shown the live app upon delivery and there is now the option for all dealers to activate the subscription with warranty registration.
With Valtra extending its range and now with the free 5-year Valtra Connect subscriptions, Olly only sees benefits from one day having the complete Valtra range Connect enabled as standard. “If every single machine was connected, we could receive, diagnose and correct any issues compared to if Connect wasn’t fitted.”
