Click on the photo above, print, and fill out the invitation below and bring it with you to be entered for prizes, drawings and food!!!
The folks from Bite Me Hot Dog Eatery, located just before the NH State line on Rt. 202 in Lebanon, will be in attendance for the Open House offering samples from their new and expanded menu.
Batchelder Sales has been in business at this location since 1996, and has been a Kioti Tractor Dealership since 2002, servicing all makes and models of farm and garden tractors.
"We carry everything from your basic homeowner models, to the big 90 horsepower agricultural tractors", said Judy Batchelder when I spoke with her on Thursday morning.
There are 334 Kioti Dealerships between the United States and Canda, according to Judy, and Batchelder Sales is one of the Paw 5 dealerships (kind of like referring to a 5 star hotel or restaurant). A dealership must work very hard and maintain a great service record to achieve this rating, criteria for the Paw 5 rating include dollar sales volume, advertising records, recent upgrades and signs, inventory of parts and machines on hand, availability of Certified Kioti technicians, delivery availability and more. "We are in the top 20 dealerships in the country, we work very hard at this", said Judy.
Kioti tractors are manufactured in Korea by the Daedong Industrial Co., LTD, they are shipped into Virginia, and go through customs. Batchelder's takes delivery of the tractors in pieces and assembles them right here in their Lebanon shop. "Our family could go the easy way and let Kioti assemble them," says Judy, "but in the end, it's us who is responsible to our customer, so we assemble them ourselves to make sure everything is done 100% correct."
Batchelder's son also heads up the company's 2nd location, on Route 1 in North Hampton, NH and daughter Becky travels back and forth between the two stores. Employee Eric Thompson came to the Bachelder's when he was only 14 years old. Judy tells the story of a young Eric coming into the office with his father looking for work, and their reluctance to hire such a young man. "His father said, his boy was different, and he certainly is," Judy said of Thompson. "He'll be the one to take over the Lebanon business when we retire." Between the two locations, Batchelder's boasts a total of over 1,200 tractors for customers to consider. According to Judy, they've grown so big from having great customer service. "We don't do a lot of advertising," Judy said, "most of our advertising is done by word of mouth." She took great pride in telling us about the great customer to customer base that the business has taken care to maintain over the years. "If you fill out the coupon to participate in our drawings," she added, "you don't have to worry about salesmen calling you or strong arm sales tactics. We really just would like to know where people are hearing about our business."
Another key player to the Bachelder's success story is daughter, Becky. "Without her I'd be lost," said Judy. "People have no idea of the massive inventory she is responsible for." Not only does Becky provide support to both Batchelder Sales locations, she is responsible for all wholegoods and parts inventory. This involves ordering and maintaining adequate wholegoods & parts records, all warranty submissions, routine customer billings and overall customer support as needed. Becky works directly with the people at Kioti and with customer financing at Agricredit. "She is also our very valuable IT person. Many times Becky is the first contact our customers have with Batchelder Sales and she completes many of our sales." said Judy.
It was fun talking to Judy and hearing the details of the trip she and Becky recently took to tour the Daedong manufacturing plant in Korea. The pair also toured the company's foundry, which Judy says was her first time ever being able to see a working foundry. There's a photo album of their trip in the office and seeing the thousands of bright orange tractors all lined up for export to the United States is pretty amazing. "All compact tractors these days are made outside of the United States," Judy informed me, "While people think that John Deere is manufactured in America, they're not," adding that many are manufactured in Mexico and South America and only assembled in the States.
Batchelder Sales also carries Bad Boy brand zero turn mowers, manufactured in Batesville, Arkansas and Land Pride three point hitch accessories which are located in Kansas. Both being 100% American Made.
Watch this week for Batchelder's to be adding their new Kioti Dealership sign. The old one is coming down and will be replaced prior to the May 14th Open House!!
Bachelder's Sales offers help with financing through Agricredit and York County Federal Credit Union. According to Judy, York County offers some awesome financing deals and they've been able to help many people get the equipment they need through York County Federal Credit Union's financing programs.
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