Machinery lighting supplier Wattz aims to put customer service at the heart of everything it does by going above and beyond for every farmer
The value of mateship permeates through rural Australia, with communities quick to band together for a greater good during times of challenge or crisis.
Realising the significance of this to the nation’s farmers – and the need to do so authentically – has become the entire ethos of machinery lighting provider Wattz.
Authenticity in its customer-centric approach comes easily to founder Andre Meyer, who is a farmer himself and knows what those keeping the industry operating require.
Since launching to the Australian market earlier this year, Wattz – which supplies aftermarket lighting solutions to farm machinery that considerably increases its output – has set about being more than just a distributor and seller of products.
The company aims to establish itself into the Australian agricultural market by embedding itself into rural communities, treating every customer as a valued friend and developing ongoing relationships that extend well beyond the transaction at hand.
“The relationship that we establish with customers has meant that we often call up our customers and check in to ask what the farming conditions are in their area,” Meyer says.
“We can connect them with other like-minded farmers around them, invite them to events we are attending in the area, and ask if we can drop in and say hello if we are passing through.”
Happy customers
Developing and nurturing these friendships goes hand-in-hand with authentic relationship building for Meyer and the Wattz team.
This is borne from a desire to give customers the best experience possible, by seeking out honest feedback and offering tailored solutions for each customer’s needs.
One Wattz customer who is already reaping the benefits is South Australian Nathan Collins.
Collins farms at Mingbool in the state’s south-east, right near the Victorian border, and milks about 500 cows in addition to doing his own silage and cultivation work.
He has already converted three of his five tractors to complete Wattz lighting packages with plans to do the same for his remaining two.
Meyer’s service even extending to personally installing some of the lights for him, something which Meyer says he will offer wherever it is practical.
This has created a happy customer who plans to keep working with Wattz.
“I’m very happy overall and I definitely recommend them,” Collins says.
“They’ve got every tractor model listed on their website and what lights are required, so you just click on that and it’s easy.
“You’re getting a good product and service from someone with the knowledge, because he’s driven machines before and knows what you need.
“I know it’s not possible, but I reckon you’re better off to order a new tractor without lights and get Andre to sort it out for lights.”
Ongoing care
From Wattz’s perspective, the relationship continues long after the transaction has been completed.
Having a genuine care about the customers it deals with is the philosophy which Meyer started the company with, along with wanting to ensure every single customer has a positive experience.
“It’s so incredibly important as we know what it means to be part of a community,” Meyer says.
“We personally follow up with our customers and we take their number instead of giving ours out so they know we genuinely care about assisting with their upgrades.
“For us, an ideal ongoing partnership would be continuous and frequent check-ins and communication with our farmers post-installation and asking them for honest reviews on the products they have purchased because we strive to continuously improve.
“Word of mouth and customer honesty is so important for farmers.
“They listen to those around them who work the same hours, who live the same lives, who face the same hardships and that is the trusted voice – farmer to farmer.”
Improved lighting increases safety and functionality during night work
Top product
The simplest definition of Wattz is a distributor of aftermarket lighting solutions for tractors and other popular farm machinery such as harvesters and sprayers.
The company offers a complete package that covers everything from headlights through to roof lights and boasts an improvement of up to 400 per cent in the lighting output over standard factory-fitted lights.
It offers this while providing easy to install lights which do not alter the machine’s overall look – and have the added bonus of being affordable without compromising on quality.
Wattz’s website also includes a handy 3D Configurator which lists tractor and machinery models to help customers quickly identify the lights which are suited to their needs.
The company aims to be a one-stop shop for all machinery lighting needs, something which is further emphasised by the desire to help customers with any left-field requirements.
“We can also order in specific lights for models that we don’t supply on the websites, because we do our best to fulfil customer needs,” Meyer says.
“We also like to keep in touch with customers to let them know if we are expanding our product range, because we keep in mind what other machinery models they have on their farms.
“We also want them to know they are getting genuine, great quality lights and not getting ripped off.”
The full Wattz range can be viewed online at www.wattz.com.au
