Greg Allan Farm Machinery’s expansion to Hamilton came after several years of planning and is already improving both its product offering and service capabilities
Identifying an opportunity to boost its customer service and committing to the long haul has underpinned Greg Allan Farm Machinery’s expansion to a second branch.
The multi-brand dealer has been long established in the south-western Victorian town of Colac but opened a second location about two hours’ drive away in Hamilton last year.
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Greg Allan Farm Machinery’s new Hamilton branch will allow it to increase its service offering across Victoria
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Managing director Jon Allan says the Hamilton move was several years in the making and has brought multiple benefits for both the company and its customers.
“We already had customers over in the area, but obviously being 200 kilometres away from Colac we just found we were getting a little bit stretched on the service side,” he says.
“Being in Hamilton is closer for service and customers won’t have to pay travel from Colac.”
Greg Allan Farm Machinery also represents some “fairly unique brands”, and the branch opening has enabled customers in the region to have better access to these products.
“We’ve got the whole south-west Victoria region on the Valtra tractors, for instance, and to service the whole lot just out of Colac is a little bit restrictive to the customers,” Jon says.
“Every brand we’ve taken into Hamilton has been a brand that wasn’t in town already.
“We’ve taken the Pöttinger equipment over to Hamilton as well, and then the other brands that we import through our Colac Ag company, such as Samasz, Mandam, Elho with the rock pickers, Landini and TYM tractors, Celli tillage equipment, Abbey mixer wagons and also the Strautmann mixer wagons.
“We are trying to keep a consistency between Colac and Hamilton and are trying to replicate what we’ve been known for over 35 years.”
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Owner Greg Allan with a Valtra tractor, which is one brand the dealer will sell from its Hamilton branch
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Beyond these brands, Jon says recent acquisitions to the Greg Allan Farm Machinery stable have been made with the idea of appealing to Hamilton customers.
“We’ve been lining this up for about three years with the brands we’ve been taking on with the main thought process that Hamilton is where most of those will be going,” he says.
“In the recent couple of years, we took on the Bourgault broadacre seed drills, so they are very much set up for Hamilton.
“The Hansa trailed agricultural spreaders that are built in Ballarat and fully stainless steel are probably a bit more focused on the Hamilton branch too.”
Jon believes a change in farming style in the area around Hamilton, with many dairy farms moving to sheep and beef farms, and many cropping operations moving south, is shifting the machinery requirements.
“Obviously dairy farms are a bit more intense – they’re smaller properties with more numbers of tractors – but now we’re getting bigger horsepower tractors, bigger properties, and graziers going down there,” he says.
Jon says the company decided to take a “leap of faith” after customers had begun suggesting a second branch had merit.
Greg Allan Farm Machinery is committed to the Hamilton area, Jon says, having bought the building they now call home, and improvements both planned and some already completed.
“The reception has been good, and people can have faith that we’re going to be there,” he says.
“Greg Allan Farm Machinery has bought the premises in Hamilton, and we’ve invested a lot of money to be there for the long haul.”
Greg Allan Farm Machinery’s Hamilton branch is located at 35 Mt Baimbridge Road, and complements the existing branch at 408 Princes Highway, Colac West.
The company’s full range can be viewed at the dealer’s website.