Customer insights are shaping our future at FarmShop.

Farmers and contractors are the backbone of our business – hardworking characters with a hunger to improve. We’re much the same at FarmShop – farming is our livelihood, and we’re committed to improving our products and services for the rural community. 

As part of this, we recently engaged Ange from What Lies Beneath (WLB) to interview a selection of our customers over an in-depth phone conversation. The goal was to understand what our customers think of FarmShop and identify ways we can serve them better. Farmers and contractors didn’t hold back! They told the crew at WLB the good, bad and otherwise about us. We are grateful for their honesty and for taking the time out of their busy lives to participate. 

Off the back of this dynamic exercise, FarmShop has a bunch of action plans – straight from the horse’s mouth, our roadmap ahead is directly aligned to our customers’ feedback.

Farm machinery changes rapidly, as do the weather patterns, regulations, costs and market conditions. There is no time to rest on our laurels in this industry! Our focus is providing leading-edge machinery and service, and engaging a customer insight agency was a leap forward in our commitment. The results have been transformative.

Here are a few of the big things you told us:

Farmers are doing it tough. Knowing what you buy is one thing, but deeply understanding your motivations, pain points, and aspirations helps us show empathy and flexibility when selling to you. 

You told us our customer service was exceptional and we make it easy to buy. You love our auctions and freebies, but we could tell you more about the support we provide in local and national communities. Being a humble crew, we’ve kept these acts of generosity quiet - but we promise to share more soon.

Giving you an early heads-up on deals was suggested, and we’re also developing a slick incentive/loyalty programme. Part of this loyalty will be addressed by rolling out a more superior Backup Service programme.

Product training videos and workshops are fast becoming a focus – and as we write, we provided a successful SaMASZ presentation and delicious lunch to about 20 Northland contractors keen to learn more about the 2023 mowers.

We’ve also stepped up our commitment to product knowledge, with our lead technicians, Jeff and Scott, recently returning from visiting our machinery partners across Europe. The training they received was second to none, and they look forward to applying it in the workshop and helping farmers troubleshoot their machinery when required.

Ange at WLB had the following to share about working with FarmShop:

“Working with the FarmShop team was a blast! Who knew that based in the tiny town of Kaiwaka were a group of super savvy, genuinely lovely, renowned agricultural experts.

We appreciated their hunger for learning and willingness to take the ‘crunchy’ customer feedback on board, seeing it for what it was - an exciting opportunity to do better!

When my team and I left, we jumped in the car and said ‘awwwww that was sooooo cool’ - because of the fondness and respect the team has for Mike the GM and how valued they feel. How generous he and his family are to local and national causes, without wanting kudos for it. And just knowing this high performing team who already have so many happy customers, are going to take their insights and grow and thrive from them. It feels great to have been a part of it.”

We are excited about the journey ahead and look forward to farming smarter together.