Deere & Co. is using its pro golf connection to boost sales of lawn mowers both on the course and off.
The John Deere Classic golf tournament this week in Downstate Silvis is an opportunity to showcase the company's tractors and greens mowers for golf course superintendents. And Moline-based Deere's exclusive deal to supply landscaping equipment to 25 high-end courses that often host PGA tour events has enabled it to show off its handiwork at the last two U.S. Open championships.
The high-profile exposure is no small matter in an industry where maintenance experts often take their cues from PGA Tour sites. It's helped Deere reach $150 million in annual sales of golf landscaping equipment just 10 years after it made a major commitment to business, according to industry estimates. Toro Co. of Minnesota controls about half of the $500-million market.
But the campaign pays dividends beyond that small market, helping lift sales of lawn mowers and other landscaping equipment to homeowners and professional landscapers.
A lot of Deere customers play golf,'' says Dennis Docherty, Deere's director of lawn equipment marketing. People see how beautiful some of these courses are, and they gain confidence that Deere can do the same for their own property.''
In the fiscal year ended last October, Deere's commercial and consumer equipment operations saw sales jump 19% to $3.23 billion, while operating profits nearly tripled to $227 million. In the six months ended April 30, sales were up 28% to $1.89 billion. That matched the 28% rise in Deere's agricultural equipment sales, to $2.82 billion, during the same period.
Pro golf sponsorship is a great way for them to get their name and message out to their customers under ideal lawn care conditions,'' says Alexander Pramenko, president of VIP Sports Marketing Inc. in Chicago, which stages corporate events at golf tournaments.
Deere has dangled enticing lease deals to get golf course superintendents to switch from Toro. James McNair, the superintendent at Orchard Valley Golf Course in Aurora, bought Toro equipment for years, but most of his recent purchases have been Deere machines. He likes a feedback program'' in which he's invited to Moline headquarters to test new products, as well as a national golf tournament for club employees sponsored by the company.
Deere and Toro are both good quality and dependable, but Deere is really making an effort to reach out for new business,'' Mr. McNair says.
Michael Murphy, general manager of the area's biggest Toro dealer, Turf Professionals Equipment Co. in Itasca, reports that his business has been flat recently. There aren't many new courses opening up, and this has become a very competitive business,'' he says, declining to comment on Deere specifically.
Deere's lawn and garden division got a boost in 1998 when it began supplying tractors to Home Depot stores around the country. Then, last year, the company introduced its 100 series, with tractors priced under $1,500, compared with its old lineup priced from $2,000 to more than $15,000.
Sears and others were very strong at that lower price point, and we decided we had to be there, too,'' Mr. Docherty says.
Source: Crain's Chicago Business