Five years with AGCO

In 2011, AgroCentre started its cooperation with AGCO corporation. Currently, the company is the largest dealer in Russia responsible for 46% of all retail sales of AGCO machinery.

A leading dealer

Within the five years of cooperation, the number of AgroCentre’s dealership facilities has grown from 11 to 16 and the total area of responsibility of the company has increased.

‘AgroCentre is represented everywhere across the country: from Bryansk in the west to Krasnoyarsk in the east’, says Nikolay Ivanishchev, Director General of AgroCentre. ‘In 2015, we opened branch offices in Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Omsk and Krasnoyarsk. The sales have grown approximately 2.5 times within these five years. By the end of the first year of our cooperation, we sold 96 machines; this year, we have already sold over 260 units.

The desire to develop and move forward makes AgroCentre the key partner of AGCO.

‘AgroCentre has a very professional team at all levels: from sales managers and after-sales support specialists to the top management’, says Oleg Kondratyev, AGCO-RM Dealer Network Development Director. ‘To be exact, they are true fans of their work. Within five years, AgroCentre has done a lot to improve the skills of its employees — there is no doubt that people are the company’s first priority.’

There is always room for improvement

AgroCentre shares the corporate values of AGCO — development through immaculate customer service, innovations, high quality and reliability. The company has received several ‘Best Dealer of the Year’ awards and special prizes in such nominations as The Best Customer Service, The Highest Market Share, The Best Dealership Centre.

‘It is our joint success’, says Nikolay Ivanishchev. ‘AGCO regularly holds professional training courses for our employees: engineers, sales managers, specialists of the Spare Parts Department. There is a mutual desire to develop professionally.’

GOLAS SP AGCO-RM production facility provides an opportunity to do both theoretical and practical training.

‘We also organise regular soft skills training courses (company management and sales skills) for the management of companies’, says Tatiana Fadeyeva, Sales and Dealer Network Development Director at AGCO-RM. ‘Some training courses are held at AgroCentre’s service centre in Lipetsk oblast. The service centre has been built quite recently and it meets all AGCO standards.’

Focus on client

‘AgroCentre caters to the clients’ needs trying to exceed their expectations. It is the secret of successful cooperation with the supplier, whose first priority is the opinion of the customers.

‘Russia possesses 10% (80 million ha) of the world’s sown land and 40% of the world’s black soil’, says Tatiana Fadeyeva. ‘However, its share in the gross yield of cereal and pulse crops is no more than 5%, and its share in the global food production is just 2%. Therefore, AGCO focuses on the development of the Russian market, making investments and offering the largest product line to meet the needs of both large farming holdings and small farms.’

AGCO was one of the first suppliers to introduce its own financing programme.

‘One third of our deals are based on AGCO Finance programme’, shares Nikolay Ivanishchev. ‘Our clients receive subsidised interest rate loans for machinery purchase.’

New horizons

The cooperation of AgroCentre and AGCO has what it takes for a successful long-term partnership, especially taking into account the launching of the joint venture of AGCO and Russian Machines Corporation. The factory in Golitsyno has an assembly facility and logistics centres for distribution of spare parts and ready products.

‘Localisation of production in Russia allows the company to benefit from VAT-free trading’, explains Nikolay Ivanishchev, ‘and, as a result, leads to a shorter delivery period and a lower cost.’

In the medium term, AGCO-RM is planning to increase the investment in production to 1 billion rub in order to solve the main task of deep localisation of its product line.

‘The first tractor model to be included into the localization programme will, of course, be the MF 6713’, says Tatiana Fadeyeva. ‘The deep localisation will allow us both to eliminate the effect of ruble volatility due to a larger share of local assembly and get included into the 1432 Subsidising Programme. We are very optimistic about the development of our cooperation. Our joint achievements and the tendencies of the farm machinery market enable us to believe that we have a very good potential for developing a successful joint solution for the ambitious tasks we have set for ourselves.’