Staffordshire tractor dealership aims for expansion with McCormick franchise

Brothers Mark (left) and John Eaton oversee sales and service activities at David Eaton Tractors.

An opportunity to expand with more staff and a larger trading area has been grasped by an agricultural machinery dealership by taking on sales, parts and service support for McCormick tractors. The family-owned business David Eaton Tractors Ltd swapped their Valtra franchise for the Argo Tractors brand at the beginning of April, and immediately secured two orders from a new customer running a large dairy unit.

“Although we’ve been successful with the brand we’ve supplied for the past 17 years, switching to McCormick gives us access to a much wider and more varied product range with more opportunities to meet the needs of local farmers and contractors,” managing director David Eaton said.

“We can also trade across a larger territory with McCormick, so together with an expanded team of technicians in the workshop and for on-farm servicing and repairs, we can aim to meet our goal of steadily expanding the business to secure its future and jobs.”

David Eaton Tractors now represents the 43hp to 310hp McCormick tractor range from its base at Fradswell, near Stafford, throughout a territory extending from Warrington and Sheffield, bordering existing McCormick dealers J Charnley & Sons and N&S Moorhouse, southwards to Burton-upon-Trent, Cannock and Telford, adjoining existing dealer HJR Agri to the west.

The company will supply new and pre-owned tractors, and provide parts and service back-up for McCormick tractors supplied by the company, and for the many McCormick machines already used in the area.

Mark Eaton, who heads sales, pointed out that although the dealership has not been directly involved with McCormick previously, salesman Mark Martin and service engineer Tom Whiston have past experience of McCormick products when they were built at Doncaster.

The initial McCormick products in stock at David Eaton Tractors included (from left) a 102hp X5.40, a 160hp four-cylinder X7.440 and a 192hp six-cylinder X7.670 – both to the well-equipped Premium specification.

Their experience and product knowledge, combined with that of new recruit, workshop technician Simon Fletcher, puts the business in the perfect position for its new franchise. He’s working alongside service manager John Eaton as part of the expanded five-man service team.

“Simon is a real McCormick enthusiast who knows the current product inside out, so we have the knowledge and experience to properly support McCormick users from day one,” Mark Eaton said. “At the same time, we retain all the skills, knowledge and equipment needed to continue providing parts and service to users of the tractors we supplied previously, pretty much as if nothing has changed.”

The general manager and sales director at McCormick’s national distributor, AgriArgo UK & Ireland, Ray Spinks, said he was delighted to welcome David Eaton, his sons Mark and John, and the rest of the dealership team to the McCormick family.

“With good management and customer service given the number one priority, David Eaton Tractors is the calibre of dealer we’re keen to appoint in many parts of the country to increase coverage of McCormick sales and service,” he added.

“The McCormick range is the best it’s ever been, with tractors from compacts through mid-range machines for livestock and mixed farming, to tractors with all the power and features that anyone could want for high-productivity arable farming.”

For more information visit: http://mccormick.agriargouk.co.uk/ or www.davideaton-tractors.co.uk/.