Patrick Preis: The Biggest Deals Are Made in Ukraine
The exhibition InterAGRO 2016 gave Latifundist.com the opportunity to communicate at the booth of AGCO with Patrick Preis, Market Manager for Fendt in six regions of the world. Foreign expert visited Ukraine for the first time and had a wonderful impression of our country. He shared his emotions with our reporter and spoke about his experience of work for the largest carmakers and his favorite brand in the agricultural market — Fendt.
Latifundist.com: Patrick, could you tell us a little about yourself. How did you come to devoting yourself to the agricultural machinery sales?
Patrick Preis: I was born in a small village located between Munich and Stuttgart. First experience in theagricultural business Igained withmy father in law who owned a small vineyard. While studying marketing and logistics at Kempten University of Applied Sciences I had first contacts to the Fendt plant, which is situated nearby.
The firstpart of my working life was dedicated to automobile building industry – I worked in the group of Daimler (Mercedes Benz) and BMW group. But I have always been interested in the functioning of agricultural business, and agricultural machinery was especially appealing. It is always simpler with cars: it is all about image. You need a car to move from point А to point B. But when it comes to tractor it is not just an image component, it is a business investment. Now besides my favorite car BMW 5 Series I would also opt for the tractor — Fendt 800.
Latifundist.com: What is the reason for your choice of AGCO? What other regions of the world besides Ukraine does your company operate in?
Patrick Preis: This is my seventh year in AGCO Company. Besides Ukraine I am responsible for sales in other countries of Eastern Europe as well as in Scandinavian countries, UK and Ireland, Baltic countries, in Russia, Belarus, Poland and Austria. In terms of marketing it is very interesting for me to work with such product as Fendt. It is not just about technical characteristics, image is of a great importance as well. While working with Mercedes Benz and BMW I got used to selling top products. That is why I chose Fendt.
Latifundist.com: This is your first time in Ukraine. What are your impressions?
Patrick Preis: This is really my first time in Ukraine. I liked Kiev very much. I was walking around the city sightseeing the whole evening yesterday and it left a huge impression on me. This is definitely not my last visit to Ukraine.
Latifundist.com: What can you say about the exhibition InterAGRO 2016, how can you comment on its level and peculiarities compared to similar forums in Europe and the world? I am sure you have been to a substantial number of such exhibitions around the world.
Patrick Preis: The exhibition is very compact in the positive sense of the word. Here we can interact closely with buyers, and to my mind the level of participants is very high. At other, maybe bigger fairs, the share of participants who are just passers by, or "shoppers by" as we call them is probably higher. At Agritechnica exhibition for instance many people just came to look at the exhibition booths and the impressive machinery. At InterAgrowe make deals at booths and this is great. Just now my colleagues have stricken a deal on selling Fendt900 tractor.
Latifundist.com: What is the aim of your visit besides attending the exhibition? What are your expectations from your stay in Ukraine?
Patrick Preis: First of all, my role as Market Manager in Ukraine means that my scope of responsibility comprises all topics related to marketing and pricing in this market area. I am certainly always in touch with the managers of our Kiev office, but it is very important to talk to them face-to-face, to communicate with customers. I always wanted to do this especially as we discuss strategic plans of the company. I can not disclose the information now, some new and interesting products will be offered for the market soon.
Latifundist.com: How would you describe Ukrainian team of AGCO Company in one word?
Patrick Preis: Oh, such word exists — "crazy" guys! And successful ones at that! They are very motivated and put in 150% of efforts. 130 items of machinery, mainly tractors over 300 hp have been sold this year. This is what I call success.
Latifundist.com: To your mind,what specific features differ agricultural businessmen in Ukraine from those who operate in other regions you work in?
Patrick Preis: As we all know the main difference is that the majority of agricultural enterprises in Ukraine are large agricultural holdings so we are talking here about large clients. In Europe we conduct negotiations and sign one deal after the other during many years, but here in Ukraine we mainly deal with whole packages — deals for purchasing over 5 items of machinery at a time. The largest deal so far has been the purchase of 20 tractors for MHP. This is the major difference. The other difference is the portfolio, which attracts attention of farmers. Out of 130 tractors sold in 2016, 128 vehicles are 900 Series with the capacity of 360 hp.
Latifundist.com: Whom does the future in Ukraine belong to: powerful agricultural holdings or medium size farmers?
Patrick Preis: I see no reason why the system should revert to small farms. This is the way of development in Western and Central Europe, when farmers grow and unite in the face of new price policy for their products. The pressure in the market makes them grow and strengthen. In Ukraine as well as in other regions of Europe and in the world agricultural companies become larger. For such scope they need the best possible equipment, vehicles of the highest quality. That's exactly what we offer.
Latifundist.com: Which of the new products that you can already disclose are expected in Ukraine next year?
Patrick Preis: Behind me you can see Fendt700 rangewhichisalso available with 160 hp.So it fits nicely into the 2nd biggest hp-segment of the Ukrainian market around 150 hp where we see clear potential. To fuel growth in this segment we are just about introducing a new special offer for this model. From the second half of the year we also will be able to offer our VarioGuide guidance systems on the entry "Power" version. And of course in 2017 the long-expected Fendt 1000 will show up in the demo-fields.
One of the principles of our work is to customize many models to meet buyers’ needs. In Series 700 we have over 250 options in terms of technical characteristics and design. I would even say that there are no two identical tractors in terms of technical specifications manufactured by our plant. You can even order Fendt in any colour you like.
Latifundist.com: How did the economic and political instability of the last few years affect the machinery sales?
Patrick Preis: Certainly, the market fell back in 2014, but now it went up again. I would even say the market is growing more rapidly than before the events in the East of Ukraine. But there is still a great deal of uncertainty as to where this all leads to. You never know what may happen tomorrow, not to mention the next year. And this uncertainty is leading to a lack of financial resources. But I hope in 2017 the market will remain at the same high level or even increase.
Latifundist.com: What major difficulties have you faced while working in Ukraine?
Patrick Preis: Again, the major thing, which prevents Ukrainian farmers from revealing their full potential, is the lack of possibilities to finance their own business. Financial possibilities of customers are still very susceptible to stress. Once the situation with foreign currency improves, it will have an immediate positive impact on the development of agricultural sector.
Latifundist.com: Tell us a couple of words about plans to develop your brand in the world.
Patrick Preis: We are steadily introducing Fendt in new markets — e.g. Israel and South Africa which possess a big potential. In parallel we are following our Fendt Full-Line strategyand therefore constantly enlarging our portfolio, in existing product groups as well as by new product groups.
Latifundist.com: Thank you for the interesting conversation! Enjoy your stay in Ukraine!
DarynaKozoriz, Latifundist.com
