BAGMA Cover: Peter Heming
Peter Heming heads up the Heming Group of companies, a family-owned business that was established in 1968. The group provides services across multiple channels including Engineering, Plant Hire, Ford Electrical, Cooling and Heating, servicing a customer base within a 40-mile radius of their offices, all divisions sit under the Heming Group umbrella.
Based in the Cotswolds, the company was originally set up by Robert, Peters father, who was and still is, well-known for his knowledge and skills in agricultural engineering. Growing up with the business, Peter decided to join in 1985 which saw a wider focus on the construction services that the group now offer. Peter, now Managing Director, oversees the operations of the Heming Group as well as turning his hand to machinery sales in recent years.
1. Tell me a little bit more about the history of the business, how it started and how it’s got to where it is today?
My father started out as a sole trader in 1968, the business at that point was servicing many farms and estates across the Cotswolds with my father building a good reputation that saw an increase in workload. During this time, we were being asked to delve into more and more smaller construction jobs and when I joined in 1985, this is something that I developed. In the last 20 years that side of things has grown tremendously and has now overtaken the size of our agricultural engineering business.
In general, my father was always more of the engineer and didn’t really like sales so when I came into the business, he expressed his thoughts of me becoming a salesman. At the time I joined, I didn’t think anyone would listen to an 18-year-old, so instead, I began as a labourer learning from the bottom. It is only in the last 5 years that I have really delved into a sales role, and I get a real buzz for it. Ultimately across the whole Heming Group, I am passionate about delivering good service, one that we would hope to receive if we were going to another service provider.
2. The business has strong family-values stemming from your father, is this something that you aim to keep going forward with succession?
For the Heming Group, first and foremost we must build a very good and strong team, because we have a big gap in generations. I am 56, my oldest child is 11 and my second child is 3. My niece and nephew are still quite young but show a great deal of promise but there is still a big gap. So, in order to fill that gap, we must have good staff. Naturally we want to keep our family-run legacy, but we need to build the best team we can, have joined-up thinking and a join-up approach to providing the best service possible. We realise that we will not progress as a business unless we have ‘outsiders’, and I think of all our team as extended family.
3. You have grown to a team of over 30 people, how do you instil a positive working environment?
To my detriment, being accessible. I will always do my best to be as open and accessible to the team and sometimes that can result in me being stretched, I am not great at delegation, but that’s just the way I like to be.
I believe that if they work hard for me and prove their value, then by me being there to try and help them along the way, that will instil a good working relationship. We also like to include the team in any celebrations that we put on and quite often I will welcome them to important family parties, it’s all part of feeling valued.
4. 55 years in business is something to be incredibly proud of and you yourself since 1985? How have you seen the business change whilst you have been a part of it?
The engineering side has changed a lot since I joined the business and not necessarily internally, but more in the way that we train our fitters. There has been a huge shift in focus to manufacturer specific training and I don’t think it is necessary. We need these technicians to be proficient in the basics and then anything specific should be treated as an add on. The quality of engineers that we are getting through has dropped and that isn’t aiding us deliver our vision of good service.
We need to be building back the relationships with colleges and this will be an opportunity for BAGMA to rebuild these links.
5. What has been your biggest achievement within the business?
Business-wise it has been taking on the construction zone outside of our comfort zone was a big achievement, it has done well and been a big success for the Heming Group. My personal success is probably still being in business to be honest! It’s tough out there!
We are in an area where there is plenty of competition, but we have niched and we try not to compare ourselves to the large dealers, I just feel like they are spreading themselves too thin whereas we know what we are selling and providing and we focus on that and do that well.
6. When you say you have niched? How have you done this?
We realise that there is a huge gain to be made in the 0-50hp market. Our ideal customer isn’t the farmer or contractor, it is either a retired farmer, the nouveau money or equestrian and we have really seen the value in keeping a focus on this market both from our time and profitability.
7. Are there any roles you enjoy doing the most in the business?
I have enjoyed doing some selling recently, I only started in 2017 but the buzz I get from closing a sale is great. In general, I like talking to people and I suppose I am quite straight when I am doing a sale. I like to give the customer an opportunity to tell me what’s stopping them, leave a void for them to fill and they can give you the reason, then you can either move on or amend the deal to suit them. I don’t like wasting energy on the sale or dropping prices because it’s not necessary, if they want to buy that machine, they will buy it.
We also aren’t like the larger dealers that are looking 12-14 months ahead for machine orders, I like to have the product here, the customer can see it, feel it, sit on it, it’s tangible! I don’t like the risk of quoting a machine and valuing the second-hand for a deal that’s happening in 12 months’ time, when we don’t know what prices will be at. It just puts a lot more pressure on the deal and it’s not what we are about.
8. What would you say has been a challenge for the business?
Recruitment is always a challenge but even more so, employee retention when recruitment is difficult. We find people are much more likely to jump for that quick buck. We have tried to offer the best we can and have had apprentices in the past, put a lot of time and money into them but we find that they job hop once qualified. Unfortunately, we cannot offer the glamour like the larger dealers with rows of shiny new tractors and brand new vans, it’s just not our style, but we treat our staff well and if they want to move for the glitz and glamour we cannot stop them.
A big challenge that I find in our industry, is our lack of efforts to instil the importance of agriculture, engineering etc. from a young age. Programmes like Clarkson’s Farm has helped getting excitement around farming by also showcasing the hardships of it all and this has got the younger generation more aware. But we should be going into primary schools and getting these kids interested, get them to understand and recognise the importance of farming and all the opportunities that can come with that. We should take a tractor to the school, get them excited, letting them sit in the seat and tell them all about the jobs that the tractor does to enable us to have food on our plates. Doing it at the age of 16, in my opinion, is too late. The educational system needs to grasp the reality that farming is a viable career, not a dead-end route and the way we do that is by increasing awareness.
9. What does the future look like for Heming Engineering?
If I could plan my life out, I would like to have less stress and for me that would be to sell more machinery but there is no way for us that it makes financial sense to take on additional salespeople with all the remunerations that are expected and the price of machines at this current moment. Despite our sales side growing, I haven’t had a sales rep for the last 3 years and it falls on me to sell, which works for us at this moment in time. It helps that I know the business so I can make those instant decisions in front of the customer and get the deal done.
10. What are your main drivers in pushing the business forward?
Most definitely getting the right staff who buy into our company ethos as well as staying profitable. We are happy to stay niche when it comes to Heming Engineering rather than try to compete with these larger dealers, that’s where we see our future and so far it so good!
11. Huge congratulations on your appointment of the new BAGMA President role. What does BAGMA mean to you and the business?
BAGMA is a voice for our industry in front of the necessary government bodies, it’s a voice that is very much needed. We must benefit from the bigger voice of the Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA) who want to support BAGMA and see it be run as its own entity. BAGMA understands the importance of making sure we are heard.
We have also used many BAGMA services over the years, particularly their banking so I am looking forward to seeing this up and running again.
12. How do you feel about the new role and is there anything in particular that you are looking to achieve or work on with the BAGMA team?
It gives me great honour to be involved with BAGMA, it was always something that my father was passionate about me getting involved with. I must say he was a little nervous when I was immediately made Vice-President and he also was a little unsure of whether I should take the presidency, but I told him, if I want to do it, I am going to do it and I really enjoyed visiting the Highland Show in June to receive the presidency and chain. I will do my upmost to serve the members by working closely with the BAGMA team to achieve common goals.
I would like the members to realise what an asset it is to be a member and to make sure there is a value to the little people as well as the bigger people. My main objective is to make sure we have a good plethora of services to offer the members to add value to membership but importantly to be sure members are aware of these services. Marketing is great, but we must get the buy in and ensure what we are putting out there is being read and understood, personal contact with members is just as important.
We must build on membership, and I am very keen to encourage members to introduce other members to BAGMA and get them to shout about our benefits. We will make sure that we follow up on enquiries very quickly as we realise we cannot just sit back and take membership, we need to be proactive for our members.
The struggle that we will face is company takeovers with businesses becoming larger and the dealerships thinking they don’t need our services. We need to make sure that the bigger companies see that there is value in our offering, they may have HR, health, and safety teams internally but turning that on its head, in some instances it may be more cost-effective to be a BAGMA member and utilise the service providers that we have. We spoke about recruitment being a consistent struggle for our members and it takes a great deal of their time. We need to be able to offer services that can bridge those gaps, or even a new service provider, an industry specific recruiter, that proposes honest rates, who can work with our members. Something to think about!
I am also conscious to make sure we have a good outreach to the north of England and Scotland, 45% of BAGMA members are there and so we must ensure those members are valued and build upon the great work that has already been done.
You are a very busy man, so how do you find the balance between work and life?
What is a work life balance? I think when you’re a family business, in a smaller company, you do have to wear many hats. A lot of work can be done electronically so it is hard to switch off because you are always reachable and it is easy to fall into the trap of being overworked. But I am very fortunate to have two sons who I love spending time with. I do enjoy socialising too.