We want every district of Madhya Pradesh to recognise LiuGong as the best brand within the next 65 years, says Mohit Sharma, Managing Director, C S Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, LiuGong?s authorised dealer for Madhya Pradesh. Sharma shares his views on the dealership, with EQUIPMENT INDIA. Excerpts from the interview...

What attracted you to take up a dealership of LiuGong?
I was earlier working with Terex and was selling their backhoe loaders where we saw the change in demand. A lot of customers were shifting from backhoe loaders to front wheel loaders. We got an offer from LiuGong after meeting Nischal Mehrotra, Director- Sales, and I found it pretty lucrative because the market scenario was changing and it is good that I took over this dealership because the market for backhoe loaders is falling, while it is growing for front end loaders.

How do you find LiuGong to be a value proposition?
You do not even have to question this, because there is no doubt that LiuGong is a value proposition. If we talk about wheel loaders, we have more than 50 per cent market share in Madhya Pradesh, because the price and quality LiuGong offers is unmatched in the market. Our customers are getting the best product at the best price. What else can be a value proposition?

In your opinion, what is it that LiuGong should do to improve the present market scenario?
We need to do a lot of things to improve, like working on R&D to further improve machine quality, strengthen customer support and engage in brand building because currently customers think of LiuGong as a mere Chinese brand, which is the first hurdle we have to cross and this perception has to be removed from the minds of the customers.

Is LiuGong your exclusive business line?
No. I have an alliance tie-up with ATG off-road tyres for distribution in MP. I have been in business for 10 years with a team of 18 members comprising four in sales, seven service representatives and other staff.

Is your service team strength related to machine population?
Yes. We have one service engineer for every 10 machines which is better than our agreed benchmark of one for 15 machines because we desire to provide better service to our customers.

What is your vision 2016 for LiuGong?s business?
We have the target called Laqshya 500 which we are planning to achieve, and we are on track in my territory.

Today, customers are looking for a single-window solution for a project. As such, they look for one supplier for all machines required by them. What is your take on this?
We are also working along the same lines. Now we have come up with excavators - dozers will be the next. So we are getting there.

Which class of loaders is moving the fastest in MP?
Loaders of payload capacity of 3 and 5 tonne are the fast moving, mainly for crusher applications. We have customers who operate 400-500 TPH crushers, for them a 5 tonner is more suitable, while others operate 200 TPH crushers for whom the 3 tonne machine is suitable.

Do you conduct case studies for LiuGong equipment applications?
No, but we evaluate the requirement of our customer and suggest the best suitable machine for his job requirement and the job gets done!

On a scale of 1 to 10, what is your own and your customers? satisfaction level with LiuGong?
I would rate it as 10 for our dealership while the overall satisfaction level of my customers would be around 8. This is exactly the area on which I am working, because it is mainly related to aftermarket support and that too delay in spare parts availability. We are working on some systems to overcome these issues.

What are your future expansion plans?
We already have offices at Indore and Gwalior in line with the existing machine population. We will be opening an office at Satna to take care of new machines sold in that area. Our strategy is designed around maintaining a Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) of 48 hours.