INDUSTRY PEOPLE
pick up the phone and ring somebody. It’s a generational
Like many businesses, Southland Truck & Tractor Spares
thing I think.”
has an inventory-based website, meaning that a client
can see what’s in stock or view the various interesting
Nigel says the internet is very good for sourcing trucks
vehicles that have been collected over the years.
and heavy equipment for wrecking and its evolution
in their business has been more about making every
But Nigel isn’t convinced that a business having a
process quicker.
website is what propels them to success. If anything it’s
improved overall how his business is run, however, the
Both Nigel and Josh think that the demographic they
way the clients want to communicate isn’t necessarily
deal with, that is, blokes, prefer the idea of either face
via a website.
to face or phone contact, because that’s what they’ve
always done. It works.
“The biggest change I’ve seen in my lifetime is the
internet and how it’s changed business, and one of the
With their passion for all things truck and tractor, and for
main improvements is that it’s positive for cash flow in
Josh-it’s classic Fords-why the passion, and where did
that the chequebooks are gone now and
“People asked me ‘what it all start?
you get the money transferred instantly.
are you going to do with “Some years ago I bought some trains from
“Once upon a time, though, you’d go down that?’ and I said ‘I never the Cement Works at Burnside before they
to the bank with your bag of cash and had a train set as a child’. shut that down,” says Nigel. “People asked
cheques and you could physically hold the
me ‘what are you going to do with that?’ and
money you’d made. The result of the work that you’d
I said ‘I never had a train set as a child’.
done. That was quite rewarding.
He explains that a lack of toys had an interesting outcome.
“We were one of the first in this industry to put up a decent
It meant that he had to be creative in his play time as a
website, but initially it just didn’t really work. There’s no
kid, hence the pulling apart of stuff lying around, but it
magic wand with it. There was nothing wrong with the
also meant he became particularly impressionable when
website but we thought maybe people still preferred to
he did see a real-life tractor or truck. The sounds they
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