The new Wespro JCB facility is located at 1501 Atlanta Industrial Way, Atlanta, Ga.
(CEG photo)
Wesley Scott opened Wespro JCB earlier this year and just recently opened a new full-service facility in west Atlanta just off I-285 and Veterans Memorial Parkway.
The 10,000-sq.-ft. facility sits on a 3-acre parcel of land with plenty of space for machine and attachment stocking.
"We chose this area because we wanted to have a solid footprint on the west side of Atlanta," Scott said. "Plans are already in the works to open a location on the east side of Atlanta and then after that, looking toward a location on the south side. We actually just signed a contract on a 22,000-square-foot facility off I-85 in Norcross [Georgia] that will give us the east side coverage."
After opening earlier this year, the business already is in the black. Scott said that he was a bit skeptical on this endeavor, but after spending extensive time with various top executives of JCB North America and seeing the passion and the "hands on approach" for distributors, he decided to move forward … and he's truly glad he did.
The company is JCB only and will be looking in the future to add an attachment line or two, but for the most part, will be pressing the JCB line of attachments with their machine sales. This is a full-service JCB dealership, including sales, parts, in shop service, field service and used machine availability.
Scott started the business with 11 employees. Two key staffers that came on board were Craig Jacobs, who came from another dealership to help get the business started, and Cathy Biddy, who performs all administration and accounts receivables/accounts payable functions and, according to Scott, "Is wearing many hats to keep this running smoothly. When you open a dealership, you need to have a group of people that are willing to take a chance with you and see the vision."
Scott had been in the equipment business for more than 26 years before having this chance to open his own distributorship. His career was primarily in material handling products versus construction equipment. He virtually grew up in the industry — his grandfather owned a trucking and grading business, and his dad always ran backhoes.
Wesley and his brother, Jerry Scott, owned a forklift company and ended up selling to Toyota. Wesley said that working for Lee Smith, the president of Toyota Forklifts of Atlanta, one of the largest Toyota Forklift dealers in the country, was an eye opener.
"I thought I knew something before working for him. He taught me how to run a dealership and was the one who gave me the skills and confidence to run this business.
"We're a highly dedicated group of people serving customers to our absolute best with a personalized ‘hands on' approach. With some of the big dealerships, a person buys one, two or even five machines, they might not even get a Christmas card, with us, you buy a couple machines and you're coming to Christmas dinner."
Wesley Scott is Wespro JCB's dealer principal.
Scott said, "We're looking to partner with people in the business. These are machines. It doesn't matter what color — or what brand — they go forward, backwards, up, down and they leak. It all comes down to who is going to take care of you — who's going to be there for you all the way through the process. We want to take our customers out of the equipment business so they can do their job of construction.
"It looks like a new day for JCB. Even George Bamford himself came to my dealership when I opened. One of his key questions was ‘what can we do for you' and he truly meant it. The entire executive team understands that for this brand to grow and be a success, they have to be accessible and a part of our business. They're 100 percent willing to do that."
For more information, visit www.wesprojcb.com. CEG
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