TALENTED TEAM LEADS EAGLE TURF TRACTOR IN SOUTHEAST PA.

Eagle Power Turf & Tractor’s showroom in West Chester, Pa. Talented Team Leads Eagle Turf & Tractor in Southeast Pa.

Longtime Case and Kubota construction dealer Eagle Power & Equipment made the bold decision in 2017 to enter the turf equipment market for the first time.

This new division, named Eagle Power Turf & Tractor, has found much success over the past five years. It now covers Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties out of two branch locations.

As a first step in April 2017, Eagle Power & Equipment, based in Montgomeryville, Pa., purchased Histand’s Equipment in Doylestown, Pa. Histand’s served the communities of Central Bucks and Montgomery County for nearly 90 years. “We have been a Kubota dealer for 12 years now and have had great success,” Eagle President Matt McDonald said. “We were looking for a way to offer the entire Kubota line, which includes the turf and tractor products The acquisition of Histand’s was the perfect opportunity to do that. It allowed us to have a location within our existing territory where we could utilize the experience and expertise of the Histand’s team — and they had a loyal customer base.”

Working with a customer base made up of professional landscapers, Eagle Power Turf & Tractor’s next phase of growth focused on the western Philadelphia suburbs. Its efforts were rewarded when it bought Conway Power in early 2021, a Kubota dealer in West Chester, Pa. As with the previous acquisition, of most importance was the experienced employees of Conway Power be retained and customer relationships protected.

Capable Salespeople Lead to Company Success

But the relatively new turf equipment dealership knew that the key to its viability was bringing on capable sales professionals with a long track record of success in the industry — someone like Ken Haas.

A veteran of 25 years in selling construction and turf equipment, Haas has helped shepherd the creation and growth of Eagle Power Turf & Tractor since initially coming aboard in 2017 as the outside sales representative for the dealership in a territory that included Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.

After almost four years, his abilities led Eagle Power to name Haas as sales manager of the turf equipment division at the same time the West Chester store was acquired last year.

Prior to joining Eagle Power, he had worked for Hertz Equipment Rental and Detlan Equipment and had been selling John Deere equipment for the latter.

“I was looking to make a move,” he said, “and I have known Jim Lutz, sales manager for Eagle Power, since high school. He had mentioned to me that Eagle Power was acquiring Histand’s at the time.”

Haas added that company president Matt McDonald called him shortly afterwards to discuss the possibility of Haas working for the new company as an outside sales rep.

“We sat down and spoke about what they wanted, and it lined up with the vision I had and where I wanted to get to in my career,” he said.

After getting settled into his new role at the turf equipment dealership, Haas found how much he enjoyed taking on the responsibility of all sales-related matters for the company.

“Everything goes through me,” he said, noting that he has seven or eight salespeople that report to him. “That includes staffing and pricing, and I work closely with the equipment manager to make sure that we have the correct product mix and the right amount of equipment on order. It is all about providing the best solutions for our customers.

“It has been extremely rewarding to be able to help our sales personnel accomplish their goals, even though I have only held the position for a short period of time.”

Landscapers Can Find Anything They Need at Eagle Power Although most of its customers are residential and commercial landscapers, Eagle Power Turf & Tractor also caters to those professionals that specialize in creating hardscapes — structures within landscaping that

see TURF page 86