Robert Bell, Feature Story 8 of the 20th Anniversary of LiuGong’s Globalization 

Robert Bell is 70 years old now and he has devoted himself to working for LiuGong’s service in Australia for more than 13 years.

Robert first got to know LiuGong when he worked in China in 1996. He noticed that LiuGong was a large manufacturer of construction equipment and was looking to penetrate the global market. At that time he saw LiuGong’s great potential.

Two years after LiuGong announced the building of an “open and globalized” LiuGong, the company built the first overseas division in Australia in 2004. Five years later, Robert joined the company.

“From my experience in China and the cooperation and relationship with LiuGong, I noticed its sales increase and the brand name being established as a result of long-term work and determination from LiuGong dealers and local team members as well as those from China offices,” said Robert.

But at that time, LiuGong Australia did not sell many products, and the product quality was not well suited for the market. In order to maintain the cooperation and relationship with LiuGong’s old and new customers, as well as with dealers, admin, and sales and service support, Robert held multiple jobs simultaneously, “I just tried to do the best I could,” Robert remarked with a smile.

During her spare time, Manni takes the opportunity to challenge herself. She actively participates in various activities, including welcome parties, singing competitions, volunteer teaching in the poor mountainous area, and English training. Due to her fluent spoken English and quick-wittedness, she won the title of “Best Contestant” in the English competition held by the company in 2018.

We all know that Australia is a high-end market that has higher requirements for quality and service. Many of the dealers and customers are ‘experts’ who know the machines well. Over the years, LiuGong has continuously adjusted and improved product quality. By working with Cummins and ZF, its key components also became more competitive.

“Sales are now trending solidly up and we now need to be focused on our aftersales support and enhancing customer experience to retain and grow our customer base.” Robert has visited a number of customers over the years. “As service people, we have been providing timely and comprehensive service solutions as required by the customers,” he remarked.

“We need to understand that our customers rely on our product to make their living or grow their businesses, so we need to ensure their machines are working when we leave a customer site. This means we do whatever we can to ensure this outcome for them. Ultimately, this serves to build LiuGong’s reputation within the industry and increase customers’ confidence in LiuGong through positive word of mouth of the good experiences that our customers have with our products and aftersales support.” This is Robert’s work principle and what has kept him a responsible and excellent serviceperson for so many years.

During his service work, Robert has provided a significant amount of feedback from customers to the headquarters for the machines improvement, “Customers in this mature market have a great deal of experience and we can learn a lot from them. We need to communicate with them at the worksite level to get honest feedback and improvement recommendations that we can forward onto LiuGong for review and possible implementation.”

More and more LiuGong machines are rolling out for different working applications at mines, quarries and even on the beach around Australia. Last year, LiuGong signed a deal with a key account in Australia for 856H wheel loaders. The product is well suited to the customer’s application. “I believe if we support the product strongly in the aftersales phase, we will get many more machine orders from them and their subsidiary companies nationwide and in New Zealand,” Robert said with great confidence.

“I am happy to have joined LiuGong’s long-term growth cycle. Now we can see the results of the work many colleagues have put into product, market, and dealer development over the years. We have built LiuGong’s reputation in the market and established a strong dealer support network that is supported by myself and my colleagues to ensure that our customers have the support and products they expect to have in this mature market. I would like to witness LiuGong’s full growth cycle before I can say my work is completed,” remarked Robert.

Editor’s Note:

Time is a powerful element that has driven LiuGong forward over the past 64 years. On the road to globalization that started 20 years ago, LiuGong has managed to remain youthful and dynamic with its quality products and services. The local experience and focus of the global staff has enabled LiuGong brand to be widely recognized. The same can be said for Robert, he looks forward to using his experience, enthusiasm and professionalism on the journey ahead.