Shade Equipment Celebrates 50 Years of Service to East Coast Customers

Aug. 1, 1997
Shade Equipment Company Inc of Winchester, Virginia is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year. Shade held an open house in July to show its appreciation

Shade Equipment Company Inc of Winchester, Virginia is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year. Shade held an open house in July to show its appreciation to manufacturers, customers, and friends that have been with the company through the years.

Ray Boyce, Shade Equipment CEO, has been with Shade since 1951 and is the backbone of the operation. Boyce first became affiliated with the founder of Shade Equipment, Earl Shade, in 1936 when he began working at Shade's International truck dealership. Boyce initially joined the company to work as parts manager.

Shade's primary business when Boyce first came to work for the company was sales of farm equipment, agricultural spreaders, and Hercules hoists. It wasn't until the sixties that Shade entered the industrial equipment market as sales of agricultural equipment dwindled.

In the early sixties Shade contracted with International Harvester to sell industrial equipment, a collaboration that lasted until 1986. Shade also sold Holmes wreckers and rollbacks in the eighties. After 1986 Shade evolved into the business it is today, a full-service truck equipment distributor with lawn and garden equipment.

"Being centrally located between Washington, Baltimore, Richmond, and Roanoke has put us in a good business position," says Boyce.

Boyce now supervises the company's financial decisions but will do anything necessary to make the company run smoothly, according to Donna Forrester, his daughter and Shade's director of human resources and public relations. "Our competition even calls him an honorable competitor. He won't invade anyone else's territory," says Forrester.

Laura VanMater, daughter of founder Earl Shade and principal owner of the company, calls Boyce a visionary. VanMater says Boyce looks for what is going to happen 20 years down the road, not six months.

"I've worked at it all my life, still love it and still look forward to coming to work every morning," says Boyce. He attributes Shade's success to the good people that he has done business with over the years and notes, "We must have done some good management along the way."

Years of Growth The company's success is evident in the growth that has taken place since Boyce came on board. In 1951 Shade employed only a bookkeeper, a parts man and two to three people in the shop. Shade now has 40 employees, including four part time maintenance/delivery personnel and a two freight drivers.

Shade is truly a family operation with three generations of the Boyce family in the office. Besides Boyce's daughter, Donna Forrester, his granddaughter Lauren North interns as an office clerk in the summer. Eric VanMater, the son of principal owner Laura VanMater, is Shade's service manager.

Shade didn't have an outside salesperson until the sixties. "We used to work here during the day, then go sell a tractor at night," says Boyce. Shade now has a branch in Harrisonburg, about 70 miles southwest of Winchester.

Boyce has always aimed to give customers the best service that he could. He makes a consistent effort to find out what the company is doing right or wrong through questionnaires. Lately, questionnaires have come back with a 98% to 99% satisfaction rate.

"I've always taken what I've had and done the best I could with it. I never liked to let anyone go, I always wanted to find a place for them," says Boyce.

It hasn't always been easy for Shade Equipment. Thirty years ago a fire in the shop threatened to end the business. "It just about wiped us out," says Boyce. A strong customer base combined with Boyce's management skills kept the business going.

Continued Marketing Success Shade's success in recent years is due in part to a large marketing campaign. Forrester has helped raise the company's annual sales from $1.5 million in 1988 to almost $6 million last year.

With a $5,000 monthly advertising budget Forrester is able to place ads on local radio and television stations and in newspapers. Targeting specific demographic groups with these ads increases their effectiveness.

"We reach more people for less money through the radio than anywhere else," says Forrester. Shade advertises on eight radio stations including country western, top 40, talk radio and classic rock.

Forrester often places ads in the Monday sports section of local newspapers advertising special prices and sometimes a highlighted monthly product.

Television advertising is purchased through Media Partners, a cable television advertising company. Some manufacturers that Shade represents provide their own television materials so Shade will tag its name to the bottom of the commercial and run it seven days a week. Commercials are run weekdays during prime time programming and on weekends during family programming.

Shade also lists itself in all regional yellow pages under truck-bodies and equipment as well as outdoor power equipment. In 1989 Shade switched to 1-800 incoming sales numbers.

Forrester points out two slogans that have made the Shade name easier to recognize in the region. "The one stop truck shop" and "Shade: where service is not a slogan; it's a way of life," have both helped the business expand.

More Prosperity to Come Shade now has approximately 10,000 retail accounts on its books. With nearly 40% of these being repeats, Shade is able to keep customers happy and get them to return. "We can usually count on truck body customers to come back about every five years," says Forrester.

Shade prides itself on the quality of its employees. Many have been with the company for 20 years or more. "The character of our owners reflects the character of our employees," says Forrester.

Personal service keeps customers coming back. "Our rapport with customers is more important than price and commision," says Forrester.

Years of hard work and diligent customer service are now paying off for Boyce whose business talent has shaped the company into a thriving operation. When asked how long he will keep coming to work Boyce replies, "as long as I can walk."