LOUISVILLE, Ky. – When Bad Boy Commercial Mowers, Batesville, Ark., came to the Outdoor Power Equipment show for the first time last year, they had zero distributors.
But Bad Boy manager Dave Brogdon said the company drew attention by being the new kid on the block and went home with 60 leads. After going through a selection process, they signed up four distributors, covering 23 states. “We went from selling within our small 100-mile radius area to selling to nearly half of the country,” Brogdon said. “And this year, we already signed up one more distributor, reaching five more states, and have seven more distributor possibilities.”
Robert Foster, one of Bad Boy’s co-owners, started the company after many years of tinkering in his garage, perfecting mower parts and pieces. The company spent five years developing the products that debuted at the show last year. “It was only after about five years of development that we felt we had a machine worthy to go to the dealers,” Brogdon pointed out.
Being new to the industry during a poor economy causes the company to feel “cautiously optimistic” about its early growth, which Brogdon said more than tripled the business, forcing the company to add a 17,000-square-foot building onto its 30,000-square-foot facility this year. But Brogdon said a positive attitude and strong product line keeps them moving forward. “We are worried about where the whole industry is going, but we’re not going to let anything hold us back,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of limitations.”
And the company’s “Mow with an attitude” motto shows its rebellious side, Foster said, adding: “We want to be the Harley Davidson of mowers.”
The author is Managing Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at nwisniewski@lawnandlandscape.com.