Customer service allows Miller-Bradford to get bigger, better

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Placing a priority on customers and their needs has been central to Miller-Bradford & Risberg’s success for more than 70 years.

The Sussex-based construction equipment supplier and repair specialist had a busy start to 2016 when it opened two new sites and outfitted them with larger lifting equipment that will help them take on bigger projects.

“We now have the size and scope to work on any size of machinery,” said Mike Soley Jr., president and CEO of the firm. “Our new facilities allow us to serve our clients better.”

The new sites in DeForest and Marathon City are both near major highways and replace smaller branches. Soley said the new locations are larger, having additional service bays and state-of-the-art tools that allow technicians to make repairs as quickly as possible. They are also stocked with a larger parts inventory and offer rental equipment.

“The biggest cost to our customers is downtime,” Soley said. “So we focus on getting the job done as soon as possible. We’ve found being family owned is also an advantage since so many of the companies we deal with are also family owned and they see that connection.”

Technicians at the company’s seven branches in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan undergo extensive training and are certified to work on any of the equipment they service. That commitment, along with same-day parts delivery and on-site service, helps set Miller-Bradford & Risberg apart from its competitors, said Ron Wanless, who owns an excavation company in Richland Center.

“A small guy — like me — who buys a machine and it matters to Miller-Bradford & Risberg,” he said. “They want to keep us running. They care — plain and simple.”

The new sites come as part of the company’s commitment to serving customers where they are, Soley said.

“Our philosophy is to be staffed up to take care of our customers,” he said. “We have local branch managers, local service managers and local parts managers. That’s not always the case with some companies. They may have a regional manager overseeing a couple of branches.

“When our customers call, they want to talk to a person,” Soley added. “They don’t want to leave a message in voicemail or be in a computer system somewhere, and we want to be there for them.”