GLEICHEN, Alta. – Ed and Bev Hoff are living proof that a good idea is not necessarily a new idea. They improved on a ground screw design that has long been used by electrical utilities, construction contractors and light plane owners, and they thought of an agricultural use.
They’d seen many steel grain bins tumbled by strong winds. A high quality, easy-to-install ground anchor and bin bracket system seemed a logical solution.
It would be a product they could make in the farm shop to provide a second income as they moved out of grain farming and into semi-retirement. There would be no need to deal with patents or licensing, because it was an old idea.
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But retirement, even part-time, is still a dream. They stopped farming two years ago, but are now too busy with their ground anchor business to consider taking it easy.
But Evertight Anchors was not an overnight success.
It took the Hoffs more than a year to develop the techniques to manufacture their ground anchors in large numbers and about another year to realize that being able to build the product is not enough.
Serious marketing efforts were necessary if they were to succeed.
While the Hoffs got excellent response from fellow farmers and the business community, they could not find a distributor. The answer was always the same.
“If you supply the customers, the advertising and the support, we will sell your product,” said Ed.
It was the old chicken and the egg story. If the Hoffs wanted customers, they needed some place to sell the product. Without customers, retailers would not take on their product.
“We had to educate people about how to use our product. What kind of benefit it would have for them. The buyer would have to learn our name,” said Ed.
The only solution the couple could find was to take their product on the road. For the past six years they have set up their trade show booth at farm shows across the Prairies.
Bev said they knew they were on the right track when retailers began to ask for product.
“When the farmers could come to the trade show and hold the product in their hands and see how they could use it, they went home and bugged the dealers. The retail dealers bugged their distributors and they called us,” said Bev.
Seven years after they started their business, the Evertight Ground Anchor is available in farm supply stores across the Prairies. Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, the UFA and dozens of independent dealers order regular supplies.
“We learned a lot at the farm shows too. Farmers would tell us what changes they would like to see in the product. People from outside farming would think up other uses and tell us how to make changes for their business needs,” said Bev.
Obtaining larger contracts also meant talking to the decision makers in organizations and companies. Ed and Bev found that speaking to company buyers alone was not enough. To ensure a sale they had to find people in a company who made new product decisions.
That approach worked with the federal Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration. By meeting directly with PFRA officials and using contacts made in the custom fencing industry, the couple secured contracts with the organization.
“We had to educate them on our product and show them how they could save money with our technology,” said Ed.
Today the couple sells more than 10,000 anchors annually. The product line has grown to several sizes of anchor for different soil types and applications, hydraulic and electric drivers, golf course and garden stake anchors, livestock tethers and a fencing system that eliminates wooden braced corner posts.
They are now developing an anchor that works with electric fences.
“The business just idled along until we got to the distributors. Once they started calling, we haven’t looked back,” said Bev.
