End of an innings for Westcountry sales legend

by Nick Drew | Sun 21 Dec 2014

End of an innings for Westcountry sales legend

I make no apologies for this local specific blog post and I am sure most plant people who have struck up a good relationship with their local salesman will agree with the sentiment within this post.

For some 35 years Rod Luckman has been selling plant & machinery in the Cornwall and North Devon areas, where he has gained an enviable reputation as a genuine, helpful and knowledgeable sales representative, who would always go that extra mile to make sure his customers got what they wanted from a deal.

Rod’s sales career started in the early 1980’s selling JCB’s for local dealership Holt JCB, where he was to remain until a move to Beacon Plant sales in 2001. One year later and Rod joined long established family business CBL Plant Sales working out of their Saltash depot in Cornwall where he has remained to this day, selling a whole host of products from the company’s portfolio including, Bomag compaction equipment and Thwaites dumpers. Rod was also instrumental in the change to Takeuchi mini excavators, which have consistently proven to be the most successful product in the CBL range.

The end of an era came on Friday 19^th December 2014 as Rod retired from a lifetime of service to the local plant & machinery community, but true to form, Rod even managed to clinch a sale in his final minutes with the company! This milestone event was celebrated with small party at the Saltash depot in the evening, which was attended by many members of staff both past and present.

Commenting on Rod’s retirement CBL’s Regional Director John Elliott said, “I have mixed emotions about Rod’s retirement, one being that it is thoroughly deserved, after being a great servant for CBL for 13 years and for other companies, covering the Cornwall and North Devon area over the past 35. The other emotion is sadness, Rod has been a fantastic team member, a fully committed company man and some one that I personally learnt a huge amount from. His appetite for getting the job correct first time and the fact that "customer care" was a core value in his work, is and will always be applauded”. Rod will be sorely missed not only by his customers, but also by his work colleagues who he is leaving behind. I suspect though that we can expect a guest appearance from Rod at next years Royal Cornwall Show which he has attended as a salesman for the past 33 years!

To gently settle into retirement, Rod will be setting off between Christmas and New Years on a 7 week expedition of New Zealand. The Digger Man Blog wishes Rod health, happiness and best wishes, in this new chapter of his life.

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