Love this story about mark!
http://todayzpublishing.com/WAE2007.pdf
$2.3 Million and a Handshake, Please
Mark Leonard is the kind of guy who can be taken at his word. He
must be, or the Chinese government wouldn’t have given him a line
of credit worth $2.3 million on nothing more than a handshake.
Amazingly that was the agreement between one Kalama, Wash.
entrepreneur and a major world power that trusted Leonard’s
personal checks would clear the bank.
They did, and as a result, Leonard, a man of many talents, formed
the foundations of an almost 20-year relationship that has
benefi ted both parties, as well as a third – those wanting a tractor
with more horsepower, dependability and performance.
The end result is Tytan International Inc..
The company off ers a line of tractors that were developed with
the small-acreage landowner in mind, the model 324 and the 504.
The tractors are easier to repair, more reasonably priced on parts
and have lots of brute strength. They are extremely adept at bush
hogging and are more frugal on fuel.
The idea to export tractors came to Leonard on a visit to China in
1988, just after the political turmoil that unfolded in Tiananmen
Square. Leonard saw China changing.
“It was a fl uke. I wrapped up fi ve exclusive contracts with fi ve
diff erent factories that made diff erent sized tractors,” he explained.
“They wanted me to post a letter of credit, which is standard business
practice, but the color and size of the products we actually ended up
with, diff ered from the shipping orders, which meant I had to re-do
the letters of credit. Changing terms and conditions of an LC is costly
and a hassle. This means of payment wasn’t going to work with the
Chinese at this stage of their development. so they extended me a
line of credit on a handshake and I made good on it.”
Leonard began importing the tractors under his own brand name,
Rhino Tractors. The company grew from his one retail store to 150
dealers nationwide, and in 1995 was sold to a Texas conglomerate.
Leonard sat out for the next fi ve years due to a no-compete clause
included in the company’s sale. The Chinese approached Leonard
once the no-compete clause had been fulfi lled and asked him to
get back into the game, which he promptly did.
Now he runs Tytan International, which is currently growing even
faster than his fi rst venture. The success of his business is threefold;
It is Leonard’s personal development of the equipment, the
relationship he forged with the Chinese and the many economic
changes that have taken place over the last 20 or more years.
“I went back to China and it was a changed place from the fi rst time
I was there,” Leonard said. “The Chinese government has divested
itself of a lot their business ventures, so there is a lot of capitalistic
type competition now. China today is much like the U.S. in that the
people have the opportunity to buy high quality.”
The United States has off ered China Most-
Favored-Nation, or MFN status, which
means both countries will not make any
trades unless it is mutually benefi cial to
both counties, Leonard said.
“The United States has been behind
the scenes in China since the Nixon
administration,” he added.
Leonard has capitalized on the
turn of events in China and as a
result is reaping the rewards of
a product that makes sense.
“Tytan is right on track,” he said.
“We are doing better than we
did with Rhino. The key is that
we have developed a more
bullet-proof-quality tractor to
meet the needs of what we
like to call the ‘weekend farmer’
– the guy with 5 to15 acres. I purchased two tractors ordered in as
samples in 1979. I ran them for 10 years, and said, ‘now, there is the
item for the weekend farmer, right the
re.’ They are priced right and
better to work on, and are stronger.”
Tytan International, which markets to the U.S., Canada and
Mexico, is the only company with an exclusive agreement with
China., other than john Deere, Ford, Case and Mahindra.
