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F A L L 2 0 1 7
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BUSINESS
solutions
He adds, “Sievers Equipment Co. is based in Hamel, and we’re
fortunate to be able to get services from Madison Communica-
tions. We’ve grown as a company, and Madison Communications
has helped us do that with bandwidth and phone systems to tie
our six stores together and reduce some costs. I wish Madison
Communications could just follow Sievers Equipment Co. around
and expand their service territory to fit us! Madison Communica-
tions has a better product offering and better pricing than other
companies.”
Prairietown Feed Service
Located in Dorsey, Illinois, Prairietown Feed Service is a full-
service agricultural supply retailer. It carries feed, seed, fertilizer,
and crop insurance, and also offers a grain elevator and grain
hauling. As President Jared Goebel notes, “Basically, we sell
everything but chemicals and anhydrous ammonia.” The
company currently has 14 employees, some of whom have
worked there for 25-50 years.
Wilber Goebel—Jared Goebel’s grandfather—opened Prairietown
Feed Service in 1956, and it was originally a feed store that pro-
vided a delivery service. In 1963, Wilber Goebel took a big risk
and borrowed $65,000 to build a mill. In the 1970s, fertilizer was
added as was trucking in the 1990s. Since the start of the 21st
century, the company began selling seed, crop insurance, and
commercial grain storage.
Still family owned and operated, Prairietown Feed Service has
enjoyed remarkable growth. Jared Goebel says, “We went from
a 500-square-foot showroom to a 3,500-square-foot show-
room, and from a grain elevator with a 50,000 bushel capacity
to one with a 620,000 bushel capacity. This building expansion
has allowed our company to increase our product offerings.”
Change has also taken place with the service provided by
Madison Communications. In August 2017, a new Hosted PBX
phone system was installed to better meet the needs of this
growing business.
“The clarity of phone calls is much better with Hosted PBX
compared to the old phone system we were using before.
We now have voicemail we can check from off-site. We also
gained the ability to pick up a phone from one desk or work-
station and move it somewhere else while retaining the same
features. For example, there may be a few months of the year
when we’ll want to pull a phone from the main office and use it
in the scale house,” Goebel says.
What does Goebel value about his partnership with Madison
Communications? He replies, “Their internet service is very reli-
able—no complaints. I think the biggest thing for me, however,
is that Madison Communications is local. I can call anyone there,
even people in upper management, on their cell phones if need
be. There aren’t layers of bureaucracy to get through. Madison
Communications is run like a small business, just like Prairietown
Feed Service.”
We’ve grown as a company, and
Madison Communications has
helped us do that with bandwidth and
phone systems to tie our six stores
together and reduce some costs.”
— BRIAN SIEVERS, DIRECTOR, SIEVERS EQUIPMENT CO.
The clarity of phone calls is
much better with Hosted PBX
compared to the old phone system
we were using before.”
— JARED GOEBEL, PRESIDENT, PRAIRIETOWN FEED SERVICE