Voice of the WILL YOU PROVE ME WRONG?


In the last issue of Tool Business +Hire magazine there was an invitation to take part in a new TV series by the 'Queen of the Shops' guru, Mary Portas. I'm guessing here, but I suspect a large percentage of Tool Business +Hire readers would have muttered something along the lines of, "What has my business got to do with a lippy, self-opinionated bird on telly?" While another large slice would tend not be interested in anything that involved a woman telling them what to do, period. Big mistake boys. For several reasons. Firstly - in case you hadn't


noticed - roughly half the adult population of the country is made up of people that aren't blokes. And in these difficult times, any industry that doesn't cater for fifty percent of its potential customer base doesn't deserve to survive. Do 'girls' hire power tools, compact construction equipment, groundscare machinery and powered access kit? Why shouldn't they? You'll never know the answer to that question until you open up your mind to the possibility, will you? I'd argue that a more open - and 'customer friendly' - approach to the


hire and sale of powered equipment is long overdue. 'Construction' is still very much seen as being 'a man's world' - just as the motor vehicle industry was twenty-five years ago - and hire is stuck in the same shadow. Back then, women were hit on, patronised and regularly overcharged in the belief that they could be blinded with technical bullsh*t. Today? One of my heroes - Nicki King - is the managing director of Isuzu Truck and like Mary Portas, has shown that she can make a success of a job that would have once only been open to a bloke. So how is your recruitment policy looking? But if all this feminist stuff doesn't wash with you, try my 'secondly'.


Mary Portas might well be keen to use 'the negative issues' she finds in your business to build-up her own viewing figures and image - after all, good TV does tend to involve a bit of conflict - but are you sure you really know about 'marketing' and what brings potential customers through your door? Again, I'm guessing here, but deep down, I'll bet you don't. You really don't. What do I know? I've been involved with the vehicle, plant and machinery world all my life - first as a keen young 'operative', then as a designer and


Journalist Malcolm Bates specialises in transport, plant and groundscare equipment and travels the world reporting on waste and recycling issues. Here, he suggests our sector could benefit from a more radical approach to marketing…


marketing manager and more recently as a journalist. Aside from one or two exceptions, my experience suggests many British-owned enterprises are blind to new promotional ideas and spend less than a half of what they should be on 'marketing' and brand building. Which might explain why we have so few left.


So to turn down a free offer from an established marketing expert willing to analyse where your business is at, where it's going wrong and where it


could be? That's just bonkers. Tragically, if I've now helped you see the light, you may be already too late to do anything about it. Which rather proves my point. On the other hand, if you're spitting blood because you're convinced you really do have 'marketing' nailed without the help of 'a lippy bird off the telly',


or just as bad, a hairy, ex-art student journalist like me? Well c'mon - drop our Editor an e-mail and let's have some pumped-up indignation. Because if you're right, your business justifiably deserves a company profile article in the next issue of ToolBusiness+Hire Magazine!


Do you have an opinion about this article, or something you have read in ToolBUSINESS+HIRE Magazine?


Or you may have some burning issue about the industry you wish to share with other readers.


If so write an article for our Voice of the Industry feature and email it to Anne Hall, the editor, annehalls@btinternet.com and she will consider it for publication.


Industry


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