“These days our customers have usually done their own research on the web, so they’re quite serious about buying by the time they ask for a demo”
Nick Darkin, Charterhouse
“I think that, if we do this, people will start to appreciate the importance of a serious demonstration and appreciate our service more. In particular, customers need to be made aware that, if we have to visit them more than once, these multiple demos adds considerable cost to the final price.”
He cites the golf sector as one such culprit. “You will go and see a greenkeeper to demo a machine. He says he likes it but, later on, we’ll get a phone call to say he wants us to go back so that the committee, greens chairman or secretary can see it as well. This just duplicates our costs.”
Nick Darkin, Sales Manager at Charterhouse Turf Machinery agrees, “Customers still want demos, but I don’t think they appreciate the cost involved of getting the unit to them. Transporting
QUALITY
DELIVERED AS STANDARD
MAJOR TDR Roller Mowers
machines around the country for Dealer Open Days, exhibitions or regional demos has always been expensive, whether you use haulage company transport or your own reps running 4 x 4 vehicles with trailers.” “We’re now faced with having to have tacos fitted in order to use the trailer, and there’s a surprising cost element involved in those - you can be looking at over £2,000. Factor in £7,000 for depreciation, tax, insurance and service - that’s before a wheel has moved - and then add fuel at over £5 a gallon and Tim’s £500 a day is quickly reached.” For Dave Roberts, Sales and Marketing Manager at Kubota, demos are a key part of their sales process. “It can be the make or break part of the deal,” he says, “and Kubota’s
investment in demos is huge. We have
around a million pounds worth of our own demo kit, and that’s in addition to our dealers’ demo kit which we also have to supply.”
Whilst he accepts it’s a massive cost to
Kubota, he does believe it brings about rewards as they, fortunately, seem to have a reasonably good success rate. The demo has become the final part of the sales process. For Kubota dealers though, Dave does
recognise there is a cost implication for them having to hold demo kit, and that
MAJOR Roller Mowers 6ft to 18t cutting widths
MAJOR Roller Mowers Suitable for Aebi tractors
MAJOR Flail Collectors 1.5 & 2m cutting widths
Major Equipment Ltd, Major Ind. Estate, Middleton Rd, Heysham, Lancs, LA3 3JJ Tel: 01524 850501 119
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