SEALANTS
lift a 700lb concrete block and it is simply impossible to tear - although many people stopping by were keen to accept our challenge to do so!
BACK AT THE MERCHANTS
Taking to the road touring builders’ merchants, checking product stocks and promotions, ensuring all is provided has always been a big part of the way many companies do business as Shurtape md Jason Burns tells BMJ.
I
’m a firm believer in good personal relationships in business and while there were of course other, larger concerns, COVID made those difficult - merchants closed, staff were sent home and we weren’t able to make those trips.
And so it was all the sweeter for our team to finally head out over the last couple of months and take some of our market-leading adhesive tapes directly to our end users - the builders - on the sites of our customers, the merchants. Things had to be managed safely of course, and there were more rules and regulations, but it was well worth the admin. We teamed up with Fix Radio for part of it and worked with the wonderful Joyce Designs to brand up a couple of trucks to do it in style. The attention those trucks got on the motorway was quite something!
As well as our established brands Duck Tape® and T-REX®
, it was a great opportunity
to show people our new range of trade products under the Kip® brand. Kip is a globally leading adhesive tape brand founded in 1959, with products for professional painters, plasterers and the construction industry. It operates across Europe and was acquired by Shurtape in 2000, but this is the first time any of its products have been officially introduced to the UK.
Demonstrating products in person, showing how it works and talking through its uses with those who will purchase it, is a vital part of marketing. People do buy into people, we are a sociable species after all. At Shurtape we are passionate about going out and meeting our customers and their customers. Regular visits, promotional tours and trade shows are a huge part of our business. Even in this digital age in which orders can be made online and customer service provided remotely, we still value direct contact with our business partners. Without that direct contact, little things could be missed, opportunities left. And it’s nice to simply BE with them, chat about their business, ensure everything is ok.
The construction industry was hit hard by COVID, with 41% of business owners in this sector ceasing trade for a while. As we (literally) downed tools, everyone was impacted, although sales figures are looking healthy again now, the building industry having been one of the first to open up again.
Ongoing efforts by suppliers will still need to be made however, as uncertainty remains thanks to Covid and Brexit. As Mike Rigby, chief executive of MRA Research, which produces a statistics report for the Builders Merchant Federation (BMF), says: “To ensure we continue on a growth trajectory, balancing supply and demand will be key. Supplier lead times are the highest they’ve been for almost 25 years, putting pressure on pricing and customer service. Forward planning and regular communication with customer and suppliers is a must if merchants and the industry as a whole are to ride out the storm.”
Starting in the South and heading up North after a couple of weeks, we visited a whole range of customers, including Travis Perkins, Colemans, Crown, Stax and Selco, to name just a few. Setting up camp in a prominent spot each time, we handed out sausage rolls (both the meat and the vegan variants!), bacon butties, coffees, pastries and products. Being at the locations very early, were we able to chat to end users as they prepped for their day. Even busy people were happy to stop to say hello, even if they weren’t able to linger too long - although many did. T-REX®
really was the star of the show on this occasion as we were keen to demonstrate the strength of the new product in the range - T-REX®
Brute Force®
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net December 2021 . Just one loop of it can
Forward planning and face to face marketing can definitely provide valuable insights - communication is absolutely key. Increased visibility helps foster a trusting relationship, and more effective communication leads to better customer knowledge. Research by Hubspot recently revealed that 95% of people believe better business relationships are built through face to face meetings. Zoom fatigue is real - humans need human interactions! But above all that, it’s genuinely good fun. This is a great industry to work in, the people are simply brilliant. Yes, the tours give us the chance to get invaluable product feedback. But they also get our team back on the road, meeting with their customers, seeing the products in situ and feeling like things are almost – dare I say it – normal.
Roll on the next tour. And huge thanks to all who welcomed us. BMJ
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