The modest exterior of Trelawny's UK HQ does little to hint at the size and shape of the company.


instructions for tools assembly, best practice usage and effective maintenance. This will work equally well for hire market depots requiring expert guidance on our equipment ‘on demand’.”


“When the ‘new normal’ finally arrives our customers can also use our studio to make their own training videos,” adds Dan Rowledge. “We’re able to custom wrap many of our machines, which can include QR codes that link to those videos. Hands-on is still the best way to learn, so this facility is as close as we can get to enabling that in the current environment.”


aren’t spending cap-ex to the same extent. It has probably set us back at least nine or ten months in terms of penetrating this market. We’ve lost ground, but I hope we’ll see this business pick up in earnest next year, based on the strength of these relationships and the work we’ve already done.”


“face to face meetings


with our customers are key to our business, so


The new suite is not large but is well presented and brightly lit, with each of Trelawny’s main product lines neatly displayed. One can easily imagine that it looks even better on camera in a corporate or bespoke training video, but the Trelawny team is willing to take its teaching to the shop floor if necessary. In that regard, the team assembling the products are skilled and patient ambassadors for their products, while it must be said that factory itself is quite the tidiest I’ve seen in many such visits.


it’s been a big challenge for us to change our style and approach”


As useful and forward-thinking as it is, the new training suite and the digital communications it enables are not Trelawny’s only marketing options. Long-standing relationships with distributors and industry partners still matter. One such being Duro Yokota, which maintains a wide range of the company’s equipment in its catalogue.


“We work very openly with them. Their reps are fully trained and backed up, and they work closely with me on the road hitting the depots in the UK,” says Glenn. “That’s been going well for the last six years, accounting for around 10 percent of our sales in 2019, but we do have some direct business as well. We were starting to explore that more towards the end of last year, but what has unfolded since has halted progress for the time being…”


And there the dreaded issue of the pandemic arises uninvited. Trelawny has acted quickly in devising new ways to stay in touch with its customers, distributors and staff, which is advantageous in any circumstances, but how has trading been affected?


“It’s important for us to be in control of our own destiny, and we have been focused on developing relationships the hire market,” says Adam. “This year we are finding that our clients in this sector just


25


“I think people are understandably worried about their budgets and whether we’re going to go into another lockdown,” adds Dan. “Repair has been an important revenue stream for us, but the last few months has given us the chance to take stock and we’ve actually contacted a lot of new customers, offering help and training, understanding their business needs and laying foundations to make sure we are out of the starting blocks as quickly as we can.”


“We’re massively positive,” concludes Adam. “As well as the UK hire market and other territorial opportunities, we are also investing in product development. We have a really strong pipeline with several new items of equipment arriving next year, including new concrete and pneumatic products. We’re really excited about those, and that gives us a lot of confidence in maximising our recovery going into next year.”


The new suite features a broad selection of Trelawny equipment, and functions as a training facility, showroom and multimedia studio.


This positive note wraps the main interview up. A tour of the factory follows, with a chance to try out some of Trelawny’s low-vibration hand-tools – hint: they don’t, to any great extent. My thanks to Adam, Dan and especially to Glenn for making the arrangements, and how heartening to find a company that is not only buoyant in spirit and assertive in action, but is apparently a bricks and mortar proof of the old maxim that in every problem there is an opportunity. Keep up the good work guys.


• www.trelawnyspt.com


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