Sometimes, busy installers simply don’t have the time or staff to visit suppliers and factories as much as they would like to. They are busy running their businesses, servicing their own customers, solving problems and working hard to generate leads. But suppliers still want to have that contact with their installers, show them new developments and new products and keep them motivated.

So what is one way to make the job of keeping the fire alive between suppliers and installers? Get an Ellie!

Excellent Ellie

Just as England was making their way to the Euro 2024 final, Brisant brought Ellie to our installations business. Ellie is a long wheelbase van which is fully kitted out inside to demonstrate the full range of products that Brisant offers to installers, fabricators and locksmiths.

It was longer than I thought. Until then I had only seen it on social media. I did not appreciate how long it actually was. Inside it is split into two rooms, divided by a door with the Ultion Bolt locking strip. It has been very well designed internally with Brisant able to show off everything they do without it looking or feeling crammed or squashed.

The walls inside are decorated with very clean and crisp backlit display boards, which I said at the time they should make available to installers to buy as I thought they were an excellent form of display and I think installers would be genuinely interested in adding them to their showrooms. It also has a large screen inside which can be used to show product videos and other branding. I joked they should have put the football on there!

There is even seating inside and room enough for around 6 people to circulate comfortably inside and browse everything they have on display. It is thoroughly well-designed and is an impressive showcase of their major brands and ranges.

But what I liked most was that it was mobile. As I mentioned, it is not always easy for installers to find the time to visit their suppliers given how busy they are. Ellie, however, is a showroom on wheels. It can go anywhere it needs to, allowing Brisant to visit their customers up and down the country. Brisant can come to them, share product updates, provide an opportunity to get feedback from clients and generally energise their customer base and help sell more products.

As I said, it was very impressive inside and very well thought-out. So much so that this is something I think more of the industry should be looking into.

More mobile

I can only think of one other instance where I saw something like this and it was when the New Wave door launched and they took their product on tour in a van similar to that of Ellie. It came to our place and I was given a demonstration of the product. I remember thinking that this was a pretty good idea at the time. The product coming to the installer rather than the other way around was more convenient for the installer and suppliers were able to get around more potential clients.

Now Brisant is doing the same thing with Ellie. It’s a novel concept, but one that I believe is effective. It allows Brisant to see more customers this way, either existing or potential new clients. Rather than have clients come to their office, where perhaps it will be the only meeting of the day, using their mobile showroom allows them to visit perhaps two or three customers a day. If they do that five days a week that is comfortably more client visits than they could manage if they were to come to their offices.

Not only that, it is visually impressive. Being able to drive into the yard or offices of a customer, open the back door and have the full product range hit them immediately is an exciting way to demonstrate their products. I am sure it makes a very good impression on all their customers when they go visit them.

I think it is also a great way for staff to become more immersed in the sales process. Using Ellie to wow a customer and then hammer home the USPs using the products inside must surely excite the sales team as well as the customer.

All in all, I really like the concept of a mobile showroom and I think it should be something others should look into as a means to engage with their client base more productively.

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