New on-site service keeps tradies up to date with power tools.
A ute is an unusual productivity tool but there’s a team of experts from AEG who swear their four-wheeled Onsite service saves tradies valuable time and money.
The Onsite team are a mobile service that acts as a kind of “ambulance” when new tools are urgently needed on building sites and the like or as an educator, demonstrating how the battery-powered tools, and others, do the job better.
The power tool market changes all the time, with manufacturers bringing out new tools to solve new problems – and help users get more work done.
Sifting through the information and relating it to individual needs can be time-consuming and sometimes confusing – especially if a tradie has to spend valuable time researching and seeking the right tool or tools to buy.
Now help is on the way in the form of an ex-tradie in AEG Onsite’s black ute. He relishes the opportunity to go on site to explain how the new tools will make a difference. This service is being offered New Zealand-wide for the AEG brand of equipment at the forefront of improvements in power tool performance.
It’s that first-hand, on-site, presence that has shown that customers are willing to migrate away from [electric] corded power tools, or those using compressed air, when the benefits are properly explained. The Onsite team is helping to bring about the transition to battery-powered tools which, by the way, AEG pioneered and since has considerably boosted power performance and run time.
The ute carries many products and the Onsite team draw on wide experience to demonstrate their use, and even offer tools for trial on site. If a tradie is convinced, the Onsite team bring a brand new one and, using a mobile point of sale facility, transacts on the spot.
“It’s about convenience – with a lot of our customers if they have to spend an hour or more off site to get information or power tools, that’s productivity lost,” says Grahame Williams, head of sales for Techtronic Industries NZ.
“With our AEG Onsite service, the customers get to talk to an expert to help decision-making over what products are the most appropriate for the task at hand.” Williams says having the mobile point of sale facility since early this year has resulted in an uptake of the Onsite service and given the team the ability to visit not just individual sites but subdivisions and events. They have the aid of a full demonstration trailer which has a slide-out barbecue.
“Another benefit with being on site is a lot of needs assessment gets done. Our expert can see specifically what the customer is wanting to achieve. He can lean on experience as to what the tools are designed to do and provide that guidance, so the end user gets a really successful outcome.”
AEG has a team of 5-6 experts for the Onsite service who, as well as talking to fellow professionals about tools from drill drivers to circular saws, mowers, blowers, storage, Empire hand tools and Kango accessories, offer after sales support, including continuing education and quickly dealing with any tools that require servicing.
Professional builders are the main users of the Onsite service. But with the trend towards new housing being developed in multi-home subdivisions, the Onsite team finds their visits also attract keen interest from the sub-contractor tradies working on the site or nearby, says Baden Woodman, commercial sales manager for Techtronic Industries NZ.
“We get interest from electrical, plumbing and the heating, ventilation and air conditioning trades as well but we also resonate well with the agriculture trades. Farmers have quite specific requirements for tools, as do contractors, so we blend into those sorts of environments as well.
“Our team are in work utes so wherever the customers are, we will come to them. We have customers who work all four points of the compass and we can follow them to wherever they are working on a project.”
Those customers are businesses of all sizes, from sole traders to multinationals. Regardless of size, there is a need for taking away the guesswork in purchasing equipment and getting the confidence that you have bought the best tool for the price.
Woodman says the point-of-sale platform also allows the team to work with a customer who has an account relationship with Bunnings. “We can charge it to their trading account.” This means customers can be served in places where there is none of the big stores, saving a time-costly trip away from the work site.
After a sale, the support for that product’s successful life kicks in. The brand offers a higher level of service than others. A customer might feel the tool is not working correctly but a site visit might establish it isn’t faulty and instead there is a need for education on how to use the tool correctly.
Woodman says AEG also has one of the longest trade warranties available in New Zealand – six years trade onsite warranty for power tools and three years for batteries and chargers.
In addition to all the aforementioned services, AEG Onsite also provides commercial quoting and holds on-site-specific events and agriculture events.
For more information: www.aegonsite.co.nz or call 0800 AEG ONSITE