National ambitions
October 1st 2010 A national forklift dealership with an
unrelenting local focus is the ambition
for Windsor Materials Handling who
have made significant investment
despite the recession
The ambitions of Windsor Materials Handling extend far
beyond the impressive new purpose-built branch in
Sleaford, Lincolnshire.
Director Stephen Burton explains: "We believe the model of a
national dealership with a local focus will work. If you look at
typical national distributors, they have centralised departments
focusing on service, sales, short term hire, ancillary business etc
and they all have cost centres. They become inward looking,
fight against each other and lose focus on the end user."
While Burton has ambitions to build a nationwide forklift
dealership from its North East and East
Midlands heartland, he is determined the
company will never lose its local focus.
In practical terms this means no call
centres but dedicated service engineers for
each site, dedicated service managers who
are time-served with deep product
knowledge, and local branches that mean
parts are held closer to the customer and
short term hires can be arranged faster.
The firm lives by a four hour call out time
but says its average is less than two hours. If
a customer has a lorry waiting to be
unloaded, the company will take someone
off the tools and send them immediately
upon receiving a call.
"He'll be there as quickly as it takes to drive there, and that's
the benefit of having service managers at the branch. The last
thing customers want is to sit on hold, in a queue, trying to
report a fault to a call centre," he says.
Another advantage of the local model according to Windsor is
handling of parts, which each branch has control over. Some
distributors operate a model relying on outsourced couriers
delivering parts to drop boxes.Windsor sees this model as overcomplex
and over-reliant on factors outside the control of the
company.
"We will keep this locally focused structure as we grow," adds
Burton. "It is a scalable model. Branches are autonomous and
run themselves within certain parameters.We have a very short
chain of command which means quick decisions, which helps
the customer."
Windsor has not been afraid to put its money where its
mouth is, both in terms of investing in facilities for growth and
standing by employees through the recession.
The Sleaford branch is one of eight although many more are
planned for the coming years. This month, the branch moved a
few hundred yards to a new industrial park and a much larger
and more modern facility catering for servicing and repairs
through to full refurbishment work utilising its spray shop
facilities. The family owned firm is determined to own all of its
branches emphasising its commitment to the business. This
includes investment in staff with specialist knowledge to
improve efficiencies, as well as continued investment in new
vans and fleet management systems.
"We decided to grow despite the recession, not batten down
the hatches.While cash flow was tight, we maintained
profitability," Burton says.
Building brands
Windsor has grown its product range in recent years, adding
Doosan to Komatsu in terms of lift trucks. A diverse range also
includes products for general warehouse and outdoor use, as
well as specialist applications and JLG access platforms.
"We've got Doosan as well as Komatsu on board and certainly
this helps on multi site deals.We've had one client with five sites
and they are not convinced that every site will like the same
truck so it helps we have two strong brands to choose from."
Windsor does not want to sell 'anything and everything', an
approach which it believes does not help the end user.
The brands serve Windsor well, adds Burton, with Doosan
offering a rapidly expanding warehouse range as well as the
counterbalance models more traditionally associated with the
Korean manufacturer.
Windsor is not an exclusive distributor for any of its brands
but does not see this as an issue.
Burton is very positive about the forklift market despite the
uncertain economic situation.
"People are worried about a double dip recession but I don't
believe it will happen unless people let themselves be talked into it.
The deals are out there, and it is up to us to go out and get them.
"True, we've seen customers reluctant to pay for truck
damage, they have been leaving it or getting the minimum
repaired. Others didn't want to replace trucks last year and have
repaired instead. For many it will become uneconomical to
continue to postpone spending."
And when spending begins again in earnest,Windsor is
banking on its network of local dealers to take advantage thanks
to a personal touch and offering a dependable service.
Burton concludes: "Customers are slowly realising that there
is an intrinsic value to our proposition and are not simply
selecting the lowest hire rate when choosing their supplier. Local
support means less downtime, resulting in lower operating costs
and stronger relationships with
their own customers." More articles from Windsor Materials Handling Ltd: | 
