At the RingMechanika day run at the Ring/OSRAM H.Q in Leeds in May, one of the highlights was the workshop solutions van. The two companies use this to keep garages up to date with their latest products. In partnership with sales staff from factor partners like Motor Serv, Ring and OSRAM’s Ehsan Ali traverses the nation in what is effectively a mobile shop window and live action catalogue all rolled into one. During the summer, Aftermarket took the opportunity to hop on board as Ehsan and the van made their way around Cambridgeshire, starting at the Motor Serv branch in Cambridge itself, and ending up at the nearby village Over. Successful Working with Ehsan on the day was Frazer Dunn, Motor Serv Business Development Manager. “I look after Cambridge Motor Serv branch,” he said. “We make appointments with the customers so we can visit them and make them aware of what we’ve got.” According to Frazer, this kind of live experience works really well: “It's 54 AFTERMARKET OCTOBER 2023 DAY IN THE LIFE www.aftermarketonline.net Aftermarket recently spent a day with the Ring/OSRAM van to find out how the companies are making sure garages can stay up to date with the latest products been very successful. When they've seen it in here, they order it and it goes through to our branch.” Eshan has been the man in the van for about a year now: “It has been really good. Mechanics prefer to touch, feel and use the products.” With only one van for the whole of the UK at present, Ehsan is a busy man: “We cover everywhere, we have one van and one of me.” With that, we were off. Awareness Our first stop took us a few miles up the road to Bottisham and local garage EC Autocare. Frazer’s contact at the garage was Tony who came out to view what was available on board. When asked how useful having a visit like this was, particularly on a busy Monday, Tony observed: “It's a good thing, because we haven't got time to go and have a look. We might be able to look through a catalogue, but you don't actually see what it's like, what the quality of it is. If you can see it, then you get a good insight into what you're buying and what you're actually getting. For me, it's a win all round. You have a look. IT AIN’T OVER ‘TIL IT’S OVER
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ0NzM=