April 2020

APRIL 2020 AFTERMARKET 35 www.aftermarketonline.net ambassador and we’ve worked with him ever since. This association has led to the opening of the JLM Academy in Darren’s home town of Ashington in the North East in 2019. The Academy was a realisation of Darren’s dream and of mine, namely to provide easy to access, high quality training on diagnostics and DPFs including how JLM products should be applied in a problem solving capacity. The Academy is kitted out with various diagnostics’ equipment, workshop data, specialist testing tools and two training vehicles -petrol and diesel engine. It has attracted some big names as trainers including Steve Scott, Andy Savva and Dave Massey not to mention Darren himself. “Darren and some of the members of his DPF Doctor Network have also played a big part in the launch of the JLM Extreme Air Intake Toolkit and The DPF Cleaning Toolkit – putting each toolkit through its paces on many vehicles before we launched them worldwide.” The launch of JLM Drive Commenting on their publication, JLM Drive, Gilbert observed: “It felt as though we’d really arrived when we launched our first glossy automotive magazine, JLM Drive in 2018. We wanted to produce something of real interest to the trade and for our distributors to use it when marketing JLM to stockists, mechanics and influencers. It is part petrol head, part product catalogue with content on JLM products and useful content from Darren and other key people of influence in the automotive industry. The feedback we’ve received on JLM Drive including positive comments from journalists in the motor media has spurred us on to make it an annual publication. I like to look at what competitors are doing and make our efforts and outputs even better. It doesn’t matter that we could be taking on a huge, long established brand and that we are the David versus their Goliath. I have that gut instinct we can often do it better. And we do!” New product development “For the last seven years we have launched at least three new products a year, each one designed to solve a problem and to deliver a better outcome for the mechanic and for the mechanic’s customer. Every product we develop whether it’s a leader or a deliberate laggard must be trusted by the trade to perform on vehicles with challenging problems. This year we launched what I believe is the world’s first dedicated GDI Cleaner. What made this all the more satisfying was that we were approached by a publicly listed company that wanted to work with us in developing this product. Nine years ago we did not register on their radar. We had to earn our stripes and with the GDI Cleaner the response has been fantastic. It’s now in 60 countries promoted via our 45 distributors and initial supplies sold out in 24 hours.” Looking ahead What does the future look like for JLM Lubricants? “I could say more of the same”, said Gilbert, but that’s resting on our laurels, so we want to find 15 more distributors in the next five years. “ I look back at our first distributor ‘conference’ in 2014 and we had just 10 attendees. In 2019 the figure had risen to 41, making it a proper conference! What makes a great JLM distributor? They have to be willing to commit their time on a consistent basis, promoting our products in their territories with a real passion and technical knowhow. It’s always challenging to crack a territory but with the sales and marketing support on offer there’s no reason why they can’t succeed. “Take Kalimex for example. Mike Schlup the MD has grown JLM sales by a staggering amount since he came on board in 2013. The UK remains a fast growing market with significant potential for JLM.” Gilbert added: “South East Asia is now firmly in our sights. There’s a growing demand for good quality trade developed automotive products. European cars are hot property and these drivers want premium products which they’re now looking to Europe for.” seBehT girOehT ni ! ! t m 0800 783 37 : alim : enquiries@k o.c .kseal w .uko 17 x.c e Above: Darren Darling