“Most shops purchase a new compressor at the time when their current unit fails,” says Richard Campbell, vice president product management North America, compressed air systems and service, Ingersoll Rand. “At that point, it’s not about price, it’s about who can deliver a new unit quickly and get the shop back up and running.” He suggests dealers carry a trusted compressor brand from your flag or a warehouse that can deliver quickly.
“Pneumatic systems have a finite life before the parts have to be serviced or maintained,” says Ben Echtenkamp, commercial product manager with Campbell Hausfeld. Knowing the life for various components and compressors can help drive the sales, build trust and avoid downtime. “Work with the shop to develop a maintenance/replace schedule that would help for budgeting and planned purchases.”
Budgeting? Planned purchases? Those probably sound like foreign concepts for your customers. But it’s a smart idea. If you are the go-to dealer for fittings, hoses, filters and consumables, you can help a shop customer plan expenditures and have a timeline for their next compressor purchase.
“The time dealers spend training customers on the basics of air compressors is time well spent,” says Ingersoll Rand’s Campbell. “Helping customers understand cfm, psi, horsepower, electrical – that creates a lot of value. Upselling premium features like low-oil protection switches, auto drain valves and air-cooled after-coolers can help dealers become more profitable.”
No matter how hard you try, often compressor sales will still be made under time pressure. But if you can get just a small percentage of customers to think ahead you can do an air audit and help them plan ahead and buy based on need - not just in a rush in the midst of an emergency.
About the Author
Phil Sasso
Phil Sasso is president of Sasso Marketing Inc. (www.sassomarketing.com), a technical marketing agency providing advertising, public relations and promotional services to tool and equipment marketers. Subscribe to his free marketing tip at philsasso.com/blog.