Banding & Identification (ID) Solutions South Africa was the only African representative at the recent EMEA sales conference in early October, organised by Band-It UK. In attendance were Senior Sales Representative Matthew Campbell and Sales Director Rosa Dos Remendos. The conference was hosted by European Sales Manager Paul Clark.
Distributors from as far afield as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Germany, Spain, France, Sweden, Finland, and Italy were also in attendance. In addition to the distributors, members from the Band-It IDEX (Colorado, US) sales team, including Band-It President Bill Reeves, and Heritage Business Line Director, Filipe Prata also attended.
The event served as a platform for distributors to share their unique experiences in marketing the Band-It product range within their region. Applications, competition, and selling techniques comprised the bulk of discussions. Members from Band-It IDEX USA and Band-It UK also presented on topics ranging from new applications to cable management short-circuit testing.
“We spent an afternoon on intense tool-repair training, which will give us the ability to repair any Band-It application tool in-house,” Remendos reveals. The exciting new Band-It website was discussed, which includes case studies, tool installation videos, applications pictures, and catalogues. In-depth discussions about different applications in various industrial markets were also held.
“We gained a better understanding of the production process itself, and especially what goes into making the Band-It products. We also garnered information about new applications that we can pursue. With this product expertise and market knowledge under our belt, we are better prepared to serve the needs of the South African market,” Remendos adds.
Remendos stresses that Band-It UK values its distributors highly, especially in terms of the in-depth feedback gathered at the conference. This proved invaluable in not only gaining important knowledge about the state of the competition globally, but also the burgeoning potential for new applications to improve market share in key sectors.
“For example, our success in using Ultra-Lok® to combat cable theft in South Africa was a major talking point at the conference in applying an existing product to meet a specific customer application and industry problem,” Campbell notes.
“The fact we have had such major success here is something that other distributors can apply globally. It was an ideal example of how the conference expanded the horizons of all who attended,” he concludes.