BY: Peter Cooke, President, National Rigging and Crane Training LLC.
Ever considered partnering with your supplier in marketing? Or are you just thrilled if they ship your orders correctly and promptly? As this article shows, AMH might be worth considering for jobs that go beyond the average case of “shipping your orders on time.”
With this simple marketing example, AMH has shown its interest in brainstorming ideas that work for its distributors’ advantage as well.
Mini lever hoists are a very popular rigging tool. They are very useful on job sites and also have many hobby applications, such as pulling up a deer, or pulling an engine out of your car, just to name a few.
To make such a product sell well, AMH is of the opinion that there is a psychological price barrier. Of course, there remains a desire for distributors to make a good margin, especially on such a low-ticket item. It’s not rocket science to create a Mini lever hoist that meets those criteria, a hoist that can retail below the “magic $100 mark” and keep everyone in the supply chain content.
However, it does require some creativity to:
- A) realize that the >$100 consumer price mark makes a difference in such an item becoming an impulse purchase. (hence a large volume & easy sale).
- B) develop a safe, good quality, and nice-looking product at that cost.
- C) develop a marketing plan around it (displays, literature, sales incentives)
There are additional value propositions to this marketing idea.
Some of us who sell slings all day might also be interested in having something new to talk about. Not only “something new”, but a fresh product to bring to the table that can interest the buyer on a personal level, and can allow the buyer and seller to develop a deeper connection. And let’s face it, our customers might be interested in hearing something other than the “latest development in the world of slings” from us sling sales folks.
More importantly, many rigging shops surprisingly don’t sell nearly as many hoists as they could. Some rigging shops even think that hoists are not part of their core offering. A little research would show that almost every buyer of slings also buys hoists. (Why let your customer buy them from the competition that one day might also sell them slings).
The point AMH is trying to make is that by sling distributors promoting these MINI hoists, the message is engraved into your customer’s brain, “Hey, they sell hoists as well!” And then magically, on the Mini hoist product manual, that comes with every Mini hoist, you show all the 1/2- 10-ton capacity hoists your customers buy all day long as well. It’s like magic – you just became a contender for those customers’ next “serious hoist bid” – and in AMH you have a partner that will supply you with almost any options & capacities imaginable.
From a value line, 1/4-ton hoists all the way up to 30-ton hoists, to premium hoists, that are assembled and tested in the USA and run on American-made load chain. Additionally, AMH provides many different options, such as overload limiters, self-locking hooks, shipyard hooks, etc.
Finally, an alternative to a legacy lever hoist product from 3/4-ton to 10-ton capacity that has become so expensive and does not allow most of its distributors much margin. Some are looking for alternatives – AMH has it. Not only for regular heavy industrial use but even an option for sub-sea use as well – check out AMH’s X5 lever hoist models.
From this example of a “Mini hoist marketing plan” AMH customers get the idea. There are no rocket scientists working at AMH, but they do have a passion for what they are doing and enjoy a challenge that goes beyond the prompt supply of safe and competitive lifting equipment. Of course, all AMH’s products are supported by a prompt supply of all required spare parts. Reach out to the folks at AMH at 877-543-8264 or sales@allmaterialhandling.com.
Just want to look and see what products and prompt supply service AMH has to offer then look at: www.allmaterialhandling.com