Delivery Innovation?

Met a prospect today with an enviably impressive track record.  Founded by a dozen people, ten of them Directors, at the turn of the century, they already sell £29m of lighting product to trade wholesalers.  Their first strapline was “Halogen Lighting Specialists”.  This distinguished them from other competitors, who sold bits and bobs of everything.  This has now morphed into “Passionate About Lighting”, further extolling their specialist credentials but now introducing the fact they are ‘mood-makers’.  And they really do appear passionate.  Here’s just two of the innovations they talked to me about…..

Marketing Buses – They bought two single decker buses and converted them into mobile showrooms.   Now they can drive them along to a customer (in return for promising sales figures) and get them to encourage all their clients to hop on board and see all the latest kit in the environment it suits, especially pertinent as you can’t fit it all into a store with a tiny trade counter.

Moped Edge – They think the manufacture/import side of the industry has messed up a touch by going down the guaranteed Next Day Delivery route to attract trade counter business.  There’s little incentive for local stock holding and credit risk reverts to the initial supplier.  Why haven’t such outfits copied Pizza houses all across the land?  How much more business would they make if they gave contractors their phone number, and when on-site, haivng just surveyed what they need, they could make a cheeky call and within an hour a bike turns up with supplies whilst they didn’t waste billable time and could get on with preparatory work?