Supplier Spotlight: TGA Mobility’s Trade Open Day
For many suppliers in the mobility industry, their dealers are spread out all over the UK, making it difficult at times to have face-to-face conversations and harder still for dealers to see what happens ‘behind the scenes’. Building on the success of its Trade Roadshows earlier this year, TGA Mobility invited its nationwide network of dealers and THIIS to attend the first TGA Trade Open Day, giving dealers the chance to check out exclusive product launches, tour the TGA headquarters and gain invaluable insights into the company.
Throughout 2019, TGA held its first-ever Trade Roadshows in Runcorn, Bristol and Dublin, enabling the prominent mobility supplier to connect with its dealers in a regionalised format.
Reaching out to dealers and delivering a convenient, local option for time-constrained retailers, the roadshows focused on strengthening the relationship with its trade network through friendly face-to-face discussions and useful information to support and develop their dealers’ businesses.
Proving to be popular, TGA Mobility decided to host its inaugural TGA Trade Open Day, inviting dealers to the mobility supplier’s Sudbury headquarters to discover more about TGA and what makes it tick, as well as providing an opportunity for dealers to network with peers over a tasty hog roast.
The grand tour
With a significant turnout of dealers attending from across the UK, visitors were split into groups of five and six, with a member of the TGA team showing each group around the different functions and areas of the business and premises.
Noting that the smaller, more focused groups would prompt intimate, honest and open discussions, the supplier says it was keen to hear its customers’ real thoughts and feedback.
Discussing new service, product and marketing initiatives to the attendees, each group had the opportunity to visit individual departments and discuss their needs directly with employees.
Dealers were also shown around the warehouse, workshop, stock control, ‘Pre-delivery Inspection’ (PDI) zone and the trade support office to see how TGA operates its internal communication to service its dealers.
“Probably the most beneficial part of the day was seeing the new products and having the opportunity to meet the manufacturers.” Nigel Rosenfeld
Highlighting the importance of the PDI department for in terms of product reliability, the function is critical for quality control, with TGA confirming it completes a rigorous 32-point check of every scooter before dispatch. Visitors were able to discuss this robust procedure with staff and meet members from the TGA Powerpack department who deliver customised fittings for this UK-manufactured product.
Each section of the tour included a relevant presentation and discussion from management, service and quality control to give dealers a clearer understanding of the internal processes that all combine to achieve TGA’s commitment to diligent service and product quality.
For dealers, the day gave dealers insight into what happens further up the supply chain, giving more transparency, with many noting that it was useful to see the inner workings of TGA and its efforts to deliver a high level of service to the trade.
“The TGA Trade Open Day was excellent, everybody was treated well at the event and I don’t think there was anything that could have been improved,” commented Chris Ball, Service Manager at Active Mobility.
“We’ve been to lots of these events in the past and this one was the best yet.”
Exclusive product launches
Alongside a tour of the TGA premises, the mobility supplier also unveiled the official UK launch of the new Breeze S4 and Breeze Midi mobility scooters, with dealers sharing their thoughts on the new products.
Darren Macey, Business Development Manager of Lifestyle and Mobility, commented: “We enjoyed the opportunity to see behind the scenes at TGA, network with industry peers and witness the unveiling of the new TGA Breeze models. We believe the latest Breeze and Breeze Midi will be a success through their unique automotive looks.”
As well as unveiling the new Breeze S4 and Breeze Midi scooters, TGA highlighted to dealers why stocking its products gives them a significant commercial advantage and allowed dealers to understand more fully the personality behind the brand.
Marketing and PR
Supporting dealers to help build sales, the TGA marketing and PR department added value to the visit by giving away a range of free assets, including new professional photography, POS materials, branded merchandise and informative customer guides.
Part of this session involved a talk from Dom Walbanke, Marketing Coordinator at TGA Mobility and Jon Nock, Managing Director of iDIS Creative Marketing Partnership (working with TGA), about the opportunity for dealers to host safe scooter driving days.
TGA has hosted a number of joint safe driving days with mobility dealers in the past, including with Hereford-based TPG DisableAids, to help improve user safety. At the TGA Trade Open Day, Jon explained how these joint supplier and retailer scooter safety initiatives help to generate positive publicity by helping keep mobility scooter users safe and preventing potential accidents.
“TGA is quite a new account for us, so it was a chance for us to see what products they do and view the inner workings of the factory.” Dominic Goldsmith
He added that capitalising on mobility scooter safety amidst recent headlines about an increase in the number of mobility scooter accidents and fatalities strengthens dealers’ position in the mobility market as a leader in tackling these issues.
Dominic Goldsmith, Director of Style Mobility, said: “The marketing talk was great as the guys at TGA are really well informed, experienced and had some good ideas. We’re always looking at new ways of putting ourselves out there, so any advice or ideas we can get we soak up like a sponge.
“Dom and Jon mentioned joint mobility scooter training days for users, which is something we’d been discussing anyway, so we’re hopefully going to be getting involved with that. In local media in Great Yarmouth, there are a lot of businesses complaining about mobility scooters and the way they’re being used because we’re a coastal retirement town so there are a lot of scooters here. It would be good for the local area to see that we’re trying to improve the safety of scooter users.”
To expand on the point of scooter safety, Jon also mentioned that TGA is the only licensed supplier to use Nottingham Trent University’s ‘See and Scoot’ online mobility scooter safety video.
See and Scoot is filmed from a mobility scooter user’s perspective and highlights potential obstacles and hazards they might face while on their scooter, providing effective solutions to users for overcoming these difficulties.
“We’ve been to lots of these events in the past and this one was the best yet.” Chris Ball
Jon suggested that retailers could make use of this helpful training tool in their showrooms to show customers that they are passionate about scooter safety.
Guy Jenkinson, Joint Owner of MobilitySure, added: “Anita and I gained new marketing ideas and appreciate the free PR support TGA has to offer. By working with TGA, we know our duty of care to local customers is strengthened thorough dependable scooters and efficient trade back up – this event has underlined our belief and we thank the team for their warm hospitality.”
Meeting the manufacturer
The Trade Open Day was supported by senior representatives from TGA’s manufacturer Afikim, along with Autochair and Motability, providing members of the trade to have conversations with the makers of the machines.
Nigel Rosenfeld, Director of NBR Scooter Brokers, said: “The day was informative, and it was good to meet the people ‘behind the scenes’. Probably the most beneficial part of the day was seeing the new products and having the opportunity to meet the manufacturers.”
Adi Makov, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Afikim, highlighted the strong relationship the company has with TGA, stating that he refers to excellent relationships as “the TGA model” because of the UK supplier’s cooperative nature and willingness to improve products.
“The TGA Trade Open Day was well organised, thorough, informative and proved a worthwhile visit for us,” added Style Mobility’s Dominic.
“TGA is quite a new account for us, so it was a chance for us to see what products they do and view the inner workings of the factory.
“I’d like to say a big thank you to TGA for putting the event on and inviting us down, we really appreciate it. I’d also like to thank our TGA representative Ryan Curtis who has always been very helpful right from the start.”
With a noticeable buzz in the air and a relaxed environment where dealers had the opportunity to sit and chat, supported by a notably friendly, positive and enthusiastic TGA team, the inaugural open day proved to be a success.
Tim Ross, National Sales Manager for TGA Mobility, concluded: “I would like to thank all dealers who attended our Trade Open Day – their support is appreciated and we hope they found the day as rewarding as we did.
“We feel relationship and rapport building is key to win-win success hence our ASM’s always invest extensive time in physically meeting trade customers and engaging at events. Ultimately a better understanding throughout the supply chain results in an improved experience for end-users, which in turn cultivates positive PR and business growth.”
https://thiis.co.uk/more-about-tga-mobilitys-trade-open-day/https://thiis.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/TGA-Trade-Day-14.jpghttps://thiis.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/TGA-Trade-Day-14-150x150.jpgNewsroomRetailer NewsSupplier NewsSupplier SpotlightTrade FocusTrade NewsActive Mobility,Afikim,Autochair,Breeze S4,Dom Walbanke,Jon Nock,lifestyle and mobility,mobility dealers,mobility retailers,Mobility scooters,MobilitySure,Motability,Style Mobility,TGA Mobility,TGA Powerpack,TGA Trade Open Day,Trade RoadshowFor many suppliers in the mobility industry, their dealers are spread out all over the UK, making it difficult at times to have face-to-face conversations and harder still for dealers to see what happens ‘behind the scenes’. Building on the success of its Trade Roadshows earlier this year, TGA...Calvin BarnettCalvin Barnettcalvin.barnett@bhta.comAuthorTHIIS Magazine