Promoting gateguard® and ritron face to face
I recently had the pleasure of traveling to the Chicago area with our National Sales Manager, Dennis Sieracki. Since we have been promoting our access control products this month, it made perfect sense to attend the Southwest Automated Security Hogtoberfest event with a dozen or so of their key suppliers. We set up a table and promoted our products to their customers (industrial and residential gate, security, and fence installers) while everyone enjoyed the food and the camaraderie.
Key Takeaways
Relationship building in business is alive and well.
In the digital world that currently seems so prevalent, it was refreshing to see and participate in real human interactions. I met with and connected to people behind the company name and LinkedIn profile, answered questions, and listened to real problems they experienced in the field. I witnessed cooperation, active listening, empathy, laughter, and even eye contact!
Ritron is a known and trusted brand.
I found most attendees knew about Ritron, but were surprised to learn about the GateGuard product. This product is unique because it combines voice with gate control. Simply pushing a pre-programmed button on the portable radio or base station activates the relay which is hard wired to the gate control. And voila! The gate opens. I heard good things about Ritron, including the reliability and build quality of our call boxes. Further education on additional products and specific applications where they add unique value is still needed.
Getting the word out face to face is vitally important to the brand.
There is plenty of room for more Ritron brand awareness beyond our digital strategy. That’s why we’ve always been strong advocates and participants in trade shows, vendor events, and visiting our resellers when we’re out on the road. In fact, while Dennis and I were in the Chicago area, we made appointments and had informal meetings with Chuck at Illinois Communications Sales, Mike and Vince at ACS, Inc., Jill at Talley, and with Rich at Onsite Communications. Each of these meetings simply focused on relationship building and confirmation that we were top of mind for continued sales opportunities.
Learn from your customers.
Sure, there is value in electronic surveys and the like, but actually listening to customers relate problems to you one-on-one is invaluable market and product research. For example, we learned by listening - and by asking pointed questions - that there is call for more attention to the upscale residential market for automated gate control. Another focus we’re all aware of is school safety. Some were involved in longer term projects to upgrade legacy communications systems across entire school districts.
How Ritron is reaching vital target audiences to expand the innovative use of our radio products
Specialty vendor events, along with more traditional industry trade shows will continue to be part of our overall go-to-market strategy. We’re exhibiting at the Federal Small Business Conference #SAMESBC18, which connects small businesses directly with federal government procurement decision makers. We’ll be showcasing our products specific to the construction industry in New Orleans October 31 - November 2. Using face to face communication to broaden our reach and penetrate additional layers of the marketplace will continue to strengthen our brand.
Have you heard of Ritron? Why, yes - I have!
Marty Bird
Marketing Communications Manager
email: mbird@ritron.com
Related Topics: Radio and Wireless Solutions for Hospitals, Two Way Radios, Transmitters, Wireless Technology Solutions, Call Boxes, Radio Base Stations, Access Control
