{"id":65280,"date":"2023-03-21T09:15:09","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T09:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ep-equipment.com\/?p=65280"},"modified":"2024-02-02T09:45:37","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T09:45:37","slug":"ep-experiences-dealer-of-ep-share-their-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ep-equipment.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/21\/ep-experiences-dealer-of-ep-share-their-story\/","title":{"rendered":"EP EXPERIENCES \u2013 EP Dealers share their story"},"content":{"rendered":"
At EP Equipment we have a global dealership network. We know that the key to grow is support our dealers and get their feedback. Recently our Community Manager, Giulia, has been speaking with our dealers from Europe to see how their journey with EP is going.<\/p>\n
Totaallift is a family company started 75 years old by the grandfather of Tom and Esther, shortly after the war with big digging machines and excavators. \u201cWe met EP at a colleague dealer event, and EP German Sales Manager, Julian Buter was working there. We had a customer asking for an electric pallet truck, so Julian advised us the EP Electric Pallet truck with a Lithium-ion battery would be what we needed. We didn\u2019t know anything about EP or their products, but we delivered that electric pallet truck after some internal research. After that the customer was very happy and started telling everyone about it and saying that they could buy it from Totaallift!
\nInitially we didn\u2019t have the idea of becoming EP dealers but we started looking at the brand and for Tom, one of the owners of the company, it looked perfect because EP has very good pallet trucks and forklifts with a very competitive price and zero maintenance. This was interesting also because at that moment in time we were doing high levels of maintenance on forklifts and the mechanics.<\/p>\n
So, we tested the machines with some customers and at the beginning no one was believing this could be a good product because the price was so competitive that it wasn\u2019t possible! All the customers were telling us that they were sceptical. We tried it and the dealers and customers were very happy with it, the machines were incredible. And so, we started to buy from EP and also began to import the trucks. A very important thing with EP is that they have a dealer network in Europe, also the support, parts in Europe so we mainly communicate just with European people which is great for our team.<\/p>\n
The second hand machine market is very difficult for people to navigate because the prices are very high for second hand machines. The higher the price of secondhand machines the better it is for EP and you can get a brand new machine at a great price point. Also very important is that people want to drive electric, above 4t you can\u2019t drive with an IC engine indoors, so you must get electric, it\u2019s a law from the NL government so there are a lot of inquiries for electric machines. People are investing and looking for electric forklifts, so that\u2019s a good thing for EP and for us here at Totaalift. There are people that use forklifts for 2\/3 hours a day and just want an electric forklift with no maintenance so also in this case EP is the best option for them.<\/p>\n
My favourite product from EP is EFL353<\/a> Forklift with 3500 KG capacity, Lithium-ion. I like it for its good performance and compactness.<\/p>\n Now we are four years EP dealers for the east part of the Netherlands. At first, we bought from EP Belgium and now in the last two years we started buying full containers straight from China and we import EP in the east of Netherlands and we only sell to the end customer.<\/p>\n We are happy with the good simple products, with the great range of machines at good price. The team of EP is very good.\u201d<\/p>\n Tell us about Cedecar…<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe company Cedecar is a company that exists from more than 30 years in the forklifts market. Cedecar mainly does rental, sale, and repair of forklifts. Forklifts rental is our main source of business. The company has 17 employees of technical service, sales, and administration. We have a quite modern installation, and we are in the zone east of Madrid, close to the airport.<\/p>\n I can say the work that EP’s Spanish sales manager, Colin Ballard, has done here until now is spectacular I am very grateful, and I have a fantastic relationship with him. Also, with Sales Assistant Smiley we have a very good communication. People always say things can be done better but for me the truth is that the product surprised us very much since the beginning and keeps on surprising us because everything we bought from EP is giving us very good results. And we didn\u2019t expect that. This great experience pushed us to buy machines directly from China in containers.<\/p>\n The market is difficult and complicated, in Spain also there is much competition and there are many manufacturers. The EP products have a big future and are incredible. Right now, in the market, at least in Spain for what I know, EP is in a moment where it is very difficult for other brands to compete with. EP has a good product and a way of working that for us is very good, very satisfying.<\/p>\n We have an EP Care account; it is very helpful in the after sales. We also ordered spare parts in your DC in Belgium and the experience was very satisfying. We hope it continues going this way in the future. I am very motivated with the product, and I hope that step by step we can do more things together. Our customers are very exigent so when we add a new product to our range, we try it ourselves first. It may seem strange what I am going to say but I lowered my point of view and say I think that is not important how much improve but that you don\u2019t get worse. What I mean is you are doing very well, and you need to continue this way, it doesn\u2019t have to be different in the future because you are on a very good path.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCC Heftrucks belonged to TVH group.\u00a0 My father and Paul Thermote started TVH company in 1969 and after my father died, I sold my shares to my brother, and he is running the company now. The company was growing and growing and twenty years ago they bought the company CC Heftrucks. CC Heftrucks was a small Yale distributor for a region in Belgium. I joined the company here 15 years ago, and here we do mainly secondhand forklifts, we also rent forklifts but mostly we sell second hand forklifts and last year we sold 500 units. So, half stays in Belgium and the other half goes abroad in France, Germany, Spain and Italy. TVH has been working since long time already with EP. At first, I was not so enthusiastic, but I was forced to work with EP because of TVH. We are working with EP for one year now and we are satisfied about the relationship we have. I am really happy with EP and the machines because in the beginning I was afraid about the Chinese quality, my father imported 30 years ago Chinese machines and we had a very bad experience with that, but with EP it goes very well.<\/p>\n The market in Belgium is difficult for the moment because prices are rising, and the delivery times are quite long. With EP you are able to deliver in very short time and at a very good price, so this is great and helps you stay competitive, congratulations! The market is very competitive, every competitor is present in this small country. Belgium is very small, and all importers work in the same area, in the Flanders in Belgium. Before there were a lot of industries, coal and metal industry but they all went in bankrupt in the 80s.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re from Antwerp and we’re a family business that has been existing since 1941, so 82 years. We sell forklifts but we also do rental and technical service. We also buy and sell secondhand machines of course.<\/p>\n I first heard about EP on Internet; my role consists in taking the existing organisation and modernise it a little bit and improve everything that we can, this also involves our product range. I’m constantly looking for new products to update our range. Then the first contact with EP was one year and a half ago. There was this fair in Antwerp, the logistics fair, which takes place every two years, and I was in contact with Mike. Because I asked something about a product, he contacted me, and we invited him to visit us and things started rolling. There’s a lot of older guys in the company here, so they’re always a little bit more conservative. So, at first, I had to convince them by only adopting the smaller range of the products. We\u2019ve been selling the warehouse equipment since beginning of 2022. I started working on their minds a little bit and then since last summer, so only like less than a year ago we started selling the forklifts, the bigger trucks as well. During my onboarding with EP I did everything digitally. If I needed anything I would just go, look on the website and I would just watch videos. I watch all the videos online just try to stay updated on everything that happens through the online trainings; then the older guys, whenever they need to know something, they just ask me.<\/p>\n I don’t really have any bad feedback; I think only positive. I think compared to our other brand, EP is a lot more modern in every aspect of the enterprise. Website is very easy to use, even for people, older people that are not very tech savvy. Community building is alright through LinkedIn, especially in this business, because, I mean, community building in this old school business doesn’t happen a lot. Order process is good, I mean, I don’t really have bad feedback to be honest. That’s good, only positive that’s very good.<\/p>\nLUIS ARANDA \u2013 CEDECAR SL<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>
\nC. Invierno, 19<\/strong>
\n28850 Torrej\u00f3n de Ardoz <\/strong>
\nMadrid, Spain<\/strong><\/h5>\n\u00a0
How have you found your experience with EP so far?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
What is the Spanish material handling market like?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
How do you find the services and support from EP? <\/strong><\/h4>\n
PATRICE VANHALST \u2013 MANAGER AT CC HEFTRUCKS<\/a>
\nKwalestraat 65 a
\n9320 Aalst
\nBelgium<\/strong><\/h5>\nTell me about CC Heftrucks and your journey with EP…<\/strong><\/h4>\n
<\/p>\n
What is the status of the material handling market in Belgium? <\/strong><\/h4>\n
NICOLAS BAERT \u2013 COMMERCIAL MANAGER DE RONDE & DRUBBEL NV<\/a>
\nMerksemsestraat 25
\n2060 Antwerpen
\nBelgium<\/strong><\/h5>\nWhat is the story of DE RONDE & DRUBBEL and EP?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
<\/p>\n
What was your onboarding experience with EP?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Any feedback for our team?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
What is your favourite EP Product?<\/strong><\/h4>\n