By Andrew Barrow
Hello again
I’ve been in the sales hot seat at Evoca UK for a while now, so when I was asked recently ‘what makes Evoca different from any other manufacturer?’, I didn’t have to think about it too hard. In fact, all I had to do was to recall the umpteen conversations I’ve had with customers in which they have told me what, in their eyes, makes us different; makes us stand out from the crowd.
From my point of view, these are the factors that a customer considers prior to making a purchase: They want to know how reliable the machine on offer is. They want every drink it delivers to be perfectly executed. They want to know how easy – or otherwise – it is to keep the machine in fully-productive, tip-top working order and equally importantly, they want to know how the day-to-day relationship between the supplier and the buyer will impact their business.
Let me kick off with the latter. The first thing I’d like to say is that each of our teams, in Account Management, Customers Services, Technical Support and Field Service are, by design, completely customer focussed. There’s no internal ‘us and them’, we’re all committed to making your experience of working with Evoca both profitable and pleasurable.
Behind the scenes, as it were, our focus is firmly on bringing to market machines that make a real impact, both for the operator and the end user. Our R&D team over at HO in Italy are literally working round the clock to monitor and to respond to consumer trends by developing equipment that can maximise the potential of those incoming opportunities.
One thing’s for sure: people entering the workforce these days have very different expectations to the generations that went before them!
We’re also acutely aware that Out Of Home locations that serve coffee – in addition to independents or High-Street coffee shop chains – are on the increase. At the car showroom, the hairdressers, the nail salon – you name it – the first question you’re often asked is ‘can I get you a coffee?’. Our purpose is to ensure that the coffee experience in these OOH locations is as good as it is in a high street brand coffee shop.
And needless to say, our traditional machines by Gaggia Professional continue to be the benchmark in cafes and coffee shops.
As markets evolve and tastes change, our equipment has responded to these trends. Whether it’s a snack machine or a coffee machine – fresh milk or powdered, small footprint or large capacity, Gaggia and Necta machines are designed to focus on what’s important to operators and end users alike.
The fact that the Evoca range encompasses both free standing and tabletop hot drinks machines, complemented by impulse machines – all under one roof – is a bonus for our customers.
Last but not least, our introduction of an in-house service team has given all our customers the opportunity to increase the number of installations they can complete, as well as have machine maintenance and servicing carried out by the manufacturer’s own team. It doesn’t get any better than that, does it?
All things considered, I reckon that’s not a bad response to the ‘what makes Evoca stand out?’ question…
And finally…
In April, (when I’m not working, of course), I will mostly be knee-deep in the British Super Bikes competition, as the World’s Greatest Sporting Event begins its tour of England’s legendary racetracks. It’s all the proof I need that Spring has definitely sprung! What are you up to?
Until next time…
For more from and about Andrew Barrow read here
