Despite challenging economic conditions and in the face of fierce competition, Shimadzu UK has achieved sales order growth of 30% in the last two years.
This growth has been achieved across many products in the formidable Shimadzu range including GC, GCMS, LC, LCMS, Spectroscopy, TOC and Material Testing Solutions.
A long-established company, Shimadzu is a global presence in mass spectrometry, chromatography, atomic spectroscopy and thermal analysis, and is known for its high quality engineering and robust, technically advanced scientific instrumentation.
Darin Enefer, Shimadzu UK’s Sales & Marketing Director, believes that the company is now really making its mark in the highly competitive UK market. “We have a committed and extremely knowledgeable team of people in Shimadzu UK who ensure that our customers get the highest levels of support and continuity of service, as well as state-of-the-art analytical solutions. Our reputation is growing in the best possible way, through having satisfied customers who pass on that confidence to others.”
Having undertaken a survey of laboratory personnel and those in purchasing roles, Shimadzu UK identified three areas of opportunity on which to build, and which Darin Enefer believes are proving crucial to the company’s current success. “It seemed that a gap existed in the market for a scientific instrumentation provider to do three things: Listen; Provide insight; Focus on relationships,” he said.
“In our view taking the time to listen and fully understand what a customer wants is absolutely essential. We recruit and retain people who are both scientifically competent and possess the interpersonal skills needed to build lasting, trust-based relationships’’.
“When it comes to ‘providing insight’, we focus intensively on becoming a ‘technical ally’ for the customer, co-creating solutions that really help them towards more effective ways to implement method development and obtain the most accurate and definitive analysis. Many companies in tough economic times cut back on staff. We did the opposite and have in fact recruited more and more technical specialists who work with the customer, helping them achieve their objectives. I believe it is more risky to cut back than invest. We decided to invest because we knew that once the customer tried the Shimadzu solution, they would be wowed by its accuracy, design, robustness and reliability. Knowing this gave us the confidence to invest in more people.”
“Many customers today rely on us as the ‘provider of choice’, supporting their professional reputation through delivering results that they can absolutely depend on.”
“And finally, our ‘Focus on the relationship,” means that we don’t stop at the sale, but always look to the longer term, working as a team with our customers and supporting them in mapping their short, medium and long term requirements. Our team approach means that customers often build relationships with sales, service, management and operational staff, all of whom are UK based and readily available. An ‘implementation manager’ assigned to every installation makes sure the customer is fully informed so that the installation itself is successful, training is delivered effectively and the user can quickly apply the solution they have bought to maximise the return on their investment.”
The rapidly growing customer base is testament to Shimadzu UK’s commitment to delivering class leading support in all areas. Summing up, Darin Enefer said, “We are proud of our company, our people and most importantly how we work. It’s about principles and pride and making sure we deliver on our promises.”
‘’Many customers have commented that they are pleased they took the time to take a look at what we had to offer when making their decisions on which equipment to buy and which company to choose, and more and more of them are choosing us’’.
‘’We are absolutely a sales organisation achieving its sales objectives but we do it by helping customers exceed theirs. I have been in business for over 25 years and believe that you cannot go too far wrong if you simply try and help the customer!’’