Last year, Buderus launched into the UK. One year on and Paul Braithwaite visited the new dedicated training unit in Worcester to see the boilers working and to find out from Richard Evans, director of sales, what the company has been doing in its first year and why this investment will drive it forward for the next.
ONE year on from the launch in the UK of the commercial and industrial arm of Bosch Thermotechnology Ltd. - previously the business was conducted through an agent - and Richard Evans, Buderus director of sales, is pleased with the progress.

Take, for instance, its new training unit in Blackpole, Worcester. Evans hinted he would have liked to have had the training centres up and running earlier but 'they are worth waiting for'.

He says the difference between this, the first dedicated Buderus commercial and industrial training unit, and others in the commercial and industrial arena is that installers can work on commercial appliances and in the case of the GB162 cascade system, build it from scratch, connect it up to the flow and return and set up all the controls.
But there is another element to the massive investment in training centres.

A good selection of the company's boilers are on display - and, more to the point, working!
So investors and consultants can go to the centres to see the boilers operating.
For Evans and his team this is a bonus. Already there has been a steady stream of consultants and investors - such as local authorities and housing associations - through the doors.

This is where the strength of the Bosch brand helps.
It will take time to build the Buderus brand but it would have taken much longer if Evans had had to build the brand without the help of a major parent company, especially one with the quality image of Bosch, and the strength in the domestic heating sector of the Worcester brand.

Would it have not been easier to have branded the Buderus boiler with the Bosch name for the UK?
'We have given ourselves a harder job but throughout Europe, Buderus is known as the premium heating company. It has been producing boilers since 1895. This heritage is something money can't buy. It was a difficult decision but the correct one.'
He adds: 'The products have genuine benefits for installers, maintenance engineers, and end users.'

And, certainly for the first year, the work of putting the brand into the marketplace has gone well with trade press advertising, roadshows, and exhibitions.
And, courtesy of Bosch Thermotechnology, the support services are in place.

'There are more than 300 service engineers working for Bosch Thermotechnology and a number of these have already been trained on Buderus commercial boilers. In addition, the infrastructure to administer the business such as a contact centre for booking service calls, a 10,500m2 warehouse and a professional logistics organisation which can send spare parts to customers when they need it, is in place.'

Evans adds that the technical contact centre is open five days a week to 8pm and until 4pm on Saturdays. A service call can be booked seven days a week.
'These factors are what differentiate the brand from others in the commercial market.'
Evans says the company spent time talking to contractors and consultants before the launch and asked them what they needed.

'Most of the answers were similar. They said often a sales agent sold the boiler and when it was in place an engineer from a different company turned up to fit the controls and the engineer who turned up to commission it was from another company entirely.

If anything were wrong, there was the classic battle of who fixes it.'
With Buderus, the salesman sells the boilers, the burners and controls, and the entire commissioning is done by Buderus, which gives a single point of contact for the customer ensuring a quick resolution of any issues, states Evans.

Another issue which arose was getting a sales engineer out to site.
'Everyone seemed happy to sell a boiler but very few companies wanted to send an engineer to site to look at the job and come up with the best solution.'
Evans says that when these core issues were identified and, through the investment that Bosch Thermotechnology has made, Buderus is addressing these problems.

This strategy has paid off, he adds. Some of the consultants and developers who bought boilers when the company was first launched in the UK are now on their fifth and sixth project with Buderus, says Evans proudly.

Further, he firmly believes, the personal contact which Buderus staff have built up with their counterparts in these businesses has helped too.

'A lot of industry work is quoted without the manufacturer having a full understanding of the complete requirements of the system and it is not surprising that when it goes to be installed, something is wrong. Usually it is the contractor that picks up the tab for the extra piece of equipment which was buried somewhere in the paperwork and was missed.'

Evans admits it has been hard, but rewarding work because as well as putting the company brands into the marketplace, there has also been the behind-the-scenes work, such as the training centres.

'Only now will the company start to see the fruits of this investment.'
And this is, Evans expects, on top of the enormous growth which has already taken place.
For instance, in January 2008 the company did three times the number of quotations it did in January 2007.
'Every quote goes out with an hydraulics proposal. Everyone knows this is different. However at first this meant its quotes were slower than others. But now Buderus is hitting its self-imposed time frame of within two days.
'From what we hear from our customers, no one else is attempting to do this.'

Sometimes it is as simple as asking questions, he says.
It is, he adds, a case of building a picture of what is wanted so the quote is right, first time.
Evans admits that it has not all been plain sailing.

He wants Buderus to be the market leader but he knows it will take time and effort.
'The commercial boiler market is conservative. Buyers are nervous of new brands - even those with an international heritage - and it is up to us to prove ourselves. Once this is done then customers will keep coming back - if we get all our services right.'
But he adds that Buderus has to deliver something which is better than the competition.

'Site visits, planning assistance and now an extensive choice of training options all play a large part in building an attractive offer for the customer. Our quotes are competitive but, overall, we want to persuade customers that we are the right company to deal with.'

And this means more of the same. Evans says that already contractors who have been dealing with the company since it began are phoning and quoting Buderus control and boiler references so already they are beginning to associate their business with our business.
'It makes me feel proud. Basically, Buderus wants to be more to its customers than just a company which sells them a boiler.'

Already, he adds, some 80% of the work is from repeat business.
Evans is sanguine, ready for the next phase.
He knows the 'Discover Buderus' strategy of the trade press ads has worked but this is only the beginning and more installers and consultants need to hear the message.
So it is more of the same with more advertising, more exhibitions and more training centre visitors. So the sales team will be expanded to eight people this year with 12 engineers on the road by the end of this year, plus extra technical support.

'If your strategy for expansion is to be in the marketplace talking to consultants and installers, then that is where our salesmen and engineers need to be.'