Visitors to William Smith’s recent Open for Business event have stamped their seal of approval on the event.

“It was a really useful day and William Smith’s staff were very friendly and approachable. I enjoyed the hands-on demonstrations and talking to people who are already using the products,” comments Redblu Graphics & Displays’ Rob Nelson.

In total William Smith welcomed 85 visitors from 47 businesses from across the country to its Barnard Castle site, where they had the opportunity to see and try out products and equipment first-hand and to talk to supplier representatives as well as William Smith’s own team.

Products on show included new materials from 3M, Ritrama, Arlon and Contra Vision, and live demonstrations were run throughout the day of the RollsRoller applicator, printers - including the HP Designjet Latex printer, cutters and laminators. Vehicle wrapping film demonstrations by 3M authorised trainer, Andrew Gamble, in William Smith’s specialist vehicle wrap demo room were popular and provided plenty of hands-on opportunities for visitors to have a go of the latest films available.

Tours of the company’s newly refurbished facilities, interactive demonstrations, and seminars and tips on Selling in Lean Times presented by experienced business coach, trainer, event speaker and author Jackie Wade, completed the offering.

“William Smith’s staff and the supplier representatives present on the day were all very knowledgeable and upbeat and I was able to get new ideas for new business sales,” adds Jim Allan of McRobb Display.

Whether it was new machines, new ideas, tips and hints or new ways of working they were seeking, visitors have reported successful outcomes from the event.

“We found the day extremely helpful and informative, and it was good to have a close look at the RollsRoller and HP Latex printer. I brought my Production Manager along specifically so that we could look at and get hands-on experience of these machines, and as a result we have bought both. We are very excited about the new opportunities this will bring in terms of offering our customers a more environmentally friendly service and reduced lead-times as well as increased efficiencies within the production centre,” explains Dave Nurse of Signs Express Leeds. “The people who manned the product stands were also extremely helpful as were the seminars.”

“We came specifically to have a look at the overall layout of William Smith’s operation so that our staff could see how William Smith works and get an idea of how we could replicate that in our own business. William Smith is a well established and very successful business, their staff are all very well educated about their products and services, and we wanted to learn from them in order to improve the success of our own company,” explains David Stewart of Redblu Graphics & Displays. “We also wanted to better understand how to promote ‘solutions’ as opposed to ‘price’ and feel that the open day helped us to achieve our aims.”

Summing up the event, William Smith’s marketing manager Chris Bradley says, “It was great to welcome so many of our customers to our own site, and we’re delighted to have received such positive feedback. The main aim of the event was to help our customers find new ways of working and developing their businesses, and it’s particularly gratifying to learn that so many of them went away inspired by what they had seen, heard and experienced throughout the day.”

Throughout the year William Smith has also been running a series of roadshows, bringing their knowledge, expertise and products to venues ‘closer to home’ for their customers. The most recent was held at 3M’s UK Head Office at Bracknell, where customer feedback was equally favourable.

It was the first William Smith roadshow that Stuart McKerman of Sign-Sell had attended: “I found the whole presentation very good. Staff were helpful, knowledgeable and plentiful. It was a very pleasant few hours, being with people who knew what they were talking about and enjoying the Northern friendliness. We use William Smith regularly, so I wanted to get an up-date on new products. The explanations of products and their applications and limitations were very good. As well as some samples, I came away with a number of ideas that I can sell on to my own customers.”