The Locksmith Journal May-Jun 2015 - Issue 38 | Page 70

70 • autolocksmiths PROUD SPONSORS OF THIS PAGE Never a dull moment in the auto locksmith trade! »»There’s one thing that can be said for working in the auto locksmith trade –there is never a dull moment, says DEAN SANDERSON of 3D Group. You really can’t rest on your laurels in this industry, at the moment it is really forging ahead. Largely led by the technological advancements in security, it seems that if you blink, the next piece of programming equipment has been developed or the latest remote product has been released. This ever- increasing range of products that is available to this market means that price is key, and one thing that we do here at 3D Group is continuously aim to get the best possible price from our suppliers so that we can pass those saving on to you, our customers. 3D Group realises that there is a need to stay competitive as a wholesaler just as much as you need to when competing with other auto locksmiths within your service area. One area of 3D Group that we had recognised as needing improvement was our code retrieval service. It had been some time since we had researched the market and assessed how competitive we were on price and service. The text server and email methods were handy but we knew adding an online option would benefit many of our customers. Having identified the possible areas for improvement we began our research. We managed to negotiate with our suppliers for the best possible prices for the codes that we offer, leading to us bringing a new code supplier on board, thus allowing us to lower prices on selected codes, speed up response times and add more brands and models to those that we already offered. A new code section of the 3D Group website had already been developed in anticipation of the new website being launched later in the year, but we realised that this service could in fact be launched early as a separate section of the current website. We knew that having this service online and making it mobile friendly would make requesting codes quicker and easier for many of our customers, so the decision was made to put it into testing early and get it released months before initially planned. As a result our new code service is now online and active for you to use. Simply visit www.3dgroupuk.com/ codes and log in as usual. You can complete the online form within seconds (we know, we tested it with a stop watch and our best time was 17 seconds!) and submit your code request. You can even keep track of your previous requests online and see where they are in the process before receiving your code via your chosen response method, either e-mail or text. We have also added a handy and free part number look-up facility that will make selecting the correct product from our extensive stock range much easier. We launched this service on the 23 April and have already had great feedback about it which is encouraging as this is just a small part of the new website that is yet to come, so please don’t just take our word for it, give it a try yourself! “Nice job guys...as ever making our job a lot easier, a very professional company that personally I can’t fault!” Locks 2 You Ltd. The new 3D Group catalogues have been released but - as I mentioned earlier, this industry moves so fast that they are already out of date! We supply the printers with the artwork in a matter of days and when the artwork leaves us it is bang up to date with the latest products; however, in the time it takes to be printed, bound and shipped from China to the UK we have already had another couple of hundred new products added to our stock range! Unfortunately, until someone develops instant point to point travel this just has to be, but we think that the new catalogues look great. The little tweaks we have made to the design have paid off and they are now being distributed FREE with all of our customers’ next orders. We really do hope that you find them useful to have in your shop or van. Just remember that for our latest stock and prices you can always check our website too. Visit 3dgroupuk.com/codes or if you have any questions or comments please call 3D Group on 0115 941 5333. locksmithjournal.co.uk | MAY/JUN 2015 Sponsored by ASSA ABLOY