Europlacer virtual interactive demonstrations successful

Staff at the pick & place specialist know that a demonstration is important when companies are conducting evaluations of capital equipment. Coronavirus restrictions initially limited the team’s ability to organise demonstrations on-site in the company’s purpose-built demo room. So they came up with an alternative solution.

Driving the project at Europlacer’s UK headquarters in Poole, Dorset, is Regional Sales Manager Elliot Loven. Loven took on the initiative to find a way to deliver fully interactive demonstrations, conducted over the internet, which would match the experience existing customers and prospective customers enjoy face to face.

“We adapted our approach to deploy real-time streaming video technology and bring the customers into our demonstration room virtually,” said Loven. “The challenge was to retain a seamless customer experience as we switched between camera views and presenters. A few rehearsals helped us perfect this whilst responding effectively to questions and directions from the customer participants.”

The Europlacer demo room at Poole now resembles a broadcast studio, comprising a combination of high-end cameras, wireless audio systems, OBS software and conference equipment. It allows the Europlacer sales & support team to respond to the customer’s exact requirements, answer questions, share presentation resources and provide fully-personalised demonstrations of the machines complete with close-up action views.

Loven and his Europlacer Pre-Sales Support colleague, Daniel Ryland, recently performed the first of the live demonstrations to the total satisfaction of all involved.

“The outcome was excellent with the demonstration attended by several participants from the client’s organisation, some of whom were based at the company’s factory with others working from their home offices,” Loven explained. “We always like to invite a wide representation of people from across departments in our customers’ businesses to our conventional demonstrations. In fact, this new interactive online initiative has made that much easier to achieve.”

Europlacer does not expect its online demonstrations to replace conventional face-to-face initiatives where customers can get their own hands on the equipment being evaluated. To that end, the company can now run live demonstrations with appropriate PPE and compliant distancing procedures already in place.

“However, with our streaming media system functioning so well, we expect our interactive online demonstrations to remain an option for customers in the future. It gives them the flexibility to choose what suits them best – and that’s vital while travel and gatherings remain areas of uncertainty.”