HIANZ talk to Elevated Access about the massive success of the Sinoboom brand in New Zealand
Elevated Access New Zealand Ltd is the largest independent supplier of access equipment in New Zealand.
In addition to supplying both new and used access equipment, Elevated Access also assists hire companies with offshore machine disposals.
Sole distributorship rights for Sinoboom access equipment in NZ have been held by Elevated Access since 2015. However, thanks to the machines’ durable build quality and reliability, the Sinoboom brand has enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity over the last couple of years.
National Sales Manager Terry Tibbitts spoke with us about the success of the Sinoboom brand in NZ.
“Prior to signing an exclusive distributor agreement with Sinoboom we were selling a large amount of machines for another well-known brand… in fact, more than any other reseller in Australasia.
The challenge we had was that we weren’t the only ones in New Zealand selling the same brand, to the same customers. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to predict a race to the bottom with this business model, which is exactly what began to happen.
I’d already been supplying Sinoboom machines in relatively small numbers to construction, small hire companies and end users for about eight years.
During this time I got a phone call from a customer asking for urgent help with his Sinoboom, which had just broken down. As always, we sprang into action to get the machine going, and discovered that the Sinoboom which had just broken down for the very first time was actually eight years old.
The customer loved the machine and said it had never missed a beat until that day.
After organising someone to pop out and get the 8 year old Sinoboom back in action again, I picked up the phone and called a couple of other companies I knew had purchased Sinoboom EWPs at around the same time. The response was the same: the machines were all going great with no issues whatsoever.
These reports of Sinoboom’s impressive reliability gave us the confidence to try a bit of an experiment. We wanted to see if the Sinoboom brand could go head-to-head with the best known brands here and really hold their own against the big boys.
Just six weeks later Elevated Access had new stock of Sinoboom’s 6-metre platform scissor lifts.
Our plan for these machines wasn’t to go out and try and sell them. We wanted to try something completely different: we wanted to get real feedback from actual buyers following their own genuine, unbiased brand comparison.
When a potential customer was interested in purchasing a scissor lift, we explained to them that we had two brands available in the size they needed. One was a well-known and respected brand, and the other was a Chinese brand which they may never have heard of.
We explained that we’d send both machines to their site for them to try. If they decided to go ahead with the purchase all they needed to do was tell us which one they wanted us to take back.
We were very careful not to offer any kind of bias over one machine or the other, because we didn’t want to influence the customers’ decision. Selling either machine was fine by us – what we wanted was their feedback!
It quickly became apparent that there were a lot of things which customers preferred about the Sinoboom machines.
Incredibly, over 90 percent of the time, the customer chose to keep the Sinoboom.
This gave us the confidence to give Sinoboom the push it needed to succeed in New Zealand.
Today, Sinoboom machines are regarded as some of the best in the world and sales of Sinoboom access equipment in New Zealand and globally have skyrocketed.
Chinese manufactured equipment is now the norm. Some of the very best modern technology is manufactured in China: reliable, beautifully-made products like iPhones.
It’s taken some time to address people’s misconceptions about what ‘made in China’ means in terms of product quality. Fortunately, challenging that stereotype has been made far easier by the fact it’s immediately apparent to any buyer that Sinoboom machines are built to meet a standard, not a budget.
The following anecdote is a great illustration of one man’s pre-conceptions about Chinese products, which still makes me smile…
About 3 years ago, I got a phone call from a really nice guy called Bill, who was looking to buy a scissor lift. He came across as your typical, no-nonsense, number-8-wire farmer type of guy. He was a little grumpy and rather direct, but I warmed to him immediately.
I told him that I felt a Sinoboom electric slab scissor was an ideal machine for cleaning his chicken sheds, as it was affordable and could handle plenty of dirt and dust.
“Sinoboom!?” he exclaimed in horror. “Never heard of them! Where’re they made? Made in China I bet. Probably bloody rubbish! Everything I’ve ever had that’s been made in China’s been rubbish.”
I knew I wasn’t going to be able to change a lifetime’s mindset in 30 seconds, so rather than try, I asked him where he needed the machine, and told him I’d get one delivered to him so he could have closer look and try it out for himself.
A couple of days later I get a phone call…
“Terry are you sure these are made in China? I don’t think they are mate.”
“Yep, some of the components might come from the USA but they’re definitely made in China.”
“Hmm, I’m not sure they make these in China, Terry, it’s pretty impressive. It doesn’t look like it’s made in China. I think you’re wrong.”
To be honest, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
I’d started off needing to convince the buyer that just because Sinobooms are made in China, it didn’t mean that they were rubbish.
Once he’d seen for himself just how good the Sinoboom machine is, I found myself having to persuade him that it really was made in China!
Bill’s still using his Chinese-made Sinoboom to clean his chicken sheds, and we’re still using his comments in some of our brochures and marketing materials:
“So impressive, you won’t believe they’re made in China.””
For more information, contact Terry on 0800 222 111 or visit www.elevatedaccess.co.nz
The Chinese Brand Shaking Up NZ’s EWP Market
The World’s Largest Knuckle Boom…
Sinoboom have created the worlds largest articulated boom lift it was unveiled at the Apex Asia 2019 show in Shanghai on October 23, the sheer size, and build quality of this machine is breath-taking.
With a maximum working height of 48m and a horizontal out reach of 25.5m, combine this with the machines ability to lift 450kg it really is something special and the demand from the shipping industry and the construction industry is going to be significant.
This Boom Lift is a true world record beater, it also features a user-friendly interface making the machine simple and easy to use, when you’re up that high things need to be simple! Simple = Safe.
The system is fitted with an intelligent control and self-diagnosis system which is well ahead of its time.
Sinobooms reliability and quality have put their electric scissor lifts on the map world-wide, this machine shows that Sinoboom are VERY serious about creating excellent products in ALL areas of the access equipment industry.
The unveiling of this gentle giant was witnessed by leading figures from the Chinese access and construction industries, including the president of China construction machinery Association Qi Jun.
Elevated Access New Zealand were honoured to see this machine during its build, we now look forward to seeing it in action!
EWP specialist Elevated Access NZ Ltd is proud to have signed an exclusive agreement to distribute Sinoboom products in New Zealand.
Elevated Access NZ initially stocked Sinoboom scissor lifts in 2014, but it had proved difficult to get substantial numbers of the machines into New Zealand. However, over the years no other brand was able to match the quality of the Sinobooms.
“Customer feedback on how well the products are performing over time, with years of trouble-free use, made it clear that the time was right to formally bring the brand back into New Zealand and to forge an alliance between Elevated Access NZ and Sinoboom,” says Terry Tibbitts, National Sales Manager for Elevated Access.
Already New Zealand’s biggest distributor of Skyjacks, this partnership is a strategic move that will allow Elevated Access to offer huge benefits to local hire companies looking to add robust, reliable and affordable machines to their fleet.
“We are very excited about this new opportunity with Sinoboom as it will enable us to offer hire companies solid, reliable scissor lifts at an affordable price. Being able to expand their fleets gives the added bonus of helping our clients avoid the need to cross hire from a local competitor. This can often result in invoicing issues for hire companies, as well as the potential risk of losing their customer to a competitor,” explains Tibbitts.
The Sinoboom line benefits from years of development and design investment, all backed up by the support of Elevated Access NZ’s expert team on the ground in New Zealand. The Sinoboom range is constructed in China in a world-class facility that employs over 500 people, applying the highest standards of quality control, with work undertaken by experienced craftsmen and women.
“Many brands build to a price, rather than to a standard,” says Karen Williams, Director of Elevated Access NZ. “With Sinoboom, it’s clear that their priority is excellence. Over the years, they have not only listened to our feedback but have actually changed their products in accordance with our suggestions. This commitment to continuous improvement has resulted in machines which are surpassing all our expectations.”
This has been borne out by the remarkable performance of Sinoboom EWP’s in the tough conditions of New Zealand’s climate, and the demanding requirements of hire companies.
“We have seen first-hand how well Sinoboom machines last, and their exceptional performance over the years,” says Terry Tibbitts. “Whereas clients might once have favoured products built elsewhere, the quality of these Chinese-made Sinobooms is undeniable.
“When Sinobooms were first introduced to New Zealand they were the first Chinese brand into the local market, but now the majority of access equipment brands manufacture and build the bulk of their machines in China, which means that Chinese made machines are now the norm rather than the exception. Of course, not all Chinese-made machines are created equal. Our customer feedback speaks for itself and we know that the Sinoboom brand is one of the best in the world.
“When we unpacked the very first shipment of the new machines, we were absolutely blown away with the improvements which have been made. The paintwork on them is beautiful. You can see that giving them three coats with the new Beckers paint makes a huge difference, which means that the machines are going to stay looking nicer for longer – which is of real importance to our hire company customers.
The welds are top notch, and the whole look and feel of the machines is just excellent.”
In fact, so impressive is Sinoboom’s excellent reputation for manufacturing that they have recently been manufacturing access equipment under licence for one of the world’s largest and most respected construction equipment brands.
The official partnership with Sinoboom is a strategic decision that will play a role in the continued growth of Elevated Access NZ, which is one of New Zealand’s leading EWP suppliers.
“Putting more of our energy and focus into the sales and distribution of Sinoboom products is going to have obvious benefits to our clients, as a cheaper, more reliable machine results in higher profit for our customers, but it’s also a very important business decision for our company,” says Terry Tibbitts. “Sinoboom scissor lifts now pose a huge threat to other scissor lift brands out there and we’d rather be supplying them, than trying to sell against them. There are very exciting times ahead.”
