Features

A service-minded approach

Conquest team

Ben Mathews, Sales Director for Conquest Equipment, shares with MHD how the company’s background in service has inspired its unprecedented flexible offering in cleaning solutions. 

Ben Mathews, Sales Director for Conquest Equipment, is on a mission.

Since the 1970s, the Australian family-owned business worked as a service provider for industrial cleaning equipment in warehouses, manufacturing facilities and the like. Over the decades, they saw far too often equipment stranded in storerooms and corners, not being used. Companies were stuck waiting around for spare parts from overseas, didn’t know how to use the machines, or simply didn’t need them. 

Conquest Equipment’s mission has always been to change that. And with the tagline “Behind you all the way” the company has introduced what it says is the most flexible and supportive offering available on the market. 

The flexibility begins with the equipment available. Conquest works with five different supply partners across Europe and the United States. Ben says this is an important aspect of ensuring the market is getting the right equipment for them. 

“We work closely with our supply partners in the development of technology and innovation,” says Ben. “A lot of that work is focused on developing fit-for-purpose products for the Australian market. It gives us the flexibility to deliver a wide range of equipment that is suited to a wide range of floor spaces.”

Working with international companies, Ben notes, also helps Conquest keep up with international trends. 

“They have large R&D teams, they are watching what is happening across the global industry,” he says. “We have exclusive access to these technologies in the Australian market.” 

Having a range of the most advanced products on the market is important, Ben says, in Conquest’s catered approach to their clients. Far from offering a one-size-fits-all solution, Conquest goes to great lengths with its assessment process. Its Intelligent Solutions Program (ISP) is designed to find the best fit for its clients. 

“When we have a new customer that comes up, we do a site evaluation and find out the exact requirements of the facilities,” explains Ben. “Every facility is unique and has different requirements. We go through a detailed process before we recommend what solution is right for them.”

The program, Ben explains, is not just about finding the right equipment, but importantly the right leasing or purchasing terms. Conquest is unique in the market with its short-term leasing department. Equipment can be rented for as short as one day, to as long as five years. 

“Our one-day hires are fast becoming popular, because people are really conscious of costs at the moment,” Ben explains. “If someone has a machine that they just used spasmodically, they are much better off just renting the equipment for a day. We can drop the machine out to a site, they can use it to clean the facility, and we can pick it up at the end of the day.”  

For clients who know they’ll need the machines on a daily basis, but aren’t sure for how long, Conquest offers options with highly flexible terms, in which a company can opt in or out of the rental agreement without any termination fees or extra costs. 

“The reason we can offer these great promises is because we go to such great lengths to ensure we give them the right solution the first time,” says Ben. “We’re confident we can back it up with what might seem like a pretty outrageous offer.” 

The offer includes a four-year warranty on the machine, parts and labour as well as a 60-day money back guarantee.

The past year, Ben notes, has seen huge changes in the logistics industry with the rise of e-commerce. He says Conquest introduced this flexible approach to renting to meet market demands in this rapidly evolving industry. 

“Some spaces are evolving quite fast, others are diminishing quite quickly,” he says. “People’s needs are changing faster than ever, so we need to offer this program of flexibility. Instead of locking people into contracts, we’re telling them they can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel at any time, in line with the changes in their facilities.” 

Ensuring equipment meets a company’s needs, and can be changed whenever it’s needed, is the first step in getting dusty cleaning equipment out of corners. The next step Conquest is offering is what it sees as the highest level of service available on the market, through its Zero Downtime Program. It’s a guarantee that any machine purchased or leased from Conquest will – as the name implies – never be out of use. 

“If we can’t fix the machine on the same day, we provide you with a back-up loan machine,” Ben explains. “It’s an assurance to our customers that they will never be stuck without an operating machine. We invested heavily as a company in this full fleet of emergency equipment, it’s one of our key offerings to the industry.”

The program is included in all rental packages, and is included in selected scheduled service and maintenance support packages – Ultimate and Premium – for equipment purchased outright. If a client signs up to Ultimate or Premium, they also have unlimited access to the back-up machines. 

“To be clear, we don’t expect our equipment to fail. We offer quality equipment backed with regular servicing and maintenance to prevent that,” says Ben. “But inevitably there can be failures due to misuse or other incidents. That’s when having that backup fleet in place can get people operating again very quickly.” 

Ben Mathews, Sales Director for Conquest Equipment
Ben Mathews, Sales Director for Conquest Equipment.

Conquest is also well positioned to fix their clients’ machines as quickly as possible. The company keeps a full range of spare parts here in Australia. Ben says this was a key offering they pursued after hearing from operators using other companies’ imported equipment that they had to wait weeks for spare parts. “Speed is important to our customers, and holding local inventory minimises delays.”

“We understand that Australia is a long way from where the equipment is made,” says Ben. “Waiting for spare parts from overseas is not ideal for the customer. This is where we saw a need in Australia for a local supplier like us who could hold spare parts and have our own technical team to support the equipment.”  

Conquest has a strong team of technicians ready to be despatched quickly to their clients on the Zero Downtime Program. Ben notes that having a loan machine out to a client is a cost to the business, so the program gives Conquest an additional incentive to get their client’s machines up and running as quickly as possible. 

The final step in getting those dusty machines out of corners is for Conquest to ensure clients are well trained on how to use the machines. For those on the Zero Downtime Program the company offers a lifetime training program. A client can call up the company at any point to arrange training for their staff, throughout the entire term of their contract for rentals, or life of the machine for purchases. 

It’s an impressive offering set to see Ben accomplish his goal of ensuring Conquest’s clients get the most out of their cleaning equipment, at a time when the rapidly evolving logistics industry needs it. 

“It’s what we are providing to the industry because it’s what the industry needs at the moment,” says Ben. “It’s about being behind our customers all the way.”

For more on Conquest Equipment, click here

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