A Day in the Life of an OKO Manager
A Day in the Life of an OKO Manager
‘Tyre sealant? What does that do, then?’
Some 34 years after OKO invented the World’s first effective tyre sealant (or tire sealant if you are reading in the Americas), that question is all too common and shows that we have yet to break into mass-market consciousness.
So what are we doing about it? Well at OKO we don’t set out to convert the entire population one by one: we recognize that certain market sectors suffer the most from punctures and we set out to reach the professional vehicle and fleet owners that most need our products. We do not believe in selling people bogus or overpriced franchises: instead we set up a network of distributors who hold stock and can provide an excellent sales and after-sales service to users.
Since we set up our new improved website we have been inundated with interest from end-users and from potential distributors. We answer every enquiry and as is our policy, we tell the facts about tyre sealant, its virtues and its limitations, as honestly and as openly as we can. There is too much over-claiming in other quarters, whereas we prefer to under-claim and over-deliver.
The result in recent months has been a heavy workload, which we don’t mind at all, and for the writer, thousands of calls and emails and a series of visits that have included:
- a major launch in the Middle East to a large audience of potential clients and many sales calls thereafter:
- a very successful stand at the Taipei Bike Show that has generated many new distributors for the exciting OKO bike tyre sealants and self-sealing inner tubes:
- and 2000 km in a car traversing Northern Europe to visit existing and new distributors.
Coming back to the first statement from a vehicle owner, there are many managers that I encounter who know only too clearly the cost of vehicle downtime, repair and potentially wasted stock (imagine a ready-mixed cement lorry that stops mixing…). If on the other hand this is the first time you have encountered the possibility of avoiding most of your puncture worries, then to quote our American friends ‘do the math’. Look at the full total of what punctures are really costing your business, get a quote for fitting OKO to your tyres, and you will surely follow the example a major commercial vehicle user in the UK. This company has tested competing products, chosen OKO and is now specifying that all its regional hire and tyre service suppliers fit it across their fleet.
Maybe it is too idealistic to think that everyone will be alerted to the virtues of this non-toxic, wheel and tyre-friendly product that normally lasts the life of the tyre itself: but for now we’ll settle for completing our global network and spreading the word as fast as we can…