OKO tyre sealants thrive in 2014
Looking back, as is only right at the turning of the year, it has been a hectic one for OKO Group in its international growth as the manufacturer of the ‘world’s favorite tyre sealants’. Here are just some quick snapshots of 2014’s highlights.
January: A visit to Italy to see four companies, two of which were recently-added distributors, one which became so as a result of the meeting and another who is likely to start soon.
February: A meeting with Kramp in Germany which has since switched all its tyre sealant business to OKO; and working in the (cold) field with OKO Global Polska in Poland, including successful demonstrations with MAN truck dealers. The highly-active firm set up a new website at www.okogroup.pl.
March: Continuing work to establish the links with our new Benelux distributor, Tyre Sealants BV (www.tyre-sealants.nl): this would lead to business in all sectors including, towards the end of the year, a collaboration agreement with Cyclon International to sell to the bicycle trade in Benelux and also Germany and Austria.
April: Supporting our very active distributor LSL at the huge Expomin mining show in Chile, resulting in many new sales prospects with mines and support companies. Also seeing our new bicycle market distributor, Oxford Bikes, in Santiago. (Other South American initiatives in 2014 came from American OKO in Panama, selling to various countries; Larocca in Argentina; and new bicycle/motorbike distributor Carlos Brogioli in Uruguay).
May: the new UK OKO Sales Ltd. website (www.okosales.co.uk) went live after extensive testing. Including a webshop and much-improved information on the OKO range of tyre sealants, this was an instant hit with customers. OKO Sales went on to enjoy a record UK selling year.
June: Discussions with a Spanish company and successful trials, that will lead to major new business in 2015. And a meeting with a Russian company who will also introduce OKO in Russia in the year to come.
July: Meetings in the UK with a huge building contractor that identified punctures as its biggest controllable cost: it then tested 5 sealants and chose OKO as the sole supplier for all of its sites. We have set up supply and service arrangements through its supplier chain of tyre providers and machine hire companies. Another big UK win in 2014 came from an agricultural supply company that switched to OKO from an inferior imitator.
August: the Autumn exhibition season began in Germany with Eurobike (through our bicycle sales agents Active Sports Products) towards the end of the month; and over the year, many distributors featured OKO at Expos in countries including the USA, Netherlands, Poland, Israel, Italy, Denmark (new bike distributor from Eurobike), Ireland and France. We aim to be even more visible at key Shows in the next 12 months.
And by the end of August, a second team in two years had made it through from London to Ulaanbataar, Mongolia in the extreme Mongol Rally: using an old car, but without any punctures in their OKO-equipped tyres despite appalling terrain.
September: Attending the official launch presentation of OKO in the UAE and Oman, and working with the sales team in meetings with several new accounts, in collaboration with our new distributor Jaspa, a leading tyre company. Meanwhile the first container was ordered by our new Tanzania distributor.
October: news from France of new business for our sales agents (www.anticrevaison-oko.fr) from two new accounts that will further strengthen our market leadership in the country.
November: Exhibiting at the Kramp Open expo in Germany. Working in Thailand with very active new SE Asia distributor, Tyre Seal Thailand: and in Malaysia with E-Response, another new distributor and an established fleet vehicle supplier.
But that was then, and we are already planning new initiatives for 2015 that aim to take us further ahead in our marketplace – keep in touch with our blogs for the latest news from OKO…