What will Bott be exhibiting at the CV Show this year?
We are very proud to showcase not only our market leading racking solutions, but also innovation in our new digital ‘Bott toolkit’ and our fantastic design configurator. The toolkit enables a paperless handover of vehicle documentation and resources that can be suited to our customers’ needs with the potential for a wider interaction of services. This is launched as standard with all Bott conversions. Our configurator enables a highly professional and expedient solution to conversion design and quotation. Of course, our breadth of conversion solutions will also be on show to demonstrate our one-stop-shop capability for all sizes of customer.
Tell us about your plans for Partner growth?
The Bott Group prides itself on a robust partner infrastructure across the globe. In the UK, our focus was historically on larger fleets, but in the last few years we have significantly changed this approach ensuring that all fleet sizes are served equally. We have been building reputable partner network and see this as a key lever of growth, enabling our customers to benefit from increased local service, utilising market leading products and solutions. We are investing heavily in this channel and are excited about the appetite from new partner enquiries. It’s no secret, we want to increase our national coverage dramatically with the right partners.
How important are apprenticeships to Bott?
Apprentices are key to our growth. I’m always proud to reflect on the many colleagues who have developed and been with us for years that started out as apprentices. What better testament to a company can there be? What I do recognise, is that it’s extremely competitive out there and we have to be innovative and attractive to attain apprentices, particularly in a manufacturing environment. Therefore, we put a heavy focus on the diverse array of career opportunities available and explore ways to engage and motivate them.
Describe the importance of the CV Show to Bott?
It’s our marquee show with a real opportunity to showcase our solutions, spend quality time with our customers and partners face to face. I also personally enjoy the engagement with our many associate supplier partnerships and even dare I say, hook up with the competition! It’s hard work for the team but we always make sure we keep it light and have fun.
What does the future look like for Bott?
I’m extremely excited about our investment and expansion programme in the UK. We have always had a strong reputation for our scale and competences, particularly at a fleet level. However, whilst we continue to develop our fleet solutions and tools, we will significantly enhance our partner network growth, giving us access to a whole new customer base, ensuring customers benefit from global solutions at a national and local level. Digitalisation will also be key for Bott with the tools discussed above. Both this and our localisation of access to conversion partners will also support our continuing ESG focus.
Nick Smith, Chief Executive Officer (UK), Bott Ltd