At the beginning of the alignment process, Tina Angelos, Managing Director of AVS, wanted to get a view of where SVS and Entrade excelled as businesses, and where there were opportunities for improvement. After surveying 100 key customers across both businesses, it was clear that key strengths were product offering, product knowledge and application advice, and aftersales service. The biggest opportunity for future business growth – Innovation. In a traditionally conservative industry, the challenge is to define where innovation is relevant, realistic and will lead to tangible benefits to the customer. It is also important to note that innovation refers not only to technological innovation such as integrating IoT technology into products to assist with real-time monitoring and reporting, but also to innovating the way we do business.
“We started with three key values; Care, Pride and Trust,” says Tina, “then defined what each of these meant in terms of innovating our business management structures, supplier and customer relationship management, customer touch points such as our digital presence, all the way through to how we managed and developed out human capital.”
From a supplier perspective, AVS has developed strategic partnerships with global leaders including ARI-Amraturen and Hunt and Mitton. Securing certified supplier status with these suppliers has tangible customer benefits. Significantly, AVS can facilitate direct access between their customers and product knowledge and technical training specialists at ARI-Armaturen, as an example. The value of this to their customers, which include some of South Africa”s biggest Boiler manufacturers, is to deliver the best quality product and service at the right time for the correct application. Having these strategic partnerships in place is part of our PRIDE. The definition of PRIDE at AVS is, in fact, humility. It is about taking the time to fundamentally understand our customers and the challenges they face. It”s about listening and fulfilling a need not selling a product.
Tina, speaking about what TRUST means for AVS, says it is driven by a passion for developing and nurturing long-term relationships with customers, suppliers and the AVS team. “Operationally it means that we deliver on time, in time, every time. It means our prices are consistent, that we deliver on our commitments, to our customers as well as our own team members. Importantly, it also means that we supply products that are of the very highest standards. We supply several industries where the failure of a valve is not an option.” Highlighting this commitment to quality, AVS specialises in chlorine equipment products that are 17/492 Standard Euro Chlor certified. “Providing products that inherently reduce risk of leakage in any application is fundamental to our core value of TRUST.”
When asked about CARE Tina responds, “the word CARE is a powerful word. When I was looking at the AVS ‘why’, I kept coming back to the fact that all the work we do is because we care about our customers. That’s why we go out of our way to service our customers, that’s why we proactively negotiate with customs to release our goods, that’s why we exist and come to work. Our staff dont just “come to a job.” It’s a place we love to be and that makes me extremely proud of my team.”
By combining the deep, traditional values of a family-owned business with world-leading strategic alliances and the integration of digital platforms and CRM systems driving operational excellence and unmatched customer service, AVS is perfectly placed to take a leadership role in the South African valve industry as the go-to valve specialists.
As Tina says, “You don’t need to be a specialist. You just need to partner with one.“