This year sees GRASS entering new sales channels: so instead of participating at interzum for example, the specialist in motion systems will focus on more targeted ways to reach its customers, and use the new customer centre in Hohenems for acquisitions and presentations. GRASS stresses that the company is not broadly declining to appear at trade fairs, rather that it wishes to take the road less travelled and try new things when it comes to sales.
In autumn 2021, GRASS opened its new headquarters in Hohenems, Austria. This is the largest investment in the company’s history and in-cludes not only a state-of-the-art logistics centre with new administration facilities, but also an Experience Centre that showcases modern motion design over two floors and more than 500 square metres.
“For us, this development is an enormous step forwards,” says Andreas Marosch, Head of Marketing and Communications at GRASS. “By taking this step, we have created a location where we can present our products in their very best light.” Taking all of this into account, GRASS has decided not to participate in Cologne’s interzum trade fair in 2023. Instead, the com-pany’s goal is “to test new formats, to try out alternative sales channels, to make the best use of the customer centre; in short, to be as innova-tive when it comes to customer relations as GRASS is with its product development,” says Andreas Marosch.
GRASS wants to emphasise that not appearing at this year’s interzum is not a statement against the trade fair format or the leading Cologne trade fair itself. It is rather about trying new things and making bold decisions to establish the sales channels and customer points of contact that are the most effective for the company. “Two factors came together for this to happen: During the Coronavirus pandemic, we saw that we were also able get in touch with our customers and prospective customers outside of the short trade fair period – and that we were often able to get deeper into conversation with them,” explains Andreas Marosch. “The second thing, of course, was the Experience Center. If we have such a state-of-the-art, visually appealing place to give presentations, why not use it?”
2023 is therefore going to be a year in which GRASS will break new ground in sales - something that is underlined even further by the fact that Ralf Priefer, a new sales manager for Germany and France, has recently come on board. As for what the company will do in years to come, is it likely that it will return to the classic trade fair format? “We will decide in good time, once we have been able to draw the first conclusions from the new channels we’ve explored,” says Andreas Marosch.
