The fix

A demonstration room allows visitors to see products in action before making a purchase.
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S&S gets an exclusive look behind the scenes of Martin Professional’s Middle East service centres, where we learn the value of looking local and that prevention really is better than a cure.

Martin’s Dubai service centre is a hive of activity. In the workshop, engineers are bent over dismantled lights, tools in hand; in a vast demonstration room, a group of potential clients stand behind a console and marvel at the fixtures affixed to the rig above as they twist and turn, casting coloured beams of light across the space.

It’s a location that is the true ‘engine’ of the manufacturer’s operations in the Middle East and keeps sales at impressive levels and – perhaps more importantly – customers satisfied.

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“We’re the only manufacturer to have a service centre in the Middle East - it’s one of our key selling points and has been a true success story for us,” explains Bilal Assidi, sales manager.

Established in 2001, the Dubai service centre, located in the city’s industrial Ras Al Khor area, is just one of a number of similar set ups across the region that service the firm’s considerable client base.

“We have the same set up in Abu Dhabi, in Beirut and we will soon open a service centre in Doha, Qatar, as well,” adds Assidi. “We have 22 engineers here in the Dubai service centre, six in Abu Dhabi, six or seven in Lebanon and in Qatar, we’ll start with two or three.”

Encompassing a demonstration room – complete with auditorium-style seating for training sessions, a lighting rig, a range of consoles, projectors and screens – a service workshop, an engineering department and spare parts division, the operation provides preventative maintenance and repairs for Martin products – services that for other manufacturers are offered only outside the Middle East.

“If we weren’t here, if we didn’t have these service centres in the Middle East, it would directly affect Martin Professional’s sales, I think. It’s one of our key differentiators,” admits Assidi.

“For me, as a sales man, taking care of sales in Saudi and Dubai, if this centre wasn’t here, selling Martin products would be very tough. Not because they are inferior products, in fact, they are some of the best, but just because it’s a very competitive market,” he says.

“If you were to by a car here, even if it was a great brand of car, if it didn’t have adequate repair and service facilities here, you wouldn’t choose it, you’d be more inclined to choose a brand that you know can be fixed and services easily and to a high standard.”

So what happens, when a customer encounters a problem with a moving head, for instance? “We always try to solve it over the phone, if it’s a minor problem, if not, then we go on a site visit to check the equipment in person. From here, we inform the customer of the next point of action, if we can’t repair the problem on the spot,” explains service manager Edgardo Hermanos, who estimates that 10 per cent of the repairs can be carried out over the phone.

“If the unit is under warranty, that can mean a trip for us to Qatar, or Saudi Arabia, or wherever the units are based. If it’s not under warranty, then we first need to determine who will pay, and then we can do a site visit. Our engineers have, in the past, done visits to Aramco, in Saudi Arabia, for example, to troubleshoot problems on site and then fix them there and then.”