SCM’s Giuseppe Riva said that instead of having customers come to the vendors at a trade exhibition such as IWF, the vendors must reach out to the customers.

“The show makes the customer go to the vendors,” he said. “Without the show the vendors must reach out to the customers and because of the Covid situation the ways to do that can be different.

“At least for a few months the close proximity activities will be limited, so SCM is pushing and developing to the next level the RRR program (Restart, Recharge, Remend) (to please the people that didn't get the PPP) activities that respond to two general categories.”

First, Riva said that SCM is using tools to enhance the customer experience when selecting a product without need for close proximity, such as virtual demos, live demos and webinars.

“(We also have) tools to economically support the market: Special pricing because of the savings resulting from less travel and lodging costs, and financing programs to (help) the customer to better rebound in this moment and this is a key element because many customers are between a rock and a hard place.

“This can be the best moment to re-tool the factory because of a lighter workload,” Riva said. “Companies have the time to think, plan, update, shuffle and reorganize, but because of the contingency they are hesitant to pull the trigger, trying to be conservative with the cash flow. The special financial tools we offer represent the best of the two worlds providing the peace of mind our customers need in this moment.”

Riva said that SCM is connecting with customers in a number of ways. The SCM Live Show June 30-July 2 is more than the usual remote webinar, and he considers it to be the reality show of the woodworking industry. See https://www.scmgroup.com/en_US/scmwood/news-events/events/e112523/scm-live-show

SCM is offering real-time demos for machines, concepts and systems, such as a manufacturing cells that can produce 70 cabinets per shift or cells to make different style cabinet doors.

The company is also offering a presentation of a new range of products done completely in a virtual mode during this period, including the FMT Made-in-America CNC router.

SCM also continues education with training and software, and they’ve held more than 12 live webinars so far, and the virtual neXting Challenge is determining the fastest nesting machine in the market.