by Aluvision
In this industry, strong, symbiotic partnerships are often more valuable and create better ROI opportunities than product-focused transactional ones. We know this to be true, in the partners Aluvision seeks and the impactful relationships we form with others.
As we consider our own business relations and Aluvision’s approach to partnership, we’ve devised five important questions any company should ask to ensure a right fit for a strong, lasting relationship when evaluating partners for your business needs.
Will their product help my daily operations?
No matter what challenge you’re facing, or need you’re looking to fulfill, consider how that company’s offering is going to affect your productivity and deliverability. Will they make you more efficient? Will they help your business save money or time? Does their product improve yours, or match your company’s standards of quality?
Aluvision, a modular event systems manufacturer, doesn’t just provide frame and LED solutions for building branded environments. We offer our customers time savings and production efficiency. Event producers rely on our durable, reusable systems for the framework of any project, freeing up time to focus on designing and building custom elements. This translates into further savings on labor, materials, energy, and waste management.
If you have high standards for quality, you also want to evaluate a partner for their attention to detail. Aluvision’s precision standards and extra steps in the finishing process to anodize all our profiles and frames ensure our customers and their clients achieve a polished look with every use.
What’s their take on customer service?
Next, evaluate a company on their customer service approach. It should be more than responding to emails and phone calls. Consider whether their support will ensure you can take better care of your own customers, and if you can rely on them when you need it most.
You want a partner who’s looking out for your best interests. The account managers and technical designers at Aluvision spend time getting to know their assigned clients and understanding their visions, their customers, and how they like to work, so we can provide the exact level of customer service each team needs to succeed in their roles.
We share new ideas on how to use our systems and offer training sessions to ensure confidence and skill in handling our products, because it helps our partners to be as creative and effective as possible.
Are there grounds for a long-term relationship?
When you’re approached by any sales executive, pay attention to their language and what they convey to you. Are they focused on the one project you need help with, or are they asking about your business model and all the services you provide to your customers? Do they spend the time to learn about your goals?
The companies that plant themselves squarely in your future as a resource you can rely on for years to come, that may even have a customer rewards and incentive program to ensure a healthy, strong, mutually beneficial relationship (like Aluvision’s Connect program), will prove to be more valuable than those who can provide a swift solution for today, but don’t care about tomorrow.
Are they willing to adapt to my needs?
Ask about their approach to developing new products and services. Do they regularly seek out opinions from their customers on current products or discuss ideas for potential new ones to gauge interest and usability? Strong, lasting relationships are reciprocal. The partner you seek should be open to feedback and willing to collaborate with you.
R&D is the beating heart of Aluvision, and we welcome comments and suggestions from our partners on how they want to see our products improved or complemented. If we can make a strong use-case for a new niche product, we’ll engineer it. This is one of the reasons Aluvision has many accessory components and special assembly tools for our plug-and-play systems. Our complete range of solutions is a result of our collaborative approach to partnership.
Do they give back to the industry?
Philanthropy may not be a focus at your company, and it doesn’t need to be for the businesses you work with but consider this: a company that regularly gives back to others demonstrates compassion and industry leadership. When vetting a potential partner, ask them how they support this industry outside of their sales efforts. Do they donate their product, time, or knowledge to organizations or other industry professionals? Are they working to affect change on a greater scale?
At Aluvision, we’re compassionate about the growth of the events industry. We are involved in national industry coalitions such as ESCA and EDPA, in local EDPA chapters and the EDPA Future Leaders Committee, leading and supporting their efforts. Through our Aluvision Connect program, we aim to bring our customers and their network of partners together across the globe, to share ideas and insight and create a strong future for the next generation.
The bottom line: For every new partnership, find the company you can rely on, that aligns with your values and strives to build a lasting relationship.
Learn more about Aluvision at Aluvision.com
This story originally appeared as a truncated version in the Q1 2025 issue of Exhibit City News, p. 78. For original layout, visit https://issuu.com/exhibitcitynews/docs/ecn_q1_2025/78.
