Matco Tools hosted its annual Matco Tools Tool Expo for distributors at the Gaylord Palms Feb. 15-18 in Orlando, Fla.
With a 10 percent increase in attendees year-over-year, hundreds of distributors and their families spent their time learning about new tools on the show floor, attending training seminars and attending networking opportunities. The Tool Expo had 92 vendors on-hand, exhibiting new and featured products and services available.
Distributors and their spouses had the opportunity to attend a number of training seminars, including sessions on the Matco Tools business management system, financing and other business fundamentals, toolbox storage, and a primer on the new MaxMe diagnostic scan tool.
With the theme “It’s Matco” at this year’s show, Matco Tools Vice President of Marketing and eBusiness John Green says the focus was on the distributor and the family.
“If you look at the system, these are single unit business owners. The family is very much involved in the business,” says Green. “We’re recognizing that family effort, plain and simple.”
New product options
New product highlights included updated cordless technology, air tools, powered tool storage, the portable power category, and the debut of the pay-as-you-go MaxMe scan tool.
In 2014, Matco introduced the Maximus 2.0 and Go diagnostic scan tools to the Maximus family. While these products provided full functionality to the distributor’s customers, Green says they didn’t cover all market segments that distributors serve.
The Matco MaxMe scan tool allows individual technicians the same access to that information, with a lower up-front cost and the opportunity to pay for only the coverage he or she needs in the shop.
“You can have different subscriptions from month-to-month. It’s to allow (technicians) to budget their spending,” says Green. “For as low as $20 a month, they can get a car make, and they’ll build it into the cost of the repair.”
The tool also functions as a regular tablet on an Android platform, allowing technicians access to apps, email, Internet browsers and more.
In addition to tool and equipment offerings, Matco also introduced another franchising option for distributors.
“It gives people the flexibility that want a smaller route and what comes with it,” says Green. “What comes with it might be more personal time, typically.”
Economic rebound and continued success
Green states that with economic growth comes consumer confidence, which has helped fuel increased business in the repair shops.
“There’s service work, and people are working. Shops are filling up, and that’s what’s important.”
Green also commented that with improvements in the national economy have come an increase in interest toward new franchises.
“We’re finding more people looking for opportunity. They’re in a position now where they’re comfortable enough investing, and they’re confident in the economy,” says Green.
“If we look back two or three years ago, it wasn’t necessarily a shortage of candidates, there was just this trepidation around the economy, and what’s going to happen,” he says. “Now, we think it’s reasonably predictable, so the confidence is there. So we’ve got people that are willing to invest in themselves.”
