For this edition of Meet The Member we speak to Nathan Aspin of Aspin Management Systems on how they facilitate the mechanics of the Greeting Card industry.
What’s the name of your company?
Aspin Management Systems Ltd, trading as Aspin
When was the company first set up?
1984
Where is your business based?
Romsey, Hampshire
Who set up the company and why?
Aspin was set up by my father, John Aspin, in the early 1980s. Our first product was Amsolve, a stock control and order processing system, which soon focused on greeting card publishers and display planning. We still support many customers successfully using Amsolve today. And some of our current staff were here at the very beginning when we worked out of our family home.
What is the Unique Selling Point of your business? What makes your products particularly special?
Through our Customer Success programme, we actively seek out, listen to and act upon customer feedback. Our products are built using the most up to date, best-in-class, coding language. This allows us to develop our products with new functionality quickly and frequently.
For example, our catalogue and sales app for reps and agents, PixSell 3, has just been given its 15th update since being rebuilt from the ground up and relaunched 2 years ago.
A common complaint we hear from businesses using our competitors is the technology is clunky and rarely updated. I think our programme of continuous improvement sets us apart.
We’re also very approachable. Which is something you don’t always see in the tech industry! Our Support Desk team are available by either phone or email and customers will often comment at how quickly issues are resolved.
We have dedicated Customer Success Managers whose sole job is to ensure our customers succeed. Whether that be organising customer workshops and webinars or finding out which ‘Tips & Tricks’ videos our customers want to see next. If our customers are succeeding, we’re succeeding too. The same goes for our customers’ customers. We want our products to make life easier, and more profitable, for everyone who uses them.
Something else we do is scoping. Before a project starts, we’ll undertake in-depth interviews with a prospective client. Once we understand exactly what it is required, we’ll issue a scoping document detailing the project spec and costings in fine detail.
At this point the prospective customer can either commit to the project or walk away. This is what helps us to de-risk and deliver successful projects. Only when everyone involved has the full picture can a project deliver what is expected. Due to this, we have a reputation for being a safe pair of hands.
Our customers will often use the words ‘trustworthy’, ‘reliable’ and ‘honest’ to describe us. We’re a family business with a strong ethos of ‘we’re all in this together’ running through the whole team. That shows in how we deal with our customers.
Who are your clients?
We work with some of the UK’s leading greetings card publishers. Businesses like Abacus Cards, Otter House, Noel Tatt, Caroline Gardner, Roger La Borde, Picadilly Greetings, Paperlink, and Woodmansterne have been with us for a long time. And newer brands like Rosie Made a Thing are newer customers for us. I am always amazed by the huge breadth of designs and innovative ideas that come up each season.
How do you sell your products & services?
We have a website www.aspin.co.uk and a large social media presence. But most of our business comes from referrals. Either from existing clients recommending a partner use us, or from sales managers and operations manager moving employers and making the recommendation.
Sales agents selling for more than one publisher are a reliable source of referrals for us. If they’re using our catalogue ordering App for one of their brands, and another app for other brands, the benefit of our product really stands out.
What do you like most about the industry?
We enjoy making life easier for people. Helping our customers achieve the best they can is really what drives us. And with technology always evolving and innovating, it never gets boring.
What would your clients say about you?
If it’s ok with you, I’ll let our clients speak for themselves…
Our PixSell order taking app suits our products very well. The ability to show our whole catalogue in high quality images is brilliant. It greatly assists our sales team.
Abacus Cards
PixSell has proved invaluable as a mobile sales app – particularly at trade shows. It’s a real time saver!
Caroline Gardner
With our InterSell trade website, it only takes a few quick steps to make a real impact.
Woodmansterne