Call it something of a vision – Jim Elliott, owner of Elliott & Frantz Inc., King of Prussia, PA, was looking to add a market-leader in the asphalt paving business to his existing product offerings.

So, when Blaw-Knox began looking for a new dealer in the Philadelphia area, Elliott & Frantz, who, for the past six years has represented the Ingersoll-Rand compaction line, was a natural fit.

"We really wanted to become a full-line hot-mix house," explained Sales Representative Drew Carr. "We wanted to be able to lay the asphalt down and roll it out."

Carr said that taking on the Blaw-Knox line already has expanded the company's customer base. "It's one-stop shopping."

To help familiarize Elliott & Frantz's customers with the Blaw-Knox line, Al Cleeland and Larry Spring of Ingersoll-Rand Construction & Mining (which now owns Blaw-Knox) recently held a paving seminar in King of Prussia in conjunction with Elliott & Frantz. About 125 representatives from 25 area paving contractors attended.

"It helps us show the customers that Ingersoll-Rand will deal directly with its dealers and their customers," Cleeland, mid-Atlantic district manager, explained. "It's localized training. It helps us reach around the distributors and talk directly with the customers. It creates a very high comfort level."

Spring, who is involved more in product development, explained that the seminars help him understand what the customers are looking for when they purchase paving equipment.

"For us, it helps open up a communication channel that we would never be able to open up," he said. "Contractors have the quality equipment, we just help them understand how to run it."

Cleeland and Spring said they are very pleased to have Elliott & Frantz represent the Blaw-Knox and Ingersoll-Rand lines.

"This business has changed a lot and Elliott & Frantz is on top of the industry," Cleeland said. "They really provide a lot of after-sale service."

The name "Blaw-Knox" has added a bit of prestige to Elliott & Frantz's name, according to Carr.

"It's a market leader," he said. "We want to carry quality products because our customers demand quality products. Their productivity is money in their pockets."

Elliott & Frantz is the Ingersoll-Rand, Blaw Knox dealer for Philadelphia, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks, North Hampton and Lehigh counties.

For more information, call Steve White at 800/220-3025.

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