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Danny Simmonds is GearBox’s Operations Manager, and as his job title suggests, he is actively involved in all aspects of the company’s operations. As part of his role he has been instrumental in overseeing the inception, development and day-to-day running of GearBox Express, the company’s Soho-based rental division. GearBox Express has now been operating for three years and has proved to be a runaway success - Danny thinks he knows exactly why.

“It’s quite simple, really: when we get a client – we keep them! The key to the success of the GearBox Express operation has been due to us building personal relationships and then delivering on the promises we’ve made. Naturally, we’ve had to make sure the equipment arrives in the optimum time possible, and in 100% working condition, but there’s also the aspects of 24/7 technical support and customer service during the hire, basically going that extra mile to ensure that the client is happy and that everything is as it should be while they’ve got the equipment.”

Danny acknowledges that location is a major factor in the Express success story. Being based within The Sanctuary post-production facility means that anywhere in Soho is just minutes away – but he doesn’t see it as the only ‘deal breaker’ for clients when it comes to their choice of equipment supplier.

“Of course it’s great to be able to get a booking at 2:30 and to say, ‘it will be there are 3 o’clock’ and know that’s a promise you can keep. It also gives clients a lot of confidence to know that, if they want anything, you can be round there straight away,” Danny says. “But if you ever start believing you’re a success in Soho just because you’re in Soho, you might as well get out of the business,” Danny explains. “You always have to remember that it’s possible for our clients to get some of the equipment we offer from other suppliers, so if they chose GearBox, it’s because they genuinely believe we’ll look after them better than the competition would - It’s our job to make sure that this belief is always correct.”

Danny continues, “When we started the Soho Express operation two years ago we could see that the industry trend was rapidly moving towards High Definition production, and consequently we ramped up our available HD stock to what the facilities were demanding, across the last two years this has grown beyond all expectations. Currently we stock multiple units of both the Sony and Panasonic HD VTRs within GearBox Express, and we’ve gone to great pains to make sure we can also offer all the required interface boxes that make these systems fully functional. We are constantly listening to our clients advice, they are the experts in what are the cutting edge trends as far as equipment usage is concerned – we would be foolish to ignore the front-end knowledge that they offer us”.

“Naturally having the capability to also offer the largest fleet of Avid, Pro Tools|HD, and Final Cut non-linear editing systems in Europe is a major bonus, no other Soho based equipment rental company can offer a ‘One-Stop Shop’ of HD VTRs, non-linear editing systems, and the required 24/7 technical expertise to back this up, in this respect GearBox Express is truly unique”.

Danny is all too familiar with career changes and unforgiving environments. Before he returned to the UK to join GearBox three years ago, he spent more than a decade running his own music artist management business, and entertainment venue in New York. 

“New Yorkers tend to want what they want and want it now, 24/7,” Danny notes. “GearBox Express is about delivering that kind of service without anyone having to demand it.”

So what has Danny to say about GearBox’s most recent expansion – the new GearBox North operation? – “We have opened our new offices in the North in response to a growing demand from the production houses and facilities in the North for the same high level of professional equipment supply and 24/7 technical expertise that we offer in central London. We are effectively using the success of GearBox Express in Soho as a model to develop our North operation, we believe the facilities in the North of England expect and deserve the same level of service that we offer to the London based post-production community – one of our missions in 2006 is to see our North operation become a major part of our business”.

Danny concludes “These are very exciting times at GearBox, we have a very talented, young, dynamic team here, it’s a great pleasure for me as Operations Manager to be spearheading our current expansion and development”.

Contact:
danny@gearbox.com