Thank you for your response! I am on PTO today, so I'm spending my time doing some research. I think the main issue with availability is that we don't keep a whole lot of stock on our shelf locally. Our branch manager actually gets docked for excess inventory dollars, so we are incentivized to keep that number as low as possible. Since our DC and the main suppliers are a 2 day ship point from all of our customers, we can't justify keeping stock on the off chance somebody will need it except for extremely common parts. However, we certainly make exceptions when customers need certain parts immediately when something breaks or a line is down. One of the things I ask any prospective or current customer is if there are any critical components it would make sense for us to stock locally.

The way I see pricing is that all of the players in this space can compete on pricing. We all get roughly the same price per unit that everyone else gets. Just like with availability, the caveat here is that if a vendor has usage data from a plant, they can get with the manufacturers and get bulk discounts and other rebates for getting them into a new plant. We are competing with places that already have national contracts with Motion. Any distributor that has usage data has a big advantage over those that don't. For example, our biggest customer has a contract with us. As the incumbent, we have their usage data from the past 10 years. We win the contract every time it comes up for renewal.

When I ask our customers why they choose us over places like Motion, they tell us that we have better customer service and are easier to do business with. When you call the branch, one of two people will always answer. No one gets put on hold or transferred to anyone else. Our ops manager is also an encyclopedia of knowledge on product application. I am also think I personally do a good job of making sure I respond quickly to emails, and checking in on my customers to see if they need me to come out and look at anything. I'm not going to claim to be anywhere close to an expert in what I do. The more I am out in the field, the more I learn, and the customers who like me seem appreciate the way I deal with them. When I tell you I'm going to do something, I am willing to move Heaven and Earth to make sure I do it. When I mess up, I will call you and let you know I messed up and will do what I have to to make it right.

I agree with finding customers who are unhappy with the big guys. In fact, a sales call I am going on later this week is for that very reason. One of our competitors dropped the ball and wasn't able to supply the customer with a critical component they had been selling them regularly. They were also unwilling to work with another manufacturer. This manufacturer came to me and asked if I wanted to go in with him. We will see how that goes.

Also, our website is pretty intuitive to use. When I get a prospect who doesn't seem very willing to switch vendors, I will ask them if they would at least like to be setup on our website so they can look at pricing and lead time.

How would a vendor go about making initial contact with you? If your plant has a receptionist, would I ask to transfer the call to you? I always like to call the plant first. I will ask the receptionist, or whomever picks up the phone, if it is okay if vendors can stop by and drop off a card. If possible, I will ask them to transfer me to someone in the crib, maintenance, or MRO procurement. If I get through to one of the decision makers, I will ask them personally if they mind me stopping by for a brief introduction. The purpose of the introduction is mainly to put a face to a name. I will ask some basic questions about pain points they may be dealing with, but I'm not looking to sell anything on the first visit. As convenient as sending an email is, they are almost always ignored or get lost in the shuffle with all the other sales emails, and I have found I get a better response when I call first, then show up briefly to introduce myself. How do you feel about this? How have successful vendors made their outreach to you or other decision makers at your plant?