Distributors often like to boast about how their companies provide excellent customer service. So when executives of Kaman Industrial Technologies started to describe the “can do” attitude that permeates the organization, we asked for proof. From its 170 branches and shops in 41 states, as well as British Columbia and Mexico, to its corporate headquarters in Windsor, Conn., multiple examples of excellent customer service abound.

For example, there’s the professional account manager in Nevada who used his own 16-foot horse trailer to haul an emergency load of supplies to a customer through a blinding snowstorm last winter. 

Or the branch manager in Idaho, when told that the branch ran out of  V-belts for an important customer, not only placed an expedited order for the belts, but made a special trip to the customer’s location. He discovered why the plant suddenly started running through V-belts like they were going out of style and, in the process, uncovered a major production problem that could have turned into an even bigger safety concern.

These examples and others demonstrate why Kaman has become one of the largest distributors of power transmission and motion control products, services and accessories in North America, with annual sales of more than $450 million for 2001.

“Our culture has always been one of excellent customer service,” says president Jack Cahill. “We’ve had the same mission for many years, which is to make our customers more productive, more competitive and more profitable.”

Whatever it takes
How does a company convey an attitude of customer service throughout the organization? It starts at the hiring process, Cahill says.

Clock punchers won’t succeed for long in a company that prides itself on excellent customer service. From professional account managers, to product specialists, to the product support group and others throughout the company, people who embrace the “Kaman can” attitude thrive.

“They have to like doing customer service work. If they don’t enjoy that aspect of the business, they won’t succeed in our company,” Cahill says.

When hiring someone for a support group position, managers look for people with the drive to do whatever it takes to support the branches. When hiring at the branch level, they look for people with the desire to help customers improve their processes and productivity.

The company offers several training programs to help employees increase their customer service skills, gain additional product knowledge, brush up on business skills and learn the latest processes. One program, “Documented Savings: Meeting our Commitments,” teaches employees how to think about documenting savings, how to look for opportunities, ask questions and match the correct resources to produce the greatest value.

“We try to really inspire our people to have this inquisitive attitude. Don’t simply take the order. Find out what’s going on,” says vice president of marketing David Mayer. “It’s why people get up early in the morning, work late hours, and carry their beeper with them on weekends.”

Not just a numbers game
It’s difficult to describe what excellent customer service means. At Kaman, you can point to numbers, such as a 99.95 percent accuracy rate at the distribution centers or cycle times for fill rates on A items of 98 percent. But the numbers only tell part of the story. The real proof comes from what employees do to help customers every day.

For example, when an inside salesperson came to the Idaho branch manager and told him the branch was out of  V-belts it kept in stock for an important customer, the manager knew something was wrong. The branch always kept an adequate supply of safety stock on hand based on the customer’s past usage.

“What do you mean, we’re out of them?” the branch manager asked. “How did we run out of them?” 

The manager could have taken the easy way out and simply placed an expedited order for more V-belts. Instead, he went to the plant to investigate what caused the spike in orders. He learned that new operators adjusted a torque limiter in a sawmill blade operation to try to increase production. Someone decided he didn’t like belt slippage, so he stuck a metal rod where the shear bolt should have been. The belts no longer slipped, but when the mill jammed, they snapped. The operator’s solution to boost production endangered the entire drive.

“Our branch manager said to the company, ‘I’ve got more V-belts coming, but you really need to take a look at this application or you’ll continue to have problems. Plus, you’ve got a major safety problem here,’” Cahill says.

Mayer describes a similar situation where the company took extra steps to satisfy a customer. A professional account manager visited a customer in a processing plant in the building materials industry in Oklahoma. He told the customer that the best way to evaluate new product applications and identify critical spares is to do an on-site plant equipment survey. The plant manager agreed, thinking the project might take less than a day to complete.

Instead, Kaman sent 10 people who spent three days in 100-degree heat, rummaging through every store room and tool crib and production line, documenting the power transmission and motion control items in use.

“The customer sent us a letter thanking us for helping them identify cost savings opportunities,” Mayer says.

Documented savings
To make sure that customers understand how Kaman benefits them, about 15 years ago the company pioneered its Documented Savings program, in which it provides written proof of the dollar value of its activities. In the program, Kaman analyzes elements of cost, develops a methodology for measuring cost savings and submits in writing the dollar savings that can be achieved through specific recommendations.

Often, customers are surprised by the results. For instance, while walking through a plant with a potential customer, an account manager noticed a grease spill underneath a conveyor system. He pointed out the spill and said it could be a potential safety problem. He then climbed onto the conveyor assembly and discovered a bearing with grease dripping out. He later learned that a maintenance person pumped the bearing full of grease every day, and the excess grease fell to the floor. Utilizing Documented Savings materials, the account manager quickly calculated the cost of the wasted grease and the money and man-hour savings in cleanup time and showed it to the potential client.

“My other supplier walks through here all the time and never said anything about it,” the prospect said.

He’s no longer just a prospect, but a valued customer.

“Getting engaged in our customers’ businesses, understanding their applications and then documenting how we were able to save them actual hard costs and improve their productivity is the best form of customer service we can provide,” says Mayer.

Neither snow nor sleet
Sometimes, customers go out of their way to thank Kaman employees for their efforts. That’s what Dave Samaro, district manager in northern California, discovered when a maintenance supervisor at a quarry in northern Nevada tracked him down to tell him what account manager Terry Sanders had done for him.

It was December and snowing heavily. The maintenance supervisor called Sanders, who works out of Kaman’s Sparks, Nev., branch to request emergency delivery of a variety of parts he needed that day. Under normal driving conditions, the plant was about an hour away. That particular day, however, blizzard conditions made driving hazardous. Sanders assured the supervisor he’d get the delivery to him that day, so the supervisor held his crew at the quarry.

An hour and a half passed and weather conditions grew worse, so the supervisor figured Sanders couldn’t possibly make the delivery. He was about to send the crew home, when the supervisor heard a horn honk. It was Sanders, who pulled onto the site towing his own 16-foot horse trailer, and keeping his promise to deliver the 3,500-pound load.

“The supervisor said that in his 30 years in the business, he’d never seen the kind of devotion that Terry showed toward his customer,” Samaro says. “Prior to this, the supervisor did all of his business with a handful of other distributors. As a result of Terry’s efforts, the supervisor promised to do all future business with Kaman.”

This article originally appeared in the September/October 2002 issue of Progressive Distributor. Copyright 2002.