Stop walking past sales

In an effort to satisfy more customer needs and grow sales, savvy distributors have added safety items to their product mix. But are they making the most of a new opportunity?

by Richard Vurva

Are salespeople walking past safety sales?  In particular, do industrial and construction distributor salespeople, who represent many different product categories, often leave money on the table when it comes to selling gloves, eye protection and other personal protective equipment (PPE) their customers likely buy from somewhere else?

That’s often the case.

Some salespeople who specialize in cutting tools and abrasives or some other product line are simply unaccustomed to selling safety products and need to expand their way of thinking about customer needs.  Plus, some distributors could do a better job of promoting new product categories they take on. If customers don’t know their local distributor handles PPE items, don’t expect the phone to start ringing off the hook with new orders.

There’s hope, however. With a focused marketing and sales effort — and with help from safety suppliers — industrial and contractor supply distributors are discovering that safety indeed sells.

Jim Beckstein of Mill Supplies Inc. in Fort Wayne, Ind., says safety is one of the fastest growing product categories his company handles. Working closely with preferred suppliers from Affiliated Distributors, the marketing and buying group Mill Supplies belongs to, Beckstein has seen dramatic increases in the sales of PPE items.

“In the past couple of years, we have had a great deal of success not only selling safety products, but providing safety training for our customers as well,” says Beckstein.

The demand for safety products has increased recently because of heightened security awareness and disaster preparation efforts. Governmental agencies and corporations have boosted purchases of products such as hard hats, knee pads, respirators and other protective clothing.

Get the right brands
One key to success when a distributor enters a new product category is having access to high- quality brands. Mill Supplies leveraged its relationship with Affiliated Distributors to strengthen relationships with suppliers. Distributors that don’t belong to marketing and buying groups can accomplish the same thing by utilizing master wholesalers that specialize in the safety channel.

“The biggest problem we see with general-line distributors that aren’t really focused on safety is getting access to recognized brand name products,” says Joe Sodini, president of United American Sales in Wilmington, Ohio, a master wholesaler of safety products with a network of six warehouses in the U.S. “We’ve been able to offer distributors the key names in the safety industry, like Bacou Dalloz, 3M, Kimberly-Clark, Crews, MSA, Aearo and Moldex and give them competitive pricing on some of the best names in safety.”

Without access to the top brands and the advertising and marketing support those companies typically provide, distributors may grow frustrated because the marketplace doesn’t quickly reward their efforts.

Another stumbling block for distributors new to the safety category is knowing what products to offer specific customer segments. Most suppliers are eager to help distributors target their market with the right product mix.

Tap into your manufacturer’s expertise for help in determining which products to offer different customer segments, says Alan Tencer of safety supplier OccuNomix International in Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.

“If they want to sell safety vests, for example, we’ll help evaluate which are the most popular for the markets they serve. In the south, they’d want cooler vests for example,” says Tencer.

He adds that OccuNomix salespeople can sit down with a distributor to help them analyze their business to choose not only the most popular safety items to carry, such as eyewear, head protection and gloves, but the most profitable as well.

“When you take on safety, there are some products you have to carry,” he says. “But those aren’t necessarily the ones you’re going to make money on. To be successful, you have to have a blend of products that give you a profit at the end of the day, such as heat stress products, ergonomics products for the back and wrist and anti-vibration gloves.”

Marketing promotions
Another common mistake distributors make is not investing enough of their time or budget promoting their new product line.

One way to get the most bang for your buck is to develop fliers or mini-catalogs devoted to safety. Again, companies like United American Sales can provide help with promotional efforts. It offers a print catalog and a low-priced Internet catalog called iCat that enables distributors to promote a variety of safety items on their own Web sites.

United American Sales also runs three major promotions a year using limited-edition sports memorabilia as incentives that distributors can customize for use with their end-user customers. Typically, 40 to 50 manufacturers participate in the full-color, 24-page or larger mailers.

Enlist manufacturer support in laying out catalog pages, gathering photos, copy, technical specifications and MSDS for print material and your Web site. Some suppliers provide stock fliers and will even prepare custom material.

Tencer says distributors don’t have to stock all of the products on the flier.

“They can order product from us as they receive orders and we can ship it to them or we can drop-ship right to the customer. That way, the distributor gets the sale without having to carry any of the inventory. That’s an important service to all of our distributors. We keep a large inventory, which reduces their inventory investment and their risk when they’re trying new products.”

Be creative with packaging. Include a pair of safety eyewear with each package of abrasives you sell or work gloves with saw blades. Selling your customers a safety item with a saw tells them you care about their safety.

Where should you spend your promotional dollars?  Manufacturers can help you decide which customer types to target, but a good place to start is by examining your own sales data. It doesn’t have to be sophisticated. Run a report that shows where you’re selling cutting tools and then run a second report of the customers to whom you sell absorbents or gloves and compare the two.

Motivate and train salespeople
When Beckstein wanted his salespeople to place more emphasis on safety, he invited a consultant to speak to his sales staff about the size of the safety market and their opportunity to introduce safety products to customers. He’s also begun to provide salespeople with specific sales quotas for work gloves and other PPE items. He knows that without sales targets, salespeople will tend to lose interest in the new category.

“The best way to start is to get a counter display and get your people talking safety glasses on every call,” adds Sodini. “In an industrial setting, virtually every customer who makes a purchase should be walking out with safety glasses.”

Robin Roberts, vice president of sales for Protective Industrial Products in Guilderland Center, N.Y., a manufacturer of work gloves including the Marigold Industrial Gloves brand, suggests that before each sales call, salespeople should build a picture in their mind of their customer’s workplace. Think about the tools they use and their work environment and then imagine all of the protective clothing and other products that might make their job safer.

Consider a typical metal cutting shop for example. Picture operators in front of CNC machines with sparks flying and cooling lubricant splashing on the floor. The operators need protective eyewear to shield their eyes and face, earplugs to protect their hearing, gloves to guard against nicks and cuts and absorbent products on the floor to prevent slips and falls.

“You may go in to sell a cutting tool, but be broad enough in your thinking to observe the kinds of products these guys are using in their daily jobs,” Roberts says. “Everywhere you sell cutting tools is an opportunity to sell eyewear and gloves and absorbents.”

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2002 issue of Progressive Distributor magazine. Copyright 2002.

back to top                                          back to online exclusives