By David Ward, Sr. Project Sales Specialist
Being in Project Sales I spend the majority of my day calling on customers. When I ask how Kele can gain more market share with their company, the most common statement I hear is “I love Kele! We get all of our products from you guys.” My usual answer is “Really”?
Before I call I usually run a quick report that shows what the company has purchased over the past year. When I see a product line that’s missing from the report, I’ll ask about it. Usually the answer is “Oh, I buy that from XYZ Company” or “I didn’t know you carried that”.
The most common reason is that the customer only knows a few sections of the Kele catalog. I would like to think that everyone keeps a Kele catalog by their night stand to read before they call it a day. Now that would be a salesman’s dream! But the reality is when people find a product that works; they usually stick with it, even to the point of dealing with poor customer service, long lead times, multiple vendors and high prices.
Another reason a customer may only buy certain products from Kele is because of their company’s engineering and purchasing practices. Once the products get into their system, it becomes a buying habit. It’s easy to just order what’s in the system and it allows you to move on to the next task.
Unfortunately the ease of continuing old habits can lead to the problems mentioned above - such as dealing with multiple purchase orders, which can be expensive. On average it cost $50 to $80 for a company to issue a PO. With multiple vendors that amount adds up quickly, as does the cost of freight.
So what’s my point? At Kele, we make it easy with a printed catalog with 18 sections, over 230 manufactures on our line card, a fantastic website and a warehouse stocked full of products ready to go. Many customers think we only carry what’s in the catalog. Not true! Kele’s buying power allows us access to all of our manufactures’ lines and then some. If Kele put all of the products we have access to in the catalog, it would look like…well, it would be BIG!
It’s a no brainer. Save time, save money, and relax. Send Kele the bill of material for your projects. The chances of Kele being able to supply what you need and offer you the best price are pretty darn good.
