A No Brainer. Wearing face masks and social distancing is a no brainer. It isn’t pleasant, but you do what you have to do.
Selling safety valves is also a no brainer. If you have a reliable source that stocks a lot of them, ships fast, with a margin for markup, go for it. You don’t have to tie up any money in inventory. All you do is shoot them out an email for price and delivery and they get right back with you. We don’t take forever to get back with you, unless it is a special item that needs factory help. God forbid it falls into factory purgatory.
Speaking of hell, why the hell should I buy from you when your competitor is right down the street from us? We sell to people that resell only. We are not your supplier and competitor at the same time. Your “buddy” down the street would be happy to sell to you, but he would like to make the extra mark up and go direct. We send out new construction reports to our better customers and flyers at no charge to help push for safety valve sales. When was the last time anyone did that for you? Again A NO BRAINER.
I carry 50 lines on my line card, where should I put safety valves? If they get you in the front door, it is a no brainer. If the competition is tough on your bread and butter items, then you might look at another way to butter their bread. Go see the maintenance people, get down and dirty, especially the boiler house. WE ARE THE ONLY COMPANY IN THE COUNTRY THAT IS STOCKING BRAND NEW CONSOLIDATED HIGH PRESSURE BOILER VALVES. 1700, 2700, AND P1 ECONOMIZER VALVES. Some of these valves cost more than a car and the factory takes 8 months to a year to make them. Obviously, A NO BRAINER.
Other ideas for you, link to our website. Have everyone in your company push safety valve repairs, even the delivery drivers. Ask for our private label catalog that you can put your sticker on and hand them out. Let us have a Zoom presentation to help educate your group. Let us come out and do a presentation with you to your larger end-users; we will put them in our computer and mark the account yours. A NO BRAINER.
Saving money is a no brainer. In times of COVID-19, many companies are not allowing contractors on the job-site and turnarounds are being delayed. Try offering an exchange program as an alternative. We will ship a set of remanufactured valves at a savings and they can take theirs down and put ours up. Then you can send them in for repair and they will have another set ready to go for next time. A NO BRAINER.
“We appreciate your efforts and your loyalty. We hope we give you back as much as you give us. Stay safe and maybe this time next year, we can look back and have a few chuckles.” Allen Tanis President