As seen on the MHEDA Journal Online...

How We Did It
July 14th, 2010

Award-winning distributors share their secrets to success in a down year.

It’s been well-documented that 2009 was a dismal year for much of the material handling industry. Sales were a struggle, employees were let go, credit terms were tightened, and customers were shutting down. Few distributors even saw light at the end of the tunnel. But the news wasn’t all bad. It was also a year where a few strategy tweaks and a concentration on customer service made a big difference.

The MHEDA distributor members profiled here were able to make lemonade out of the lemons they were given by last year’s economy. Each was named to at least one manufacturer’s list of 2009’s Top Dealers. Some distributors were named by multiple manufacturers. While the consensus was that sales were down in 2009, the distributors in these stories remained profitable and can look back on the year with pride.

What were their secrets? Keep reading to unlock their mysteries and learn firsthand how they were able to do it.

Revamping the Sales Team

"We had booked enough orders in 2008 that warehouse1 didn’t really start to see the effects of the downturn until after the First Quarter of 2009. Sales training is what helped us weather the storm; we held regular product sales meetings along with our manufacturers, who came into our facility to offer face-to-face education on many of our product lines. That really helped our sales force become more skilled and professional on what they were selling.

"We dissolved the sales, marketing and purchasing departments and combined them into what we’re calling our business development group. All three of those entities supported each other, but they weren’t working together as well as they should have. Now when everyone in the business development group comes to meetings for product training, they all understand the customer and the equipment better. We can focus our branding and marketing materials toward the customer instead of doing it just for the sake of doing it. Purchasing tells marketing what we have to sell, and marketing promotes it to make it easier for the sales department to sell. Everyone is together now in their focus, which has been a big help.

"Part of that initiative was to improve our e-mail marketing. We created a planned, systematic and routine e-mail newsletter as a marketing tool. Our efforts previously hadn’t been systematic and orderly. We concentrated on developing a plan and delivering an enhanced newsletter in 2009.

"We also diversified our product offerings into high-efficiency lighting, rack repair and equipment reconditioning. This gave us more avenues to talk to customers and sell new products into new and existing accounts."

★ Mary Lou Jacoby, Owner warehouse1 (Kansas City, MO)

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As seen on the MHEDA Journal Online...

Another Reason For Material Handling Recession
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

As I have mentioned before in this space, the next issue of The MHEDA Journal (set to publish on July 15) recognizes Top MHEDA Dealers—those distributors who were honored by their manufacturers as a top-performing partner.

Earlier this week, I spoke with Mary Lou Jacoby, owner of warehouse¹ (Kansas City, MO), a distributor of storage & handling products who earned Top Dealer honors from Tri-Boro Shelving & Partition Corp. Mary Lou had an interesting thing to say about how the poor economy impacted the market for allied products.

"Everything that we sell is made out of steel. As the market went down, so did the price of steel and, in turn, the price of new products. Therefore, revenue went down. If the price of new product was off 20%, then you could certainly expect sales volume to go down 20%. That was something about the year before that most people don’t take into account. In 2008, the steel market increased in price, so our equipment increased in cost. When you say your sales volume in 2008 was up 20%, really you were just breaking even because steel was up 20%. So for us, 2009 was down, but a part of that difference in revenue is based on the cost of the material."

Most people, myself included, have thought about the economy in terms of a lack of customers with capital to spend and that’s why sales are down. Or, prices have been reduced by the seller in an attempt to spur sales. I hadn’t given too much thought to the actual cost of the item itself. Obviously, if that goes down, the retial price goes down, which impacts a distributor’s revenue.

Thanks, Mary Lou, for the perspective!

Please visit their site at www.themhedajournal.org for a GREAT and TRUSTED source of information about the Material Handling Industry!

Tribute:
Tom Doty of warehouse¹ also was active with Hope Care Center and Landmark Education

By MATT CAMPBELL
The Kansas City Star

Who: Thomas W. Doty, 61, of Kansas City.

When and how he died: Dec. 3 of a heart attack.

This says it all: Eight of Doty's co-workers at warehouse¹ in Kansas City traveled on icy roads the day after a snowstorm to Beatrice, Neb., for his funeral, which his family preferred to think of as a celebration of Tom's life.

"They were so nice and said such beautiful things," said his mother, Norma Doty, of Beatrice. "I had not met these people before."

Tom Doty was a manager at warehouse¹, a designer of custom storage systems for manufacturers and distributors. He was the kind of person who would take younger people under his wing and help them learn the business, said Steve Schulte, the company's chief financial officer.

"He was always fair in his dealings with people, and I think people respected that about Tom," Schulte said.

Dennis Delantonas, the company controller, said Doty hated titles and preferred to think of everyone as part of the team.

"He helped me grow in the company and we became peers," Delantonas said. "He is going to leave a very large hole."

The "rock of the family:" Norma Doty recalled that her son was inquisitive as a child and was a member of the National Honor Society in high school in Clarinda, Iowa, where he graduated in 1966. He later graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

He played the cornet in school, and that contributed to a lifelong love of music, from classical to jazz and even some country.

Tom was close to his only sibling, Deborah, and was with her when she died eight years ago. Having never married and with no children of his own, he poured affection on his nieces, Jennifer and Sandra.

"All of their lives he made them feel very important," Norma Doty said. "When they were in high school he would help them with clothes and gifts and cash. He never missed important events."

Tom also traveled to California to help an aunt, Irene Diener, move to Nebraska after her husband died.

Working with his hands: Tom's late father, LaVere Doty, worked in construction, and Tom worked with him for many years. He grew to love refinishing and collecting antiques. He had a lumberyard in Tecumseh, Neb.

After moving to Kansas City, Doty worked for about a dozen years for Sutherland Lumber Co. When those stores were sold, Tom went to work for warehouse¹.

An inspiration to others: Doty was a local leader in the Landmark Education organization, a program that encourages people to make the most of their lives. Through that connection he met Devon Plumberg, who became a trusted friend.

"He really loved people and it was very important that his life made a difference for people around him," Plumberg said, adding that Doty also was humble and private.

Doty was vice president of the board of the Hope Care Center, a residential facility in Kansas City for people with HIV.

"He was probably the most dynamic, giving, caring soul I have met in a long time," said Jan Russell, president of the Hope Care Center board. "We always have a waiting list. We've been trying really hard to grow, and he (Doty) has been in the forefront of that vision."

Russell added that Doty frequently dropped in to visit with center residents.

"They all knew him really well," she said.

Survivors include: His mother, nieces and their families.

His legacy: "His legacy is one of caring," said Norma Doty. "That's why we called it a celebration of life because his life touched so many people."

Kansas City memorial: "A Toast to Tom" is set for 4-8 p.m. Jan. 23 at Rockhill Tennis Club, 4520 Kenwood Ave.

As exerpted from the Kansas City Star Newspaper: