Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/105134
Board Member Q&A continued that we floor stock. If you could change one N&V:issue regarding suppliervendor relations with a poof of a wand, what would it be? Jay Gulick, Pr esiden t Cur tis Restaur an t Supply & Eqpt. Co. Tulsa, Oklah om a What technology—big or N&V:small, simple or complicated—have you implemented in your business to improve operations, reduce cost, or improve inefficiencies? At the outset of the economic downturn in 2008, we changed how we marketed our company and increased our marketing budget. We also hired a marketing consultant who helped us get our name and message out into the marketplace. Through the use of the old marketing tools—regular mailings of post cards and flyers—coupled with some of the newer technologies—Facebook, twitter, e-mail newsletters, enhanced web pages and our web catalog—we have contributed to our revenue retention and modest revenue gains over the past few years. What is the best change N&V:you've made in how you do business in the last year? The last three years? We implemented a tiered-commission structure that pays higher commission to the vendors that we have the best relationships with and lower commission rates to those that we have a weak relationship with, or a nonexistent relationship.This encourages the sales force to sell more product from our "A" vendors and less from the others. As an added side benefit, we use this structure to incent our purchasing staff to maximize the commission rates on the items 1 8 FEDA New s & View s I would like to see vendors truly recognize dealers for their contributions.A number of vendors look solely at the volume a particular dealer does without looking any further. On the other hand, if vendors would look at what dealers are doing and how they are doing it, then they might find that there are some really good partners that might not have that big top line. Recognizing this distinction could be very productive and lucrative for both parties. ing to prevent being viewed as a commodity by emphasizing the services that are wrapped around the product. Of course, services vary considerably depending upon the scope of the transaction. Some people will understand and appreciate this model and others will not. The more people we can educate and show a difference, the more successful we will be. What aspect of your busi- N&V:ness suffered most during the downturn? What did you do to salvage it? During the downturn, we began seeing competitors from other parts of the country that we had never seen in our market. The increased competition resulted in fewer jobs won and a lower margin on those we did win. To counter, we pivoted our focus away from the pure bid side of the market and into a design-build environment. This enabled us to control the project from start to finish, use our vendor partners to a larger degree and provide the customer with exactly what they wanted.The end result was a happier customer and dealer. In your opinion, what is N&V:the biggest threat on the horizon to your company's viability and what are you doing to counter it? The biggest threat that I see is the end user seeing the product and a dealer's value-add services as a commodity, oftentimes all rolled up into one. Allowing the end user to look at our services as a commodity, simply means that the lowest price wins, regardless of if that price comes from the Internet or the guy down the street. We are try- LeGr an de Steen blik, Pr esiden t Restaur an t & Stor e Equipm en t Co. Salt Lake City, Utah What technology—big or N&V:small, simple or complicated—have you implemented in your business to improve operations, reduce cost, or improve inefficiencies? The challenges facing dealers and manufacturers are as difficult as any time in my past 40-year career and the assault on margins has been incredible. Through this time, however, there has not been as much fallout among the dealer community as one might expect. That said, at Restaurant & Store Equipment Co. we have not been immune to these challenges. Over the years, our response has been a systematic effort to better use existing technologies available throughout our industry. This has allowed us to become more efficient and capitalize on a reduced workforce obtained through attrition in this period.We also focused more heavily on product sales knowledge, such as the FEDA online product training, buying group training programs, product training at trade shows, continued on page 20