Articles written by guest contributors

Bill Gardocki

We need more supplier field support

By Bill Gardocki, Interstate Landscape

Several years ago one of my long time manufacturer sales reps retired, and the owner of the company was looking to find a replacement. He asked me what attributes I thought were important.

I turned the question back on him and said, “Well, what is the job description?” He told me that it was to help maintain the 45 dealers that the company had in their network, and to help answer contractor installation questions that the dealers can’t answer. I said, “Ok, you’re not looking for anyone to expand the dealer network, but I am sure you would like to see sales go up.” Of course, the answer was “yes.”

I said, “Why don’t you turn the position into a half time sales rep and half time contractor technical support person.” My idea was to have the new person help maintain the current 45 dealers half of the week. And, for the other half of the week he would get out with contractors on job sites and help them install the product correctly and efficiently.

I am talking about having a rep stay on a job site for a day or 2 getting his hands dirty teaching the crew the best installation practices for their product. To me, this approach seems to make sense in order to achieve both of the manufacturer’s goals: maintaining the dealer network and helping to drive up sales by increasing contractor productivity.

Learning on your own kills profits

Nothing kills profits quicker than having to learn product installation on your own. It’s slow and you risk having to redo all or part of it. In industries such as irrigation, night lighting and pond installation, it is commonplace to have manufacturer technical support reps work side by side with contractors on their installations until they are fully comfortable with the product.

If a contractor feels confident in the installation of a particular product and has a positive outcome, they are going to use that product more often. If the contractor has several suppliers to choose from, wouldn’t it be natural for him to choose the supplier where he is getting good technical support, has confidence his installations will be successful, and where he’s making a decent profit?

Technical support in practice

Techniseal’s West Coast Rep Marc Harris on a job site helping a contractor learn cleaning and sealing.

I base my theory on the framework that Anchor Wall Systems set up 10 years ago. Recently, while talking to Lynn Barnhart, Anchor Wall Systems Licensing Director, she said, “We’re a better company when we have the voice of the contractor represented at Anchor. We rely on resources like our installation expert Tim Huinker, who was a contractor and designer for 17 years. Hands-on training with contractors is the most effective method for product and installation training. Our team of experts include pros with a contracting background. They’re on the road all year working with contractors.”

Techniseal is another company I work with that provides this kind of support. With a simple phone call my technical support rep would be on my job site within 24 hours if needed. Phil Graves, Techniseal Director of U.S. Sales, says technical support is critical to the growth of their business. “Once contractors are comfortable with the products, and the process, and that we will be there should something go awry, they begin to sell with confidence and we all grow our businesses together.”

When contractors don’t have this kind of support they naturally apply techniques they learned using other products. Phil says this can be a problem. “The instructions for one brand may differ significantly from another although the products appear very similar.”

The same is true for hardscape products and their individual peculiarities. Every manufacturer needs their own training teams.

Why not?

My technical support proposal made sense to the manufacturer I was talking with, but he ended up hiring an ex-window salesman who would need to learn hardscape installation on-the-job. There are a lot of sales reps out there telling us how to install pavers and SRWs who have never installed the product. They’ve never had to go up to a client and ask for that final check, or had to rely on their contracting work to feed their family.

To me, setting up a showroom sales display or a trade show sales booth does not count as actual installation experience. And, the occasional visit from a sales rep to a job site to bring the crew coffee or a pizza does not fill the void.

Why don’t all suppliers offer hands-on technical support provided by former contractors, experts who’ve done it before? Are there concerns that the return on investment won’t be there? Is there a lack of confidence that contractors would use the technical support service? Is my basic premise about helping train the contractor with specific products on the job site wrong?

I’d like to hear your thoughts, whether you’re a contractor, dealer or manufacturer. Email me at Bill@InterstateLandscapeNH.com.

Bill Gardocki is the owner of Interstate Landscape Co. Inc. in Londonderry, NH, installing hardscapes for over 40 years. Bill has taught over 100 classes as an NCMA and ICPI certified instructor. He also provides hardscape seminars for dealer/contractor education days, and in 2013 became the Landscape Construction instructor at his alma mater, the University of New Hampshire.