Pennsylvania distributor leverages technology to improve sales, communication with customers

Stacey Remai is a man with a plan.

The Pennsylvania-based independent distributor and owner of Washington Professional Tool & Equipment spent the first several years of his career in the business getting established and learning from his experiences. It then took Remai a number of years to create a strong customer base and find reliable supply sources. Now he’s hard at work, spurring the evolution of business by conducting transactions electronically and reaping the financial benefits of all his previous efforts.

“It is not just buying tools, selling tools and collecting money,” says Remai. “I can get better through more electronic sales.”

Leveraging technology

Remai is always looking to improve as a mobile tool distributor, and he strongly believes he’s found the means to do so.

“In the next five years, I’d like to increase my business by 25 to 30 percent,” he says. “I feel like the way to do that is through electronic means.”

His desire to embrace and leverage the benefits of technologies like email, Facebook and text messaging comes from an understanding of his customer base, which is made up of younger men in their 20s who use electronic avenues on a regular basis. These technologies allow him to better cultivate and maintain relationships with the people who help him earn a living.

When a customer approaches him with a question about a specific tool, Remai immediately sends him or her an email containing all of the relevant product information.

“They don’t even realize it until I leave,” he says.

Remai is also a proponent of sending text messages to customers to keep them informed about their payment schedules, balances and more. Lately, he’s started to use Facebook to inform technicians about the latest and greatest products available for purchase.

“Why show something to one customer, when you can show it to hundreds of customers at one time?” he says.

Getting started

Remai was at his own wedding reception when his cousin approached him about the possibility of changing careers and selling tools for a living. Though he was a master technician with 16 years of experience behind him, Remai decided to take a chance and try to make his living as a mobile tool distributor.  

“The place where I was at sold out, and I was going to be without a job,” he says. “I thought to myself, ‘No one is going to do this to me again.’”

However, Remai describes his first five years in the business as “extremely difficult.” Forced to compete against a pair of established veteran tool men with solid customer bases, Remai, then a Matco distributor, was forced to grind it out, remain patient and slowly carve his niche.

“Things really didn’t start turning around for me until I went independent,” he says. “I wish I would’ve known I wouldn’t have had to go into a franchise to start with, even though (that experience) did teach me how to run a business.”

The longtime independent distributor has learned quite a bit over the years, and he points to a few key strategies and behaviors as crucial to his success. Remai says he sets standards for what he expects from his customers each week, and makes sure to stick to them at all costs.

“When you are first starting out, you are so afraid of failure that you start letting your customers run your business for you,” he continues. “That is a great way to fail.”

Remai also consistently makes an effort to keep a clean, bright and stock-filled truck, and he makes sure to rotate shelves of tools on his truck every three months.

Lastly, he makes a concerted effort to be friendly and professional with his customers, and is always aware of their needs.

 “The shop will pretty much tell you what’s happening,” he says.