When independent distributor Myron Colley first got started with his own routes, he didn’t understand fully how the distribution channel worked with mobile tool sales.
He attended the AAPEX Show and SEMA Show in Las Vegas to learn about different tool manufacturers, and started out buying direct – but he ran into trouble with warranties and timely responses from some of the companies.
“I didn’t know about the warehouse distributors. I knew ISN existed, but not to the point where all tool truck guys bought from warehouse distributors. I went out there on a fact-finding mission,” he says of his trip to Vegas in 2014.
While Michigan Industrial Tools is one of the manufacturers he went through direct, he still works with that company today, selling the company’s Tekton line. “We still sell a lot of Tekton stuff. Good tools, and quality is good. They have the easiest warranty there is.” For the bulk of Colley’s other tool purchases, he works with ISN.
While Colley purchases larger equipment from ISN, including Monster toolboxes, he also sells large equipment such as frame racks, tire changers and balancers through Tuxedo Distributors, and recently became a Ranger distributor.