Consistency over time

John Patterson is a firm believer in focusing on the process over the results when it comes to his business.

By maintaining a consistent approach to sales and a concerted effort to service his customers as effectively and efficiently as he possibly can, the Baltimore-based Cornwell Tools dealer has become one of the best in the business at selling tools.

Patterson learned a saying during his days as a diagnostic technician that he feels perfectly sums up his approach toward his job as a tool dealer: “Don’t trip over dollar bills to get to nickels.” This phrase is a helpful reminder for him not to focus too much attention and energy on the inevitable and ultimately inconsequential day-to-day frustrations that come along with trying to sell tools for a living and, instead, remain focused on what truly affects his business’s bottom line.

“I just stay on track and look at the picture, and the little stuff falls in place,” says Patterson.

“Success is all about repetitiveness and being quick on your feet to the point that it is natural,” he continues. “And I think customers pick up on that.”

Consistency over time

Patterson got his start as a Cornwell Tools dealer eight years ago after roughly two decades as a diagnostic technician. His time as a tech significantly influences how Patterson conducts business with his customers, and he maintains his certification as an ASE-certified master tech to ensure he remains informed on their needs and issues.

“How I deal with customers is how I expected to be serviced as a technician,” he says, adding that he is ritualized and works diligently to treat every one of his customers the same, no matter what. “I try not to forget that, and I have based my business on a couple of influential dealers I’ve dealt with over the years, one being the Cornwell guy I saw when I was still a technician. He was my first district manager.”

Patterson’s efforts certainly have paid off. In addition to having been a member of the Cornwell Century Club all eight years he’s been a tool dealer, Patterson made more than $625,000 in sales last year and has seen his business grow in all but one year since he got his start.

“There are ebbs and flows to this business, but I try to stay as consistent as I possibly can,” says Patterson, who adds that an average week for him consists of $10,000 to $12,000 in completed sales. “There are little waves in my numbers, and I don’t know if it’s because of the way I do business, but that’s just the way it works out.”

In and around Baltimore

The longtime Cornwell dealer’s route is located in Baltimore, but it also covers some of the surrounding area. His stops mainly consist of urban-area automotive aftermarket shops, but he also sees some body shops and a few dealerships. At this point in time, Patterson avoids many chain outfits due to the high incidence of technician turnover at those shops, he says. 

When he arrives at a location on his route, Patterson makes sure to take a flyer with him to meet with his customers. While the vast majority of his business is conducted in person, he also receives orders via text from time to time. On most occasions, he receives these texts less than 24 hours after he visited with that particular customer and it is because the person saw something in the flyer or neglected to ask about it.

Patterson credits Cornwell with contributing to his sustained success as a mobile dealer. He says he consistently receives the support he needs to do his job effectively, and he appreciates that his needs and concerns are both heard and valued.

”If you are talking to somebody in management, whether it be your district manager or the national sales manager, you will get listened to,” he says. “It’s never been ‘figure it out.’”

According to Patterson, his route is set up in such a way that he doesn’t drive more than 300 miles a week and is home by 5:30 PM or 6 PM most evenings. He credits his wife, Jeanne, and her efforts as a stay-at-home mom as one of the driving forces behind his ability to maintain a work schedule reasonable enough to allow him to spend quality time with her and their three sons, John III, Jack and Jakob.

“If my wife didn’t do what she did for me, I wouldn’t have the time I have on evenings and weekends,” he adds.

Service first and foremost

While Patterson says he makes his living as a salesman, he says customer service is his primary focus on a daily basis. It’s also one of his greatest strengths as a tool dealer. His efforts to both understand and attend to his customers’ needs have served Patterson well and have allowed him to develop the kind of consistent success all tool dealers are looking for from their business. 

He approaches potential transactions with two questions in mind: “What can I do to for this customer to make his or her job easier” and “How can I make our working relationship more profitable for the both of us?”

“Don’t focus just on your customer,” Patterson continues. “Look to see what he’s working with, and look to see what he’s working on. At that point, you are not selling anymore. You are helping the customer.”

In order to be able to better service his customer base, Patterson has made the unique decision to save all of their names and numbers in his cell phone. He backs up the data via a cloud computing service, but all of the information he needs is available to him anytime, anywhere.

“I used to get random phone calls from numbers I didn’t recognize,” he says. “It could be anyone, someone on the other side of town that I don’t normally deal with.”

While Patterson totes and promotes in some shops and does some raffles, he tries to be strategic with them.

“Guys get bored with it otherwise,” he says of the raffles.

At this point in his career as a seasoned and successful tool dealer, Patterson does not really worry about finding new customers. He says his current base is large enough that there is no pressure to seek out more at this time. Patterson currently has 298 customers on the books, and he collects money from approximately 75-85 percent of them.

“I was told from the very beginning that this business is no longer about making the home run on every single sale,” he says, noting that his turns are 7-1/2 to nine weeks right now. “It’s about volume. That’s why I can have a seven-eight-nine week turn, because I have almost 300 customers on the books.”

When making sales, Patterson says, he focuses less on a customer’s potential payment schedule and more on what he can receive for a down payment at that time.

 “Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the number the person tells me is more than the number I had in my head,” he continues.

By “putting the ball back in the customer’s court,” Patterson adds, it lets the customer feel like he or she is in control of the purchase terms. “Let them think they are making the decision. Because they want to pay it down, and they owe less after good down payment.”

A baseball mentality

Customers skipping payments can be one of the most frustrating realities for any tool dealer, but Patterson says he has learned to take them in stride and recognize they will happen from time to time.

“It’s a baseball mentality,” he says. “You are going to throw a pitch a guy connects on for a home run every once in a while. You just got to get back in there and keep going. If you sit there and beat yourself up about this stuff on a day-to-day basis, you will not be successful. The only thing you can do is do what you normally do as far as trying to track down skips and then just move on with your day.”

However, when one of his customers makes a purchase from another tool dealer and Patterson notices, he cannot help but be a little affected by the decision.

“Every time I walk in and they’ve gotten that service from someone else, my first reaction is trying to figure out what I did do, what I didn’t do or what I can do better,” he says.

Building a rapport

Cultivating long-lasting and mutually-beneficial relationships with his customers is quite important to Patterson, and he believes they see the value of the time and effort he puts into providing them with the tools and services they need to do their work effectively. While they have the ability to go about purchasing tools and equipment in a variety of different ways, the repetitiveness of the business they have conducted with Patterson keeps both parties happy and motivated to continue engaging in transactions.  

“Most of my customers know this is how I make a living and they pay for the convenience of being in front of them every week,” he says. “It’s not logging onto the Internet and buying something. It’s not looking through a catalog and calling an 800-number to place an order. You are building a rapport with these guys.”